Coastal & marine

Ruins of Temple of Vishnu, Dondra, Ceylon

City of Gods, my early experience and toy boat

Inspired by a watercolour of the ruins of the temple of Vishnu, refugee curator in residence Jagath Dheerasekara writes about Devinuvara as a site of pilgrimage, colonisation and uprising

Circular Quay, ferries 1936

Harbour views through time

More than 4000 striking images from the Sydney Harbour Trust and Maritime Services Board in the State Archives Collection have been released online

Enough rope

More than a kilometre of rope suspended the hammocks required to sleep 600 or more convicts in the Hyde Park Barracks dormitories between 1819 and 1848

a group of people stand in front of a sign No Plastic Please

Tales of Sydney beaches

Meet a bunch of keen, caring and colourful Sydney beach-goers and see what attracts them to the city's fabled and fabulous coast

B/W photo showing a beach-lined bay with rocks and some kind of makeshift swimming enclosure at the water's edge.

A pond in a privately owned paddock

Today, Sydneysiders would find it incredible that a century ago many of the harbourside beaches and parks to which they flock in summer were privately owned and not accessible to the public