History of writing in Sydney

“Did you know?

• from the moment the First Fleet landed the race was on to see who could get the first accounts of settlement to London publishers
• printing presses arrived in Sydney with the First Fleet but the first newspaper didn’t go to press until 1803
• the pleasures of Sydney have provided inspirations to poets since the early years of the colony
• the first novel was published in Australia in 1838
• Australia’s first detective novel was published in 1842″

To coincide with the Sydney Writers Festival, The Dictionary of Sydney has published an article on their blog about the history of writing in Sydney. See the full article here. There are links to other articles.

Convicts letter writing at Cockatoo Island 1849. By Vidors, Phillipe de. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales A928881/SSV/39, Mitchell Library

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