martinplace

Several articles and letters in the Sydney Morning Herald give the date of the unveiling as Thursday 21 February 1929, not Friday 22nd. Read all about it - SMH 22/2/1929 p12 - trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/16533398 More images - SMH 22/2/1929 p16 - trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/16533131

beachcomber australia Well spotted! Museums of History NSW - State Archives Collection More chocolates for beachcomberaustralia ...

pellethepoet beachcomber australia Thankyou, I see we are slowly running out of chocolates! The NSW Parliament site also states the ceremony was on the 21 February 1929 - I've updated the caption above. However, the date on the photo in the bottom left corner is 22/2/1929. AB

Snap!

The seemingly near new FX Holden would date this to 1948-1950 period.

beachcomber australia Ah, bound to happen, sorry! If it makes any difference this is a much larger version than the other one. Bankstown Babyboomer Thanks, on the other version a comment suggests roughly the same date range, going by the car. AB.

The Holden has a "T" number plate, so must be a taxi.

Lets take a photo on the same spot when the State Government puts them back again?

The date is early fifties, judging by the motor car. Within ten years the whole tram system had been closed.

Can't be before 1948 because that looks like a Holden model 48-215, known as the FX, in centre of the street - FX's made 1948-1953. Cetainly fashion is not my forte but the lady crossing the street looks smartly turned out 1950s style to me.

"The first electric tramcar left the Railway at 5.35 am on December 8, 1899 from George Street. On the opening day nearly 40,000 passengers were carried free. Trams were immediately successful because they had the right of way in the traffic. George Street trams halted only “when required” at the Fire Station, Essex Street, Bridge Street, Hunter Street, Bathurst Street, Liverpool Street, Goulburn Street, Hay Street, Gipps Street (now Barlow Street), and the top of Pitt Street. Trams were to run in George Street on the north journey and return south by Pitt Street as far as Bathurst Street and George Street. The last tram ran along George Street on November 23, 1958." (State Heritage Inventory)

Mick Reed has spotted Sporting Life Magazine (November 1953 issue) on the newsstand. I've added a note to the photo above. See his comment on Archives Outside's "Moments in Time" blog. - archivesoutside.records.nsw.gov.au/can-you-date-this-phot...

Again Mick Reed has narrowed the date by finding a newspaper reference to the roadworks: THEY are drilling out the road between the tramlines in George Street at the bottom of Martin Place. I don't know how much extra it would cost to have the work done after the day's traffic has subsided, but it couldn't possibly equal the cost of the traffic congestion caused by doing the job in the daytime. And, with trams inching their way across the rails, the men on the job can only work in snatches. In nearby offices the din caused by the chattering of half a dozen pneumatic drills has made work next to impossible. Daytime is not the time for tearing up city streets. "Column 8", Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 5 November, 1953, p. 1. - trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/18395513 I find it astonishing the trams kept running during the track work. Another great moment in OH&S!