Sydney Insiders Blog

Located within the grand dame herself, the Queen Victoria Building, are two great clocks. These hang majestically from both ends of the celling. This one is the Great Australian Clock hanging at the northern end of the building. This clock weighs in at a staging 4 tons and measuring 10 metres tall. It also lays…

Sydney is blessed with so many outstanding picnic spots that choosing one is almost impossible. There are though some that are simply too brilliant not to visit. The spot highlighted is one that ticks all the boxes. Scenic, romantic and family. Please consider when you really want to make out of town friends jealous! Bradleys…

The Corso is the best-known thoroughfare on Sydney’s northern beaches and hosts largest and most significant war memorial on the peninsula. Like most streets in Manly, The Corso gave some of its young men to what was supposed to be the war to end all wars, but sadly it wasn’t. As was the case with…

The Female Orphan School was first set built in 1801 on the corner of George and Bridge streets in Sydney. This establishment was driven by the zeal of Reverend Samuel Marsden, who wanted to replace the informal boarding out system to deal with orphaned and abandoned children in the colony. Marsden’s family would go on…

Busby’s Bore, which runs under Sydney’s streets between Centennial Park and Hyde Park remains as one of the most impressive pieces of convict-built infrastructure in Sydney. In the mid-1820s, Sydney was in the midst of a water crisis.  In the space of 30 years, the European settlers had managed to make their main fresh water…

Just like the mythical Scottish village that disappears and reappears again, Sydney too has a seaside spot that can vanish for years on end. This secret spot in Sydney is so secretive, it’s not even around for most of the year! This picture-perfect beach is around 100 metres north of Tamarama is actually hidden for…

The secret maybe well and truly out about this hidden garden, but it really is heart-warming story and a space worth sharing. When Wendy Whiteley lost her husband, Australian artist Brett Whiteley in 1992, she funneled her love and grief into transforming a disused, derelict train yard space. Wendy’s Secret Garden – which is at…

Did you know that Sydney is home to the largest cemetery in the southern hemisphere? It is the final resting place to over 1 million former Sydneysiders, including my ancestors.  Rookwood Necropolis, in Sydney’s western suburbs, was first opened in 1867 and is still an active cemetery today. The term necropolis refers to its enormous…

If you venture into the centre of Sydney today, you’ll find the extravagant Strand Arcade linking George and Pitt streets. It is Sydney’s only remaining Victorian shopping arcade dating back to the late 19th century. It was once one of six shopping arcades built in the city centre between 1881 and 1892, concentrated in the area…

Until the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, there were two ways of crossing the harbour with a vehicle. One was to go inland to Bedlam Point, near Gladesville where there was a punt, the other was to catch the horse ferry. There were several horse ferries operating in this vicinity, but only two wharves…

The Garden Palace was located just south of the present-day Conservatorium of Music (in the southwestern end of the Royal Botanic Gardens). It was constructed for the Sydney International Exhibition which opened its doors on 17 September 1879. It was designed by James Barnet and constructed in just eight months, an achievement at the time The…

During construction of Sydney’s new metro train line, two ‘ghost platforms’ were uncovered. These has lay hidden beneath Central Station, buried and abandoned for over 40 years. Platforms 26 and 27 lie dormant and gathering decades of dust as 270,000 people walk above them every say without knowing what lies beneath their feet. These platforms…