The Sydney Book - Written by Marjorie Barnard - Drawings by Sydney Ure Smith

The Sydney Book is a slim book that pairs two people who loved this city. The words are by Marjorie Barnard (1897–1987), the Ashfield-born novelist, historian and librarian – one half of “M. Barnard Eldershaw”. The drawings are by Sydney Ure Smith (1887–1949), the artist and publisher behind Art in Australia. It was published by Ure Smith Pty Ltd in Sydney and first printed in December 1947.

Ure Smith had a lifelong soft spot for Sydney's old buildings – his own books Old Sydney (1911) and Old Colonial By-Ways (1928) came out of it – and it shows in these drawings. The title page gives the feel of the whole book: Hyde Park Barracks seen through the gates of St James' Church. Below are the pages from the National Library of Australia's digitised copy.

The Post Office tower from Wynyard Street, 1916 – etching by Sydney Ure Smith (State Library of NSW, DL Pd 436)
Image: Sydney Ure Smith (State Library of NSW) – via Wikimedia Commons (no known copyright restrictions). Source

Sydney Ure Smith, 1933 (State Library of NSW, MLMSS 31)
Image: Unknown photographer (State Library of NSW) – via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain). Source

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The Sydney Book – Written By Marjorie Barnard – Drawings By Sydney Ure Smith
Ure Smith Pty Ltd, Sydney, 1947 – scans from the National Library of Australia (nla.obj-3416656272)

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Disappearing Relics Of Old Sydney - Sydney Mail - Wednesday 1st September 1926 - Page 10

By 1926 the building of the Harbour Bridge was eating into The Rocks, and Princes Street was one of the streets doomed to go. In this Sydney Mail feature, a writer calling himself “Spartacus Smith” went looking for the little architectural details of the old houses before the “cranes of the bridge-builders” reached them.

The photographs pick out things you'd walk straight past: iron balconettes, worn stone steps, fluted pillars, and a wall topped with broken bottles to keep out intruders. The full headline in the paper is “Disappearing Architectural Relics of Old Sydney”. Princes Street was demolished soon afterwards, around 1927, to make way for the Bridge's southern approach, so these pictures are some of the last looks we have at it.

Related posts on this blog: The Rocks – Sydney · Dawes Point – Tar-ra – The Rocks

Princes Street looking south, The Rocks, c. 1900 – Tyrrell Photographic Collection (Powerhouse Museum)
Image: Powerhouse Museum collection – via Wikimedia Commons (no known copyright restrictions). Source

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Disappearing Architectural Relics Of Old Sydney
Sydney Mail – Wednesday 1st September 1926 – Page 10

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