Sydney

Martin Place

Martin Place became Sydney's gathering place by accident of what was built on it. James Barnet's General Post Office went up along its southern side from the 1870s, and the street in front of it — then only a short block — was where the city came to read the news off a board before anyone had a radio. It was widened and extended east in stages over the following decades, and was still a street with traffic on it throughout the period these photographs cover.

The crowd photographs are the centre of the collection. Sydney filled Martin Place on 15 August 1945 for the end of the Second World War, and the victory parade frames are from that week — the same few hundred metres of pavement that had absorbed every announcement of the preceding six years, being used for the last one.

The quieter images are worth as much. Market stalls along the footpath in 1949, pedestrians packed between them, the ordinary weekday commerce of a street that was not yet a plaza — Martin Place was not fully pedestrianised until the 1970s, so these show it doing something it can no longer do.

4 works
Martin Place from Castlereagh Street, Sydney, 1951 — photograph, from Martin Place, circa 1951
photograph·1951·Sydney CBD

Martin Place from Castlereagh Street, Sydney, 1951

Sydney streets, August 1951State Library NSW
Victory parade and crowds for the end of the Second World War, Martin Place, Sydney, 1945 — photograph, from Martin Place, circa 1945
photograph·1945·Sydney CBD

Victory parade and crowds for the end of the Second World War, Martin Place, Sydney, 1945

Peace celebrations, SydneySam Hood
Footpath crowds and street stalls, Martin Place, Sydney — photograph, from Martin Place, circa 1949
photograph·1949·Sydney CBD

Footpath crowds and street stalls, Martin Place, Sydney

SydneyState Library NSW
Market stalls and pedestrians along Martin Place, 1949 — photograph, from Martin Place, circa 1949
photograph·1949·Sydney CBD

Market stalls and pedestrians along Martin Place, 1949

SydneyState Library NSW