1824
11 February
St James’ Church, Sydney, designed by Francis Greenway, is consecrated by the Rev. Samuel Marsden.
St James Church, 1969 (City of Sydney Archives, CRS 871/55)
1854
25 February
T. S. Mort begins building a dry dock (Mort’s Dock) at Balmain, Sydney. Mort’s Dock is completed in 1855.
1875
9 February
John Robertson replaces Henry Parkes as Premier of NSW.
1892
10 – 12 February
Run on the head office of the Savings Bank of New South Wales in Sydney, depositors withdrawing their funds in gold.
1895
9 February
The word “cobber” first appears in print in the Bulletin.
1906
6 February
Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club founded in Sydney. Bondi lays claim to being Australia’s (and the world’s) first surf lifesaving club; however this is disputed by Bronte who had set up a life saving club (without the word ’surf’ in its title) in 1903.
1919
February
Influenza pandemic causes the closure of theatres, libraries, churches, and schools in New South Wales . The wearing of masks is made compulsory.
1922
4 February
A shark fatally attacks a young lifesaver, 16 year old Milton Singleton Coughlan, at Coogee Beach , Sydney, just prior to the commencement of a surf carnival. 6000 terrified onlookers on the beach watch as Jack Chalmers and Frank Beaurepaire (an Olympic champion) bravely rescue the boy from the shark’s jaws. Coughlan dies soon afterwards in hospital. The Sunday News ( 5 February, 1922 ) reports:
Jack Chalmers pointed to his Digger’s badge.
“It’s the spirit of this that made me do it,” he said. “When I saw a mate in danger I acted first and thought afterwards.”
Jack Chalmers. (City of Sydney Archives, Newsclippings W 207)
1938
6 February
Black Sunday, perhaps the most famous rescue operation of the Bondi Surf Life Saving Club. Freak waves drag hundreds of people out to sea at Bondi and life savers rescue more than 300 people.
1954
3 February
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip arrive in Sydney to begin an Australian tour, the first by a reigning monarch.
The Log Arch on Macquarie Street. The Arch was part of the decorations prepared for the Royal Visit of 1954. (City of Sydney Archives, SRC1632).
1961
25 February
Sydney’s last tram leaves from La Perouse.
1964
25 February
Fire destroys Sydney’s Lyceum Theatre
1984
14 February
Elton John, British singer, marries Renata Blauel at St Mark’s Anglican Church, Darling Point, Sydney.
Detail view of carved sandstone head, St Mark’s Church (1848), Darling Point, 2001-2 (City of Sydney Archives, Gary Deirmendjian: ‘Sydney Sandstone’ Collection: 20798)
Sources
This Month In Sydney’s History is drawn from the following source material:
- News clippings and scrapbooks, City of Sydney Archives.
- Graeme Aplin, S. G. Foster, Michael McKernan (eds.), Australians: Events and Places, Fairfax, Syme & Weldon Associates, Sydney, 1987.
- Anthony Barker, What Happened When: A Chronology of Australia From 1788, rev.ed., Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2000.
- Bryce Fraser (ed.), The Macquarie Book of Events, Macquarie Library, McMahons Point, 1983.
- Graham Jahn, Sydney Architecture, The Watermark Press, Sydney, 1997.
Filed under: Sydney - history | Tagged: history, i love sydney, sydney, Sydney - history
