Mark D and Laila E are historians based in Sydney, Australia. When they are not working or doing other things, they are busy scratching the surface of their gritty, harbourside city.
You can hear them every Friday morning at 8.15am on Sydney’s Fbi Radio.
You can also check out the Scratching Sydney’s Surface facebook page here: www.facebook.com/ScratchingSydneysSurface
Not in Sydney? You can stream the program live no matter where you live!
Hi Mark
This is Kylie – Kate and Steve’s friend. For some reason every Friday I miss your show on FBI. Anyway, today at about 9am they were talking about this website so I’ve had a quick peek at it. It looks great and when I have more time I’m going to have a thorough look at it.
Just wanted to say hi and congrats on such an interesting site
Hi Kylie
Glad you dropped in on us. I’m a bit tardy in the updates but we can only try. Hopefully you’ll hear us soon, we are much more entertaining in the vocal compared to the written.
Cheers mark
Hi guys. Great show but I don’t always get to catch it. Any chance you could do a podcast of the segment on the website or through FBI?
Cheers
Mel
hey guys,
Everyday I walk past the beautiful old ‘Australian Workers Union’ Building at 238 Castlereagh, opposite the fire station. I’ve always wondered what its history is.. I can’t find anything about what’s currently in there now or why it seemingly is still run down in such a prime location etc?
Ta!
Dave
Yeah I know that building and have often thought the same thing. I always suspected it was still owned by the AWU or some other Union. Might do a i bit of an ask around and see if we can’t come up with anything.
Cheers
Hi Dave, the AWU building is listed on the Register of the National Estate – search here: http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl – and is probably also listed by the National Trust. This might be of interest: http://marcellous.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/the-awu-building-is-not-a-heritage-item
Also suggest that you check out Places, protests and memorabilia: the labour heritage register of New South Wales by Terry Irving and Lucy Taksa, published by the Industrial Relations Research Centre at the University of New South Wales in 2002, as there is a bit of history in it about how the building was used by the labour movement in the nineteenth & twentieth century.
Cheers, Laila
Hi Guys,
Love your Blog!
I am a writer in Melbourne researching the razor gangs of the thirties. I really enjoyed your articles highlighting this period and will be taking part in the Razorhurst tour when I come to Sydney in November. As local historians, are there any particular resources/places you would recoomend?
Cheers, Leisl
Leisl
Are you doing this tour with HHT? They have alot of material in the Justice and Police Museum worth looking at. A couple of books like Razor by Larry Writer, or Chow Hayes: Gunman by David Hickie are also good. But a wander around Sydney’s Darlinghurst and Surry Hills, a couple of beers in the East Village (old Tradesmans Arms Hotel and favoured razor gang haunt) or a bar in Kellet Street (scene of a 1928 gang war) should get you in the mood.
Hi Guys,
I booked the tour through the Razorhurst website, which stops off at a lot of those places. Razor by Larry Writer has become my bible, I am leafing through it every day and making notes, but I’ll have a look for the other one you recommended.
Do you have a link to the HHT website? I haven’t heard of that one.
Leisl
when will there be a scratch and sniff Sydney episode? Olfactory Sydney.
Hmm, good idea. Will look into it!
Great site! Well done- keep the info coming!!
Really love your spot on FBI on Friday mornings. You guys are great. Keep scratching!
Thanks Lucas! Nice to get the feedback, and we will indeed keep scratchin’.
Hi Guys
Any chance you would like to come and present to a bunch of archivists during history week?
Hi Mel,
Probably – but will check with my commrade!
We’ll be in touch.
How would I get some info to you about some potentially very Scratching Sydney’s Surface stuff?
Email…?
Hi there, best email to get us on is: scratchingsydneyssurface@gmail.com
Mark and Laila,
you may be interested in a new book (forthcoming June 10) by Terry Irving and self titled Radical Sydney; see our blog for details
.
Thanks Rowan – we’ll check it out.
Love the show on FBI guys, so interesting..
Hi Mark,
Where is the old tram depot at Concord? Where the current bus depot is opposite Concord Oval? And where is that tram you said is stationed at Rozelle?
Also, do you recommend other books or sites to dig further into the topic? I find all this stuff fascinating.
And a separate question. I recall a good chat last year when you were talking about how much of the lands along the Parra river, and indeed in and around the Ryde area were citrus plantations. Again, do you recommend sites or books?
Cheers, Howie
Howie, yes it is the bus depot opposite Concord Oval, while the old trams at rozelle are in the old tram sheds behind Wentworth Park. Try David Keenan’s many books on Sydney trams. Written a few years back they give a good overview of the system as well as (very) detailed info on each line. Libraries have them or the rail heritage centre at Central station. As for Ryde, there are a few pictorial histories of the area that have info and photos, or histories of Parramatta river including one a few years back called The River by G Blaxall.
The Dictionary of Sydney (http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/) also has stuff on the trams and ryde
Saw this and thought it would be fun to make a Sydney version. (And thought of you guys). I really like how he finds example architecture that would have looked similar had the plans gone ahead.
Great little doco – ta for the link!
Laila!
I’ve just found your blog, and am enjoying it very much.
Thanks for the copy of Beneath The Pines, a great read.
I don’t check my pigeonhole very often, and only found it the week after you emailed saying you were changing jobs.
I don’t have your new email so I couldn’t thank you before!
Perhaps you sould send it throught to me?
Hi Dave, good to hear from you – and ta for comment. Will send through email. Cheers! L
Wentworth Park is a long way from Rozelle. What you mean is the Harold Park racetrack, on the other side of Glebe from Wentworth Park (and slightly closer to Rozelle), and that’s where the trams are. At least you’re taking an interest in this stuff but I worry when such a great-looking website contains clunking inaccuracies. Like your Melbourne fan who wants to study razor wars of the ’30s, when by and large they were over by 1930. And the old Tradesman’s Arms is a travesty, entirely lacking in atmosphere, but then again most Sydney pubs have been scrubbed clean of not only the blood and spittle but even the local people, populated instead by phonies, fakes and Johnny-come-latelies. (Or should that be Johnnies-come-lately?) Anyway, don’t let an old grump put you off. Keep up the good work. JS
James
Oops, sometimes things slip by, thanks for picking it up. I can’t however find the post? Which one has Wentworth Parkl in it? Is it the Circus, because that is where the circuses did set up. Anyway ta.
As for Razor Wars, while the big fights (as currently being shown by shows like Underbelly) certainly did calm down by the early 1930s, razor slashings and razor attacks remained a favourite form of intimidation in Sydney and Melbourne right through the 1930s and 1940s, with some appearing before the courts in Sydney as late as the mid 1950s. It was a cheap easy weapon and difficult to get rid of. And while the Trademan’s Arms has certainly had a make-over, at least its still trading as a pub, which is more then can be said for many of its contemporaries. The slow cleansing and closing of Sydney’s pub scene is a sad sad story indeed.
Thanks for reading, and for taking an interest.
The info about trams was in your letters page – 24 August. And, yeah, Chow Hayes was still fighting his own war until the 1970s or so but I wouldn’t count that as razor gang stuff.
Hi Mark and Laila, I love your blog and radio show. Can you help solve this little Darlinghurst mystery: http://mydarlingdarlinghurst.blogspot.com/2011/11/darlinghurst-blog-detritus-secret.html
The workers’ hole that leads to these “secret tunnels” is due to be filled in today. Would be great to know what these tunnels are.
Thanks so much, Violet.
Hi Violet,
These photos and the story of the tunnels are very interesting. There are probably site plans of the gaol / national art school that show what these tunnels were used for, copies of which are available at State Records and perhaps also Sydney Water if they were used for drainage. Also, I assume the heritage branch would have required an excavation permit for any excavation work on the Caritas site? – the permit might have some background on what the tunnels were used for too. But perhaps other people might have memories of the tunnels. Great blog btw.
Cheers! L
Hi Mark and Leila;
The blog is great and have enjoyed reading through. Thought you might like to see some Sydney stories that I’ve put together on my blog.
http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com/2009/06/death-of-dr-claude-tozer.html
http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com/2009/06/lost-streets-of-surry-hills.html
http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com/2009/06/great-sydney-hailstorm-of-1947.html
http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com/2009/07/scheyville-experiment.html
http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com/2011/04/shark-attack.html
Hi,
Firstly love the show on FBI and your blog. I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction in regards to a book or books that deals with Sydney’s history? A general overview would suffice at first. Also any chance of arranging a Podcast through FBI?
Cheers,
James
Hi James
Thanks for listening and for reading, glad you are liking it.
There are many books on Sydney but a few that are good overviews include Ian Hoskins recent book Sydney Harbour: A History; Grace Karskens The Colony for very good and very readable colonial history; the series of books published by Sydney Council a few years on Sydney, Millers Point, Chippendale, Pyrmont/Ultimo and Surry Hills are all good and in libraries. Parramatta Council, Fairfield and Manly have also published histories of their areas. There are heaps around. Another good online history source is the Dictionary of Sydney-worth checking out (www.dictionaryofsydney.org).
As for the podcast, we are trying to get that happening and hopefully it will be soon.
Cheers
Hi folks; just completed an article about Darlinghurst Gaol on my blog. Its at http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/darlinghurst-gaol.html Hope you find it interesting
Cheers Dick Whitaker
Hello. Love your blog. Started my own a couple of months ago called ‘The Good, the Bad and the Italian’, about growing up Italian in Australia (among other things). One of my recent posts talks about the Caffe Sport in Leichhardt Sydney and might be of interest: http://ambradambra.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/hold-the-traffic-i-have-another-coffee-story-to-write/
I’ll also be writing about living in Balmain in the 1960s in future posts.
Cheers, Ambra Sancin
Hi Ambra
Nice one on the Caffe Sport-now there is a Sydney coffee institution. Good luck with the photo and the traffic.
We look forward to your Balmain posts as well.
Cheers
Yes, I visited Cockatoo Island last week for the Biennale. That brought up lots of memories, so look out for a future post on that.
cheers
I’ve just stumbled across you while reading up on the history of Redfern. What a fabulous interesting and well researched blog. So glad i found you.
Thanks Kerry!
Love your segment, have been listening intermittently for a while as I can’t always tune at 8:15, love the blog. Keep up the great work!. would love to hear the occasional segment on Western Sydney past Parramatta. As you may know 2013 is the 200th anniversary of the crossing of the Blue Mountains, it also happens to be the 125th anniversary of the building of Prospect Reservoir, the first earthfill embankment dam in Australia.
Hi Molmo, we now have a facebook page where you can link to the podcasts: http://www.facebook.com/ScratchingSydneysSurface
Ta for the tip about Western Sydney! Keep your ears to the airwaves…
Hi folks,
I’ve only just been introduced to your website via your facebook page. I think it is really great. I agree with you that Dictionary of Sydney is a wonderful resource for history of Sydney.
Meanwhile I am wondering if you can tell me where I might find a physical copy of your Woods Lane photo: http://scratchingsydneyssurface.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/woods-lane-1947-ml-hood_21699r.jpg
I’d love to be able to scan it at high res.
Thanks and keep up the great stuff.
Thanks for the feedback!
The image in question is from the State Library of NSW – here’s the link: http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=28882
Big fan of your work!
Thanks Jack