Imagine you’re visiting Sydney for the first time as a tourist on one of the Oceanic Steamship Company’s Line’s iron steamships. The year is 1905 and Sydney is in the grip of the bubonic plague, but that hasn’t daunted the curiosity of intrepid travellers, keen to explore our beautiful harbour city. Issued with a map marked up with places of interest, they can take in the sights of Sydney and visit the Zoological Gardens in Moore Park. They can collect their mail from the Poste restante counter at the General Post Office, enjoy afternoon tea at the fashionable Hotel Australia or take in a matinee session of the comic play, The Orchid, at Her Majesty’s Theatre. In this illustrated talk, City of Sydney curator Margaret Betteridge guides you through Sydney in 1905.

Image reproduced courtesy of State Library of NSW

Margaret Betteridge is the curator of the City of Sydney’s civic collection. She enjoys sharing special stories about Sydney through some of the City of Sydney’s fascinating and intriguing objects and archives.

Booking options

Attend the event at Customs House Library – Covid safety

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This event will be Auslan interpreted.

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This event will be Auslan interpreted. To access the Auslan interpreting, you will need to use Zoom on a computer.