Sydney emerges as the most segregated of our biggest capital cities, and the trend will continue without broad changes in government policy and investment.
Elsie Refuge in 1975.
Australian Information Service/National Library of Australia
50 years ago, the first shelter for women experiencing domestic violence was established in Sydney. It’s opening was far from a ribbon-cutting affair, but it’s legacy is long and powerful.
The pilot project opening in Sydney will use the best available evidence to keep vulnerable people cool on the hottest of days.
A portrait of Bennelong, pre 1806, attributed to George Charles Jenner and William Waterhouse and on right, Captain Arthur Phillip, 1786, painted by Francis Wheatley.
Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales/Wikimedia Commons
The heated debate around the Voice referendum demonstrated Australian history is still up for grabs. So Kate Fullagar’s new book, Bennelong and Phillip, is both critical and timely.
Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point Sydney, 1965.
City of Sydney Archives
To build drought resilence, Sydney must invest in rainfall-independent water supplies.
Joseph Lycett, Aboriginal Australians Spearing Fish and Diving for Shellfish, New South Wales, c. 1817.
National Library of Australia, nla.obj138500727.
Across the continent, diverse, adaptable fishing practices, recipes and rituals were a cornerstone of Indigenous life at the time of first contact – and many remain so to this day.
The centralisation of planning power is exactly what Sydney doesn’t need. While not perfect, the commission broke the mould of top-down, siloed planning and broadened the focus across the whole city.
Top Dog factory for men’s hats, Surry Hills, 1941.
State Library of New South Wales
They tend backyards brimming with cactus varieties, consuming the produce. Prudence Gibson meets a hidden group of gardeners and ponders the allure – and – danger of psychoactive plants.
Very hot days in Western Sydney are typically 5 degrees hotter than parts of the city close to the coast and are becoming more common, but only in the west. Four climate drivers explain the difference.
Sydney Opera House.
Dietmar Rabich/Wikimedia Commons
Sydney Modern at the Art Gallery of New South Wales is a spectacular achievement – but going forward, funding is required for more than rammed earth, glass, bricks and mortar.
Sheas Creek runs into Alexandra Canal.
Photo: Ilaria Vanni
Long before Green Square was a huge urban renewal project it was Country known to Traditional Owners for its wetlands. Until now, those water stories have remained largely invisible.
Members of the River City Voices choir perform for a group portrait.
Cherine Fahd, Being Together: Parramatta Yearbook (2021-2022)
New research documented 50 different ways Sydneysiders tried to stop sulphur-crested cockatoos opening their bins, from rubber snakes to custom locks. Humans didn’t always win.
The view of Barangaroo from Millers Point, still a leafy suburb on the edge of the development.
Dallas Rogers
A bid to amend plans for the final stage of the Barangaroo project would once again favour developers’ interests over the public interest. It shows how badly the planning process has been undermined.
Lead levels in backyard hen eggs are often much higher than in eggs bought in the shops. A new study of soil lead, chickens and eggs locates the high-risk areas in our biggest cities.
PhD Candidate, School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania, and Senior Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney