Filling in the details along Pitt Street, from 'Sands & Kenny's map of Sydney and its environs' 1858, National Library of Australia nla.map-rm1272
One of the more unusual articles added recently to the Dictionary is Catherine Bishop‘s exhaustive piece on the women of Pitt Street. Catherine takes readers on a virtual walk up Pitt Street in 1858, peering in the shop doors and windows to find the women who live, work and play there. It’s a fascinating snapshot of the range of businesswomen, employees, servants, landladies, teachers, and others, who were manufacturing, selling, cleaning, teaching and generally making a living in mid-nineteenth-century Sydney.
Catherine has made full use of the possibilities of searchable digitised resources like Trove and the New South Wales Births Deaths and Marriages indexes to follow these individuals and save them from ‘the enormous condescension of posterity’, to use the phrase coined by EP Thompson. It’s a fascinating way to experience Pitt Street.
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Welcome to the new look Dictionary of Sydney Trust page and the new home for our blog Looking Up.
The new site incorporates the Dictionary of Sydney’s organisational information, access to the Dictionary’s resources, information on our projects, and tips on ways readers can contribute to and support the Dictionary. The Dictionary itself is still found at www.dictionaryofsydney.org.
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Hope to see you here often!
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One of our new articles is about Sydney’s Greek communities, one of the largest and oldest groups in the city, with a venerable tradition and great pride.
Evzones (Greek soldiers) who led the Greek Day march in Sydney, 28 February 1941, Image courtesy of the State Library of Victoria, ref: an016346
Panayiotis Diamadis has written for us about the Hellenes of Sydney, who hailed from all over the Mediterranean, but traced their ancestry back to Greece. There’s been a long two-way traffic between Sydney and Greece, as well. The first Greek arrivals were convicts in 1829, later pardoned, who helped start the Camden vineyards. By the end of the nineteenth century, churches and social groups were being formed, and a thriving community was taking steps to protect its language and religious traditions.
This essay sets out the history of one of Sydney’s best known migrant communities, which has become an integral part of the modern city.
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The tug Hero towing Pamir to Sydney Heads, 1947 photograph by Max Dupain, National Library of Australia nla.pic-an21125310
The Dictionary never loses sight of the fact that Sydney is a maritime city, and two articles in the latest batch flesh out some of the different kinds of ships that have plied the harbour since the Europeans arrived. Randi Svensen’s Tugboats is a lively account of this indispensable trade, which has been crucial to Sydney’s working port since 1831. A number of families worked their tugboats over generations, and built lasting businesses and reputations. Some of the tugs themselves became celebrated icons of perseverance and survival, like the Hero, a tug whose 70-year career included over 3 years underwater. Where the tugs mostly stayed inside the harbour, Sydney’s whaling fleet ranged far and wide, returning to port for processing, refitting, resupplying and leisure of many kinds. Mark Howard’s article shows just how economically important whaling was to the young city, and links the industry to many Sydney personalities and places.
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