Vintage Photographs Capture Everyday Life in Sydney Fifty Years Ago

Sydney is the capital city and most populous city in the state of New South Wales, Australia and Oceania. 
 
Sydney enhanced its position as an education capital of the Western Pacific during the postwar period. In 1967, Australia Square Tower was constructed and became a city landmark, surpassed in 1981 by Sydney Tower as the tallest building in the city. 
 
Kings Cross, 1970

 

Since the 1970s Sydney has undergone a rapid economic and social transformation. As aviation has replaced shipping, most new migrants to Australia have arrived in Sydney by air rather than in Melbourne by ship. As a result, the city has become one of the most multicultural in the world. In 1973, the Sydney Opera House was officially opened, after a long period of planning and construction.
 
Take a look back at the ‘Emerald City’ in the late 1960s and 1970 through these fascinating vintage pictures, courtesy of Graham Cosserat:

 
Fitzroy Gardens, King Cross, 1968

 

 
Kings Cross, 1968

 

 
Kings Cross, 1968

 

 
Circular Quay, 1968

 

 
Circular Quay, 1968

 

 
Botanical Gardens, 1968

 

 
Australia Square, 1968

 

Alamein Fountain, Kings Cross

 

English Fair, 1968

 

 
William Street, 1968

 

Sandwich Bars at Australia Square, 1968

 

Roselands Shopping Centre, 1968

 

Roselands Shopping Centre, 1968

 

Roselands Shopping Centre, 1968

 

Coles Variety Store, Pitt Street, 1968

 

English Fair, 1968

 

English Fair, 1968

 

Sydney, 1969

 

Sydney, 1969

 

Petersham, 1969

 

Circular Quay, 1969

 

Sydney Opera House under construction, 1969

 

The village centre, Kings Cross, 1970

 

Circular Quay, 1970

 

Castlereagh Street, 1970

 

Castlereagh Street, 1970

 

 
Castlereagh Street, 1970

 

 
Sydney Harbour