Sydney A Biography

‘ I came to Sydney from Melbourne in 1978 and immediately fell in love with its history, the sandstone buildings, the gorgeous harbour, the bridge, the Opera House, its ad hoc streets and its denizens.’ In Sydney, acclaimed playwright and author Louis Nowra – author of Kings Cross and Woolloomooloo – expands his gaze to explore the energy, beauty, vulgarity, dynamism and pulsating sense of self-importance of his adopted city. This big, bustling portrait of Sydney is told through profiles of people, high and low, with a cast of criminals and premiers, ordinary folk, entertainers, artists, thieves and visionaries. Along with its people, Nowra surveys the city’ s architecture and its global identity. And as Sydney’ s history unfolds throughout the twentieth century and beyond, Nowra revels in its neon lighting, music, skyscrapers and sense of optimism.

Louis Nowra is an acclaimed author, essayist, screenwriter and playwright. His plays include The Golden Age, Inside the Island, Summer of the Aliens, The Boyce Trilogy, Radiance and Così (the latter two were made into successful films for which he wrote the screenplays). His novels include The Misery of Beauty, Abaza and Ice, Into That Forest and Prince of Afghanistan. He co-edited an anthology of writing about Kings Cross (with Mandy Sayer), In the Gutter ... Looking at the Stars and is the author of Kings Cross: A biography and Woolloomooloo: A biography.

Author’ s note Prologue The Dispossession Albion The Distance of Your Heart The Builders: Francis Greenway Here She Comes! Hunter’ s Era The Cult of the Body The French are Here Old Sydney Town The Army Steps In The Watery Heart of Sydney Town Takes Shape Privileged Pursuits The Shame of Clontarf Sydney Becomes a City The End of Transportation The Dunbar Sydney’ s Self-Creation This is How a Dynasty Ends: The Fairfaxes Hyde Park North The World Comes to Sydney The Divided City A Young Woman’ s World in the 1890s A Little Slice of America The Domain, the First World War and Drink A Day in Concord Suburban Visions On the Beach The Golden Twenties The Dreamweavers 1930s The Coathanger The War Comes to Sydney Rats, The Bubonic Plague And Murderous Women The 1950s The Push Flat Life The Askin Era of the 1960s Red Lights Undercurrents The builders: Harry Seidler The Sydney Packers Hyde Park South A Taste of the 80s This Small Block of Darlinghurst A Global City Now