Curio

State Library of New South Wales
Sydney in 1888

Sydney in 1888

from the Illustrated Sydney News, 1888

Printed periodical
Sydney: Gibbs Shallard & Co [1881–94]
Bequest of Sir William Dixson, 1952
DL X8/3 f29

First published in Sydney in 1853, the Illustrated Sydney News became famous for its large illustrated supplements published alongside regular issues. This detailed ‘birds eye’ view of Sydney was published as a supplement in a Special European edition to promote Sydney to a European audience in the colony’s centenary year.

The population of Sydney in 1888 was 358,000. The population of Australia was 2,981,677.

Centennial Park was reconstructed as a public park and opened in 1888. The vision of the premier, Sir Henry Parkes, was to create a ‘People's Park’ in which the citizens of Sydney could ‘take in the air’ away from the town centre. But according to the park regulations in 1889, ‘No person shall walk on the grass ....’ and ‘No person shall engage in any game, or train for any race ...’*


Footnotes

* Sir Henry Parkes, speech at the opening of Centennial Park, January 26, 1888

When Sydney was founded in 1788, Darling Harbour was called Long Cove because of its unusual length. The large shell middens left by the Aboriginal people over thousands of years led to its renaming as Cockle Bay. In 1826 the bay was again renamed, this time as Darling Harbour in honour of Governor Ralph Darling.