Neil Sedaka in Australia

When Neil Sedaka's career was in the dolldrums circa 1969, he traveled to Sydney and recorded an album for Festival helped by local talent like John Farrar, as arranger. 'Wheeling West Virginia' was the most popular among the many songs put together for the LP 'Workin' on a groovy thing'. 

MARRICKVILLE 1930s

Undercliffe Bridge over Cook's River overlooking Illawarra Road in Marrickville.

Illawarra Road, Marrickville in 1956...

Marrickville Road, 1936. 

Kings Theatre in 1938.

Kings Theatre in Marrickville in 1938.

Marrickville Kings Theatre first entertained patrons with independent & foreign-language films in 1937. It lasted for a little more than 3 decades. The cinema was demolished and a strip of offices & flats was built in its place in 1971. 

Opened in 1921 as Hoyts De Luxe Theatre, it had a Spanish Colonial style of decoration. It was closed in March 1938 and was given an Art Deco style makeover, after which the De Luxe name was dropped. The Hoyts Marrickville Theatre re-opened on 23rd April 1938.

The Addison Theatre opened its doors as the Victoria Theatre on 29 October 1924. The Addison was a typical suburban cinema, running double-bills every week. After almost 4 decades servicing movie-goers, it finally, closed its doors on 21st June 1958 after screening Frank Sinatra & Sophia Loren's 'The pride and the passion'. Today, a petrol station occupies the site on Addison Road. 

https://www.sydneylatinofilmfestival.org/announcing-addison-road-picture-house/?fbclid=IwAR3HdhnXH9a2OSz0QH2M-pSk81OkVoKG4qf7W-D9aGSfMM6-x4GsxMrYU60

1987

looking south-east 1987.

looking south towards Botany Bay from Centre Point Tower in 1985.

Cumberland Street in the Rocks

Stairwell from flat 34-C Cumberland Street, Rocks. 

Cumberland Street, Rocks. 

Old Sydney Terminus Railway Station in Redfern

Old Sydney Railway Station in Redfern - corner of George & Devonshire Streets in 1890.

Old Sydney Terminus in 1902. 

Central Railway Station

Central Station Square looking West in 1921.

Central Railway Square in January 1929.

Central Railway Square on George Street having Christ Church, St. Laurence in 1900.

1910.

Central Railway Square in 1914.

Devonshire Street tunnel, opened in 1906, allows pedestrians to walk unimpeded from Central Station to Railway Square, and then on to the Marcus Clark building after an extension in the early 1970s, a total distance of some 380 metres.

I have memories of walking through it after night classes at the NSW Institute of Technology (now UTS). It was rather a dismal and dirty place, and somewhat scary when a beggar with a hand in his pocket asked if you could spare a dollar or two.

It now extends to Darling Harbour after the closure of the old goods railway line. This photo, taken circa 1977, by Niels Ellmoos, is held by the City of Sydney Archives. Derek Woodlands wrote at FB in 2026.  

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1939.

Central Railway Square, 1945. 

Central Station under construction in 1903. 

Central Railway Station tower sometime between 1922 & 1927. 

George Street at Haymarket.

slog up Pitt Street to Central Station circa 1912.

Cemetery where Central Station would be... 

same cemetery seen at a different angle...

Sydney seen through an artist's eyes

Baker's Terrace painted by Roland Wakelin in 1963.

Observatory Hill seen from Darling Harbour, painted by Frederick Garling in 1865.

Natives of N.S.W. as seen in the streets of Sydney by Augustus Earle in 1830.

Sydney University

Parramatta Road, Camperdown, 1930s. 

Road to Parramatta circa 1870.

Sydney University Great Hall in 1874; horse & coach are facing East.

Broadway looking West 1947; the steeple on the left is St. Benedict's; Sydney Uni's Great Hall tower can be seen futher up...

Broadway towards Victoria Park in 1930.

Perspective for applicant owner Alfred Bennett for proposed University Hotel, approved on 21st January 1890.

University Hotel in 1952.

Olden Sydney

Saint Mary's Cathedral on College Street in 1908.

beautiful Crown Street Public School between 1880 & 1890.

Saint George Church on Glenmore Road with Gumer Street curving East - in the 1930s. 

Saint Vincent's Hospital circa 1905. 

Pacific Highway in North Sydney at Christmas 1951, during the public transport strike. 

Synagogue on Elizabeth Street in 1922. 

The Synagogue dwarfed by the Manchester Unity Independent Union of Odd Fellows, looking from Park Street across to Elizabeth Street, immediately prior to the slicing open of Hyde Park for the 2 train stations. 

early 1930s. 

Hercules Street, Ashfield, 1938; Lindsay & Co. at # 12 on the left-hand side. 

Hercules Street, Ashfield, 1956; no remnants of the tram lines closed in 1948. 

Archibald fountain in 1940.

Hotel Kurrajon photographed by Emil Otto Hoppé, 1930; with Saint Mary's Cathedral in the background.

AWA Tower in 1938, by Arthur Ernest Foster. 

June 1937.

South Dowling Road with Flinders Street in 1888.

Town Hall in the 1950s.