BOND ST

I'd looked at this photo many times and had just thought it another of Max Dupain's view shots, perhaps of a lunch rush in town. The only info I could find said it was taken from his studio around 1946 showing the corner of Bond and Pitt Streets, and I left it at that. By chance recently I took a closer look and realised there's more to it.

Something's happened with the car on an angle on the centre. Two police, in old-style white pith helmets, are talking to the driver through his window, and there are groups of onlookers on both corners. An accident? An 'incident'? Perhaps forever a mystery.

If you click on the top pic it'll take you to how the street looks today. It ain't pretty. The area would become the financial district and not one of those ornate, human scale, sandstone buildings remains.

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Welcome, this site is all about Sydney 'then and now'..

The pics: Do click to enlarge the old photos as I've restored most of them from their faded small originals, and the details you'll often see in them can give an awesome insight into how ordinary people, your and my ancestors, actually lived.

Then: Where nothing today remains of a 'Then' scene, the Google Street Views of the 'Now' location have been verified through old maps and the NSW government's SIXMaps.

Sources: Most of the old photos have been collected over many years through the now-defunct Picture Australia and the original sources lost, but almost all are now found through Trove; variously from the National Library, the State Libraries of NSW and Vic, and the National Archives. Some are also via Flickr, so if you know the source of any, do let me know and I will add the credit.

Me: I'm Ross, a major oldsydneyphile (that's a word, really - well, now it is anyway). I grew up here from the 60s. Originally, I made the site in 2006-2008, and restarted it in 2018 using the 'now' scenes supplied by Google Street View.

BOND ST

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