srnsw:series=4481

It would be beneficial to the NSW RFS to place a date on the photo and ascertain the particular time of year. The smoke visible towards Taronga Park Zoo could provide planning of Hazard Reduction Burning regimes.

Mick Leon
MNC

mick.leon It's unfortunate that many of these images have lost some of the information associated with them over time. These photographs were taken by officers of the Government Printing Office during the years c.1870-c.1920. Hopefully we'll get some discussion here on Flickr that might narrow down the date for us.
-AG

An extraordinary number of white navy ships are visible (at least 10) . Could be the visit of the 16 ships of the US 'Great White Fleet' to Sydney in 1908. Seen here:

mick.leon Whisky Tango Foxtrot ?

Andy Brill I think you are right.

Late August (winter) 1908, it that helps mick.leon with the "planning of Hazard Reduction Burning regimes". The smoke is from the ships in a southerly breeze. Synoptic chart from 27/8/1908, showing gentle winds and an anti-cyclone covering Australia - trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/15023171/1312734?zoomLev...

beachcomber australia Well spotted beachcomber. mick.leon If you look at the original image size [Actions - View all sizes], what looks at first glance like smoke emanating from the distant headland on the other side of the harbour, is revealed to be smoke from the ships of the Great White Fleet.

Oh dear! Don't look what happened ... GoogleMapsStreetView

To be fair, this part of Cumberland Street has recently been *"improved"* (!), since the GoogleStreetView - Also vividly described here - www.flickr.com/photos/stilgherrian/6320201132/

beachcomber australia Hmm they look like upsidedown giant flip flops just what every streetscape needs! -AG

See also:

Thanks for the linkage to my picture of the current canopies on this site. I wrote more about it at the time at Wankitecture Sydney: why bother?

beachcomber australia Re your note. 1900 resumption map confirms it is the Grand Hotel. View "Plan T" on Archives Investigator - gallery.records.nsw.gov.au/index.php/galleries/maps-and-p... Also, there is a photo on Photo Investigator (not yet on Flickr) taken from Essex Street and looking south-west that shows part of the Grand Hotel (note the name in the window) - investigator.records.nsw.gov.au/asp/photosearch/photo.asp... In the 1880s it was the site of the Coach & Horses Hotel - acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/_zoomify/2008/D00663/a1367458.html Regarding the intersection of this photo (Cumberland & Little Essex), going clockwise: The south-west corner - The (soon to be vacant) north-west corner - The north-east corner - I've never found a photo of the south-east corner, but the Old Erin-go-bragh Hotel once stood there. See 1890 map - acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/_zoomify/2008/D00663/a1367458.html

pellethepoet Thank you! I was thinking wrongly that the 'Frog Hollow' photo was taken from on top of the Grand Hotel, but that was Gloucester, not Cumberland St. All so very muddling ...

beachcomber australia I'm just glad you didn't confuse 'Frog Hollow' with the one in Surry Hills. That would have been embarrassing :)

The 'North City Fire Brigade' seems to have been a volunteer organization from the 1880s, not part of the Metropolitan Fire Service. It suffered registration problems in 1896 (bureaucratic jealousies and bungling?) - trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/14059846 . Still going in 1903 - the fellow at the window could be one of these people - trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/14502563

For those of us trying to navigate old sydney, I've put together a composite of the resumption map and something a little more recent. Enjoy!