Books about Sydney’s history
We make an active contribution to original research about the local area.
Our history team commissioned and published the following titles.
You can buy copies online or at one of our library branches.
All prices are in Australian dollars and include GST.
The books are also available to borrow through our library network.
Books for sale
Sydney Town Hall is one of Sydney's most recognised landmarks. Written by the Town Hall's curator, Margaret Betteridge, this book presents a lavishly illustrated architectural tour of the building and its glorious interiors. It also showcases the our collection of artworks, historical items and civic traditions.
Margaret Betteridge
Sydney (City of Sydney) 2008
248pp includes index, bibliography, colour photographs
ISBN 9780975119648 (paperback)
$50
From the 18th to 21st centuries Glebe's character has changed with the growth of Sydney and the development of society. Today's inner suburb – teeming with life, crowded with terraces, shops, pubs, schools and churches – was once a country retreat for affluent families from the young city nearby. As gold rushes, depressions, wars, gentrification and globalisation left marks, Glebe maintained a tough local identity.
Max Solling
Sydney (Halstead Press) 2007
293pp includes index, bibliographical references, black & white photographs
ISBN 9781920831387 (hardback)
$35
Millers Point was once an exotic seaport village where whaling, sealing and sandalwood crews thronged the rowdy pubs, and mansions housed wealthy merchants. Later, the suburb was mostly peopled by wharfies and their families scraping a living from the Hungry Mile. Plague reached Sydney and the area was temporarily quarantined. Ever since, government action has determined the fate and fortunes of the historic district nestling below the approaches of the Harbour Bridge.
Shirley Fitzgerald & Christopher Keating
Sydney (Halstead Press) 2009144pp includes index, bibliographical references, black & white photographs
ISBN 9781920831653 (paperback)
$30
Pyrmont and Ultimo were once known for their railway yards, wool stores, mills, wharves, powerhouses and quarries. The landscape of these 2 neighbouring suburbs was degraded by industrialisation and redevelopment, which caused the community to become disjointed. Now that the area is teeming with new residents and workplaces, this revised edition brings the story of Pyrmont and Ultimo into the 21st century.
Shirley Fitzgerald & Hilary Golder
Sydney (Halstead Press) 2009160pp includes index, bibliographical references, black & white photographs
ISBN 9781920831660 (paperback)
$30
Originally this fertile and well-watered area was once coveted by industrialists who manufactured Sydney's sugar, beer and gin. Other industries followed and soon pollution, planning disasters, illegal subdivisions, sub-standard buildings and floods that poured filth into the unsewered slums all contributed to degrade Chippendale throughout the 19th century.
Chippendale today, wedged between Central station and Sydney University, attracts residents to quiet streets thanks to its proximity to the city centre and educational institutions. Factory noise and the heavy atmosphere of brewing hops no longer hang over the area, with the huge brewery site about to welcome a huge influx of new locals.
Shirley Fitzgerald
Sydney (Halstead Press) 2008144pp includes index, bibliographical references, black & white photographs
ISBN 9781920831486 (paperback)
$30
Writers such as Ruth Park and Kylie Tennant made Surry Hills notorious as the inner-city home of battlers, larrikins, crime bosses and the rag trade.
In this new edition of Surry Hills: The City's Backyard, Christopher Keating contrasts the well-heeled residents and ultra-chic businesses that cram into today's Surry Hills with the shady past and planning disasters that once put the whole area under threat of demolition.
Christopher Keating
Sydney (Halstead Press) 2008143pp includes index, bibliographical references, black & white photographs
ISBN 9781920831493 (paperback)
$30
One of the few free settlers attracted to Australia in 1818 was Mak Sai Ying, who has descendents living in Sydney today. He bought land, married, and took up a pub licence. Since then, Chinese people have had a colourful and conspicuous place in Australia's oldest city. Success in work and commerce made them a target of business, jealousy, racist agitation in the labour movement and discriminatory measures including the White Australia Policy.
Shirley Fitzgerald's popular and scholarly book traces the feats and fortunes of Australia's largest Chinese community.
Shirley Fitzgerald
Sydney (Halstead Press) 2008 - revised and updated edition in English248pp includes index, bibliographical references, black & white photographs
ISBN 9781920831615 (paperback)
$30
The City of Sydney was first sacked in 1853. Back then the NSW government said it was ‘pernicious to the citizens’. It was sacked again in the 1920s, being described as a ‘cauldron of corruption’. In 1967 the Askin Liberal government accused the Labor party of running the City of Sydney as a closed shop and frustrating city development and it was sacked again. In 1987 the Unsworth Labor government returned the compliment.
Weaving through the story of these sackings are the endless changes to the City’s boundaries, as amalgamations and de-amalgamations with neighbouring councils occurred with astounding regularity.
Hilary Golder
Sydney (City of Sydney in association with Books & Writers) 2004232pp includes index, bibliographic references, black & white illustrations
ISBN: 0975119613 (paperback)
$5 Remaindered
70 people were interviewed by Sue Rosen about their experience of life, politics, economics and fun in the South Sydney area when they were growing up. This book presents edited extracts from these oral histories, creating a vivid and rich picture of life in the area. It chronicles events and conveys a strong sense of what it was like to live through the experiences of 20th-century urban life.
Sue Rosen
Alexandria (Hale & Iremonger in association with the South Sydney Council) 2000240pp includes index, black & white photographs
ISBN 0868066877 - paperback $5 Discounted price!
ISBN 0868067016 - hardback $10 Discounted price!
Lisa Murray presents a warts-and-all history of the planning issues, the political manoeuvres and the philosophical battles that eventually led to the Capitol Theatre being restored and reopened in 1995.
Lisa Murray
Sydney (City of Sydney) 200364pp includes bibliographic references, black & white illustrations plus a colour spread
ISBN 0975119605 (paperback)
$5 Remaindered
Lisa Murray describes the planning and construction of Sydney's world-class City Recital Hall. From the original battle for a recital hall in Customs House to the completion of the hall, Musical Chairs charts the machinations of key players including Musica Viva, AMP and architect Andrew Andersons. Generously illustrated in black and white, and colour, the book provides valuable insights into the peculiar mix of City politics, compromise and passion that is behind most great projects in Sydney.
Lisa Murray
Sydney (City of Sydney) 200676pp includes bibliographic references, black & white and colour illustrations
ISBN 0979511963X (paperback)
$5 Remaindered
This book focuses primarily on Town Hall's relationship with the people of Sydney and the many events that have taken place in the hall. They range from the humble, everyday and personal, to lavish public celebrations of national and international significance. The book is generously illustrated with historic photographs, presenting a lively account of the building's social history.
Margo Beasley
Sydney (City of Sydney in association with Hale & Iremonger) 1998128pp includes index, bibliographic references, black & white illustrations
ISBN 0-86806-638-9
$5 Remaindered
Sydney has achieved the status (long sought by its promoters, elites and cultural cringers) of a first-class world city and clinched its claim to being Australia’s premier capital and international gateway. This book looks at the 12.95 square kilometres that constitute the City of Sydney today, and examines the influence that planners and planning have had on this part of the world.
Paul Ashton
Sydney (City of Sydney in association with Hale & Iremonger) 1993128pp includes index, bibliographic references, black & white illustrations
ISBN 0-86806-487-4
$5
This catalogue is the companion to the exhibition held in Sydney Town Hall from 27 October to 12 November 2017. ‘Our City: 175 Years in 175 Objects’ presents the evolution of Sydney under the council's leadership. Illustrated in full colour, the history of Sydney is revealed through the stories of some remarkable objects: plans, furniture, letters, photographs, trophies and files.
Margaret Betteridge, Lisa Murray, Michael Smith
Sydney (City of Sydney) 2017
211pp, illustration (chiefly colour), 21cm
ISBN 0975119699 (Paperback)
$20
