This blog is dedicated to sharing amazing images from the collection of The Past Present image archives. The Past Present is a private collection including photographs, postcards, books and other ephemera relating to the early 20th century in Australia. The main focus of the collection is Sydney, but there are also plenty of images relating to other areas of NSW and Australia’s Eastern coast.
Each week, a different image will be showcased on the blog, so check back to see if it is of an area close to your heart, or your home!
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Hello. I’ve just come across Past Present and was fascinated by many of the old photos. I was hoping I might be able to purchase from you a high-res copy of the photo of Forty Baskets Beach in the Sydney Suburbs section. I’m researching the history of Forty Baskets and I’ve never seen this image before. As a footnote, the name of the beach predates the return to Sydney of the Sudan Contingent. For many years I thought that explanation was true, as did everyone else, but then two local history researchers on Sydney’s northern beaches found several references in newspapers to a sailing regatta being held at Manly in 1859 that said one of the buoys around which the boats would race would be off Forty Baskets Beach. I can be contacted at j5m5@bigpond.net.au or on (02) 8832 1711. Thank you. John Morcombe
While searching for information on an article for our newsletter I came across you site. What a wonderful collection of snippets of our past. Would you allow us to publish some of these articles in our newsletter? We would, of course, give full credit to the site.
Hi Lois,
I’m so pleased that you enjoyed the website. Thank-you for your enquiry about publishing some of the articles, and I’m very pleased to grant permission. I just ask that, as you said you would do, you acknowledge The Past Present and provide a link to the website. All the best!
Elissa