Politics & democracy

Gouache painting of the waterfront at Guangzhou, China. The hongs or factories shown in this view are those rebuilt after the fire of 1841. This view is dated by the Protestant (Anglican) church erected in 1847.

Celestial City: Sydney’s Chinese Story

As Sydney celebrated its centenary in 1888, several boats carrying Chinese immigrants sailed through Sydney Heads into a crisis that would shape the nation. ‘Celestials’, as Chinese people were known at the time, had been arriving in Sydney under organised immigration schemes since the 1840s

Embroidered flag in several colours.

Unfurling Sydney’s radical past

An intriguing acquisition sheds light on the political turmoil of the 1930s and the bungled opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Colourised image of boys standing around with wheel borrows filled with bricks.

Skint! Making do in the great depression

On Tuesday 29 October 1929 the New York stock market collapsed. The great depression began, and the impacts were quickly felt in Australia