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Professions & trades

Railway workers at Eveleigh Workshops in 1889

Railway employees guide

Employment with the Railways covered a large range of positions including driver, cleaner, engineer, draftsman, inspector, timekeeper, porter and ganger

'Flannel flower' figured rolled glass samples, distributed by James Sandy & Co, Sydney, 1909-14. 9.5(h) x 4.5cm(w) [each sample]. Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection, Museums of History NSW. L2007/252.

Decorative architectural glass: 'figured rolled' samples

Figured rolled glass is a type of 'obscured', commercially produced sheet glass which is smooth on one side and has a figured or patterned surface on the other

A large group of men stand in front of a train carriage at the Eveleigh Workshops in 1917

Eveleigh Workshops during the 1917 railway strike

On 2 August 1917 the General Strike began. It started in the Randwick Rail Workshops & Eveleigh Carriage Workshops & quickly spread to other industries until about 100,000 workers were on strike

William John Mackay, NSW Police Commissioner
Underworld

Central Police Station – a policeman’s critique

Most of the Special photographs were taken in the yards at Sydney’s Central Police Station, located in the central business district next to the Central court complex

[Portrait of a man in the dock]
Convict Sydney

Lawrence Kavanagh

Kavanagh’s courage and spirit led him into further crimes after arriving in Sydney – bushranging, escape and attempted robbery under arms, which saw him transported again, to Norfolk Island for 14 years in 1831

Government Printing Office d1_13492 - Nurses leaving Blackfriars Depot - [From NSW Government Printer series: Influenza epidemic 1919], 1919

Nurses guide

General nursing duties in the earliest days of the Colony were undertaken by untrained convicts. This Guide provides an historical background and select list of records relating to nursing in New South Wales

Old photo pasted onto brown card, of group of boys in front of train engine.
WW1

‘Escapade’ at Eveleigh

On 2 August 1917, workers at Sydney’s Eveleigh railway workshops and Randwick tramway depot went on strike over the introduction of a time card system

A man stands looking at the camera with a large black bag next to him.
Underworld

The photographer’s bag

Little personal relics of the man behind the camera make many cameos in the Specials

On This Day

First police force in NSW

On 8 August 1789 Governor Phillip established a night-watch of eight of the best-behaved convicts in the Colony. It was the first police force in the country