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Horses in Inner Sydney

City of Sydney Garbage Disposal Cart, 1930s; City of Sydney Archives: NSCA CRS 538/140

City of Sydney Garbage Disposal Cart, 1930s; City of Sydney Archives: NSCA CRS 538/140

From the time of European arrival until relatively recent decades, horses have been intrinsic to human endeavour of all kinds in Australia: in industry, agriculture, the military, police force, and in recreation of all kinds. This oral history project about inner Sydney celebrates the interdependence of horses and human beings.

An illustrated booklet called Sydney Stories: Sydney Horses , which is based on the oral history project, appears below as a downloadable PDF file.

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Lieutenant-Colonel John Howells

Lieutenant-Colonel John HowellsLieutenant-Colonel John Howells (retired), secretary of the NSW Lancers Memorial Museum, talks here about the establishment of the famous Sydney Light Horse unit in the late nineteenth century.

 


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Harry Black

Harry BlackHarry Black describes the heavy workloads of the so-called ‘sugar horses’ belonging to the Colonial Sugar Refining Company, and the actions taken by trade unionists on their behalf.

 


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Edda Boyd

Edda BoydEdda Boyd grew up in Glebe in 1950s when kids all over the world were ‘horse-mad’. She remembers the ‘wild’ horses that lived on vacant land nearby.

 



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Otto Kruger

Otto KrugerOtto Kruger remembers when Pyrmont resident Darcy Peterson saved his horse from drowning.


 


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Allan Gillham

Allan GillhamAllan Gillham owned and drove the well-known Penfolds delivery horses around the Sydney CBD until 2005. On his travels Allan learned a great deal about the history of horses in Sydney. He relates how teams of ‘lead’ horses were once necessary to haul goods up Sydney’s steep harbourside terrain.

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Russell Gow

Russell GowBefore the advent of large transport airplanes, racehorses came to Sydney by ship. Russell Gow describes the distress of mares separated from their foals.




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Ruth Petrie & Lily Flucker

Ruth PetrieRuth Petrie, 86, and Lily Flucker, 90 are sisters who grew up in Alexandria. They remember when most daily household requirements were sold door-to-door from the back of horse-drawn carts.

 

 

Lily Flucker

 

 

 

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Don Eyb

Don EybDon Eyb, a former commander of the NSW Mounted Police tells how mounted police, amongst their many other roles, supervised traffic on major roads during the transition from horse-drawn to motorised vehicles.

 

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Kay White

Kay WhiteKay White grew up during World War II. She remembers when ice cream was delivered from a gaily coloured horse-drawn wagon.

 

 

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Bill Whittaker

Bill WhittakerBill Whittaker had a noteworthy career in Sydney racing journalism. He describes the trotting scene associated with the Harold Park race course in Glebe in the 1950s.

 


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Shauna Wilson

Shauna WilsonShauna Wilson drove replica horse-drawn hansom cabs for the tourist trade around Sydney in the early 1980s. She talks here about her favourite horse, Frank.

 

 

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Computer access to the online oral history collection is provided at all branches in the City of Sydney’s library network.

CDs and printed copies of interview transcripts are available at the Waterloo Branch Library: Waterloo Town Hall, 770 Elizabeth St, Waterloo NSW 2017; Telephone: 02 9288 5688 

Please be aware that for reasons of privacy and/or coherence audio excerpts may not be precisely identical to the way that they appeared the original recording. For the same reasons full audio files and transcripts may also have been slightly edited where necessary.

To view PDF files you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. Get Acrobat Reader Now. PDF Accessibility.

 

Last Updated: Thursday 14 January, 2010

Please Note:
While care is taken to ensure accuracy, the City of Sydney cannot guarantee that information expressed here is correct and recommends that users exercise their own skill and care with respect to its use. The City of Sydney makes no warranty or undertaking, whether expressed or implied, nor does it assume any legal liability, whether direct or indirect.