The Dictionary of Sydney is a landmark digital history initiative supported by the City of Sydney, the Australian Research Council and a number of Sydney’s leading cultural institutions and universities.

The Dictionary is a window into historical material covering metropolitan Sydney, from earliest human habitation to the present. With input from more than 200 authors, the Dictionary is an ever-expanding resource. Currently there are over 640 entries, 927,276 words and over 2,300 multimedia items. And new content is being added all the time.

The Dictionary represents Sydney’s story online.  The website is just the first of several windows into the permanent historical digital repository that we are building. The Dictionary website is a forum for public discussion and controversy, an aide to teaching and learning, and a source of information and entertainment. Innovative in technology because it has been born digital, the Dictionary of Sydney is like no other city encyclopaedia in the world.

Help us keep the Dictionary growing and developing

The Dictionary doesn’t have a guaranteed institutional base, and relies on the support of sponsors, partners and donors to keep growing and developing.

In these difficult fund-raising times, our current partners and supporters are crucial to the Dictionary’s survival.

Find out how to become one of our individual donors or corporate supporters.