Image of Horwood Street Car Park, Parramatta, c. early-1980s. Source: City of Parramatta Council Archives Photographic Collection
Over the years, the City of Parramatta Council has taken many photos to record its events, activities, buildings and achievements. One of the roles of the Parramatta Heritage Centre is to preserve these images in its archives.
Hand Operated Vacuum Cleaner. Source: Collection Sydney Olympic Park Authority – Courtesy of the Royal Australian Navy Heritage Collection held at Newington Armory, 2019.
Vacuum cleaners originated in the 1800s. Operated manually by two people, they blew dust into the air.
Join us for a fascinating, immersive expert talk where history and medicine combine to explore the 1919 “Spanish ‘flu” pandemic in Parramatta
The First World War battlefields on the Western Front in France and Belgium were witness to an Australian story of great triumph and tragedy, of unimaginable losses to a young nation and an extraordinary part in the course of history. (more…)
The Battle of Beersheba took place on 31 October 1917 during the third Battle of Gaza in Palestine. It was a defining moment that demonstrated the success of Manoeuvre Warfare in the region, and the power of mounted troops to rapidly redefine the outcome of a battle. (more…)
Commuters in Sydney wearing masks during the influenza pandemic, 1919. Source: The Australian
In November 1918, as peace was declared and the guns of the First World War fell silent, people across the world began to succumb in great numbers to a deadly disease. Caused by a particularly virulent strain of pneumonic influenza, the illness was notable for taking the lives of an unusually high number of otherwise young and healthy people.
Makeshift Pneumonic Influenza hospital, Melbourne, 1919. Source: Heritage Council of Victoria
In January 1919, cases of the deadly pneumonic influenza pandemic sweeping the world were diagnosed in Australia, first in Melbourne and then in Sydney.
Motions of Condolence. Source: Minutes of the Meeting of Dundas Municipal Council, 2 April 1919
As the pneumonic influenza pandemic took hold in Parramatta during the first few months of 1919, the small Parramatta District Hospital was only able to admit a handful of influenza patients, so those ill with the disease began to be directed to Lidcombe State Hospital, or the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Camperdown.[1]
Dundas Skyline Drive-in, c. 1950s (Source: www.drive-insdownunder.com.au)
Some previously well-known features of Parramatta’s urban landscape have, over the years, given way due to changes in taste or developments in technology. Here, we take a look at the stories behind five of the city’s vanished historic landmarks, and explore what has taken their place. (more…)
During the First World War, letter writing was the main form of communication between soldiers and their loved ones, this helped ease the pain of long term separation. Soldiers from Parramatta would write letters (more…)