Local History Articles

Celebrating an icon: 90 years of the Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Sydney Harbour Bridge captured the imagination of Australians as a symbol of modernity and ingenuity when it opened 90 years ago, on 19 March 1932...

Manly by tram

Although travel to Manly is indelibly associated with the ferry, in the period from 1911 to 1939 you could also arrive by tram.

The North Shore’s Chinese heritage

The Chinese communities that live today on Sydney’s lower North Shore are vibrant and confident...

Pining for the Past

Manly and the beaches to its north are famous for their Norfolk Island Pines...

An early church

One of the earliest churches on the Northern Beaches was also its most remote...

Rock of ages: sandstone and the history of the lower North Shore

Sydney is a sandstone city in the way that Rome is associated with marble and Bath with the beautiful calico-coloured limestone called ‘Bath Stone’...

The Great Depression in North Sydney

In April 2020, the International Monetary Fund declared the worldwide ‘Great Lockdown’ to be the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression...

Miss Harbord 1885

Most readers will know that the suburb and beach to the immediate north of Queenscliff has flirted over the years with the names Freshwater and Harbord...

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