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Ben Boyd
Sailing into Sydney in his yacht Wanderer in July 1842, Benjamin Boyd was welcomed by the press of the day as a flamboyant saviour to the failing economy. [button link="https://assets.2ser.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/24195716/Dictionary-of-Sydney-0224.wav"...
The High Life
Nestled at the Harbour end of Macquarie Street facing the Botanic Gardens is The Astor, the grand old dame of Sydney’s apartment blocks. Built in 1923, it was then Australia’s tallest residential building – at 13 storeys. [button...
St James tunnels
There is nothing people like more than a secret tunnel. And while a lot of people have heard about the tunnels connected with St James Railway Station, few have been lucky enough to visit them... until now. [button...
Hanging out with the hangman
Today is the anniversary of the death of Robert Rice Howard, the hangman for New South Wales from the 1870s until 1904, who died on 3 February 1906. Listen to Rachel and Alex...
The Waratah Festival
Celebrating Spring, and named for the state's floral emblem, the Waratah festival ran for 18 years from 1956 to 1973. It was replaced by the Sydney Festival in January from 1977. [button link="https://2ser.com/episodes/2ser-breakfast-600am-13th-jan-2021/"...
Behind you!
This week on 2SER Breakfast, Alex and Minna were treading the boards of the old Tivoli Theatre in Castlereagh Street looking for some Christmas time theatrical scandal. Over 100 years ago, the Tivoli was the venue for pantomimes, live dancing and musical shows,...
Artists’ camps
The enthusiasm for painting outdoors, embraced by the Impressionist movement in France, hit Sydney in the 1880s. A handful of artist camps were established around Sydney Harbour in the last two decades of the 19th century, leading to a prolific creative outpouring of...
True brew
In 1835, two brewers, John Tooth and his brother-in-law Charles Newnham, established a new brewery on the outskirts of the city. Named the Kent Brewery after the part of England they'd come from, it was set in a lush green area of market gardens and fresh water, ideal...
A Scuffle on the Scaffold: the execution of Thomas Kelly
Any event that involves a large number of people, no matter how carefully planned, carries a risk of something going wrong. People run late. People turn up who you were not expecting. Very occasionally, someone starts a brawl. [button...
2SER Radiothon
We love being part of the 2SER community and telling stories of Sydney's history to breakfast listeners each week. While the annual 2SER subscription and fundraising drive is happening, the Dictionary of Sydney segment with Alex on 2SER Breakfast will be on...
