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Windsor Road, Riverstone in 1907.

In 1810 Lieut-Col Maurice Charles O'Connell was granted 2,500 acres (10 km2) of land in the district, which he named "Riverston Farm", after his birthplace in Ireland. (The "e" at the end first appeared on railway timetables in the 1860s, an apparent misprint that has become the accepted spelling).

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Katoomba Street, Katoomba, in 1955.

In 1874 the area was named The Crushers after the name of the railway station that served a nearby quarry. It was at this point trains stopped to adjust the brakes of the carriages to allow for the descent to Springwood.

The name Katoomba was adopted in 1877 and the town achieved municipality status in 1889.

Katoomba is a derivative of the Aboriginal word ‘Kedumba’ meaning ‘shiny, falling waters’ after the natural beauty of the area.

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Corner of Belmont & Military Roads, Cremorne, in the 1950s.

Built 1870 at State Government expense to give access to the fortifications owing to a war scare. Part of Military Road was for a time known as Balaklava Road.

Cremorne was named after the Cremorne Gardens in London, a popular pleasure ground in England, which derived its name from the Old Irish words Crích Mugdornd meaning 'boundary' or 'chieftain' of Mugdornd.

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Workmen laying a new surface on George Street opposite the Town Hall in 1931.

Until 1810 George Street was generally referred to as High Street in the English custom, although the northern part of the thoroughfare was also sometimes referred to as "Sergeant Major's Row" and, earlier, as "Spring Row" (since water carriers had originally established the route as a link between the Tank Stream, the Military encampment and the hospital). The Street was formally named for King George III by Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1810.

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Looking down to Eddy Avenue, outside Central Station, in 1940.

Eddy Avenue was built in 1905, during the construction of Central Railway Station. It was named after Edward Eddy, who served as Commissioner of Railways from 1887 to 1897.

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Martin Place, in 1933.

Ever since the proposal in 1863 to construct the Sydney General Post Office on its present site, there had been plans to open up its northern frontage, at that time a narrow laneway that connected to Moore Street past Pitt Street, with occasional proposals for beautifying the area with fountains and gardens. But nothing was done until fire destroyed properties to the north of the lane between Pitt and Castlereagh streets in 1890.

A new widened street was created in front of the General Post Office, from George to Pitt streets. It was officially opened in September 1892 and named after the Chief Justice, Sir James Martin, a former New South Wales Attorney-General and Premier. Moore Street (between Pitt and Castlereagh streets) was widened and renamed Martin Place in 1921. Sydney Municipal Council resolved to proceed with a further extension in 1923 but this section required extensive demolition of properties in the way of the line of the street, and it faced concerted opposition from land owners, with legal action taken to prevent the resumption of their land.

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The original Sydney Rail Terminal at Redfern in 1900.

In 1855, the first railway line in NSW was opened. The 22km ‘Great Trunk Line’ operated from Sydney (Redfern) to Parramatta with stations at Newtown, Ashfield, Burwood, Homebush and Parramatta Junction at Granville. The Sydney terminal was on the south side of Devonshire Street, just south of the current location of Central Station.

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New South Head Road, Rushcutters Bay, in 1870.

The toll gate that was once there can be seen in the distance.

After British settlement, the area was first known as 'Rush Cutting Bay' because the swampy land was covered in tall rushes used by early settlers for thatching houses. In 1878, 6 acres were reserved for recreation; and, after reclamation work was completed, Rushcutters Bay Park was created, bounded by New South Head Road and the bay at Sydney Harbour.

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Avenue Road, Mosman, between 1890-1897.

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Looking north on Gloucester Street, The Rocks, in 1901.

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Pyrmont Bridge, Darling Harbour, around 1900.

The first Pyrmont Bridge was opened in 1858, and was a wooden pile bridge with an iron centre 'swing panel' to allow ships to pass. In the first two weeks 20,000 pedestrians paid the one penny toll. It was also crossed by "932 carts and drays, 43 gigs, 17 carriages and 125 horse and rider." When the NSW government bought the bridge for £52,500 from the Pyrmont Bridge Company in 1884, they abolished the toll.

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A crowd gathers outside Harrys Cafe De Whhels, Wooloomooloo, in 1949.

The story of ‘Harry’s Café de Wheels’ goes back to the Great Depression years of the 1930s. With the world on the brink of a devastating war, an enterprising Sydneysider named Harry Edwards used a small converted caravan to open a mobile café near the front gates of the naval dockyard at Woolloomooloo. In those days the caravan was towed by an ex-Army ambulance. Word quickly spread with Harry’s pie ‘n’ peas and crumbed snags soon becoming a popular part of the city’s nightlife – keenly sought after by sailors, soldiers, cabbies, starlets and coppers alike.

Harry operated the caravan until 1938 when it closed, due to his enlistment into the AIF. During Harry’s time in the Middle East he was nicknamed ‘Tiger’ owing to his boxing prowess and the name stuck. Upon his return and demobilization in 1945, Harry realised that Sydney hadn’t changed much and it was still almost impossible to get a good late-night feed, so he reopened and the caravan has been operating continuously ever since. His signature dish, a meat pie topped with mushy peas, mashed potato and gravy, became known as a ‘Tiger’.

The café was originally simply known as ‘Harry’s’ but the city council came up with a ruling that mobile food caravans must move a minimum of 12 inches a day. Hence the new name ‘Harry’s Café de Wheels’. Harry (Tiger) Edwards operated the business for a further 30 years before selling out to Alex Koronya in 1975.

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New South Head Road, Rose Bay, 1960.

Aka 'Heartbreak Hill', which thousands of runners struggle up in the City to Surf. An FJ Holden passes a tram not long before this tram line closed. A two-tone blue Standard rolls heavily into the corner on the downhill.

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Evonne Goolagong, the first Australian indigenous woman to reach no1 in the world, in tennis, is welcomed home from England, after winning Wimbledon, in 1971.

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Chatswood Station, around 1910.

Chatswood station opened in 1890 when the North Shore line opened from Hornsby to St Leonards. It and the suburb was named after Richard Garnett’s second wife’s pet who was called Chatty. An island platform was built on 23 May 1900 and a third dock platform brought into use on 12 July 1919.

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Bus and Tram employees board a tram on Parramatta Road, Leichhardt, after a stop work meeting Leichhardt in October 1947.

British Colonists adopted the route that is now Parramatta Road shortly after their arrival in the Parramatta area in 1788, and only minor changes to the old colonial highway route have been made since 1797. The colonial highway itself was mapped over an ancient path trodden by people of the Eora and Darug Nations for countless generations, as they travelled between coast and inland to access resources and to gather for social and ceremonial occasions.

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Canterbury Road, Hurlstone Park, in 1908.

Hurlstone Park was first known as 'Wattle Hill' and then 'Fernhill'. After the Postmaster-General's Department refused to open a post office called Fernhill, a 1910 referendum chose the name 'Hurlstone', after the nearby Hurlstone College.

John Kinloch founded the college in 1878, on the site of present-day Trinity Grammar School and named it after his mother's maiden name, which was Helen Hurlstone. The college moved to a new site, now known as Hurlstone Agricultural High School. The 'Park' was added at the request of the Railways Department, to avoid confusion with the New South Wales town of Hillston.