Letters of complaint

Letters of complaint

City of Sydney

Introducing a new podcast from City of Sydney's history team: Letters of Complaint. Part live-action, part discussion, Letters of Complaint is a lively exploration of Sydney residents' grievances in the 19th century. Join City of Sydney historian Dr Lisa Murray as she delves into the city archives to reveal the best, worst and most bizarre letters of complaint.

7 minutes 16 seconds

Episode 6: The Daily Complain Off

Be transported to a time before electricity and public bathrooms via letters of complaint that were escalated into petitions to the council.

8 May 2017, 9:00 pm
7 minutes 30 seconds

Episode 5: Urban Impediments

This episode delves into the difficulties Sydneysiders had moving about the city such as low-hanging signs threatening to smack tall pedestrians in the head. Roadworks and the construction of tramlines threw traffic into chaos, and streetlights weren't lit on nights of the full moon.

1 May 2017, 7:00 am
7 minutes 56 seconds

Episode 4: Language, Please!

City of Sydney historian Dr Lisa Murray returns with complaints about offensive language and disorderly conduct by youths and men. We also hear from a letter about ladies' cricket and requests that the council take women's sport as seriously as men's.

1 May 2017, 6:00 am
7 minutes 22 seconds

Episode 3: Sydney's Chinese Community

In this episode, City of Sydney historian Dr Lisa Murray reflects on the thinly veiled xenophobia in some letters of complaint and discusses anti-Chinese sentiments of the 19th century.

1 May 2017, 5:00 am
5 minutes 59 seconds

Episode 2: Chooks And Goats

Imagine, if you can, Woolloomooloo crawling with farm animals. This episode explores just one of the many neighbourhood complaints made over the wicked smells and loud bleating from the goats that ran rampant in the city.

1 May 2017, 4:00 am
8 minutes 5 seconds

Episode 1: Cesspits And Smells

Meet the Nuisance Inspector, the City employee in charge of regulating sounds, smells and suspicious solids bothering the good people of Sydney.

30 April 2017, 4:00 pm
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