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Writer's pictureKalie Zervos

Searching for Kytherian ancestors in Sydney, Australia?

The City of Sydney Council has a rich archive of records. Over the past few years they have undertaken a huge digitisation project, with some resources already available on their website which may help unlock missing details about Kytherians who lived and worked in Sydney in the earlier part of the twentieth century. I became aware of their wonderful archives when I was researching the architectural history of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Darlinghurst Sydney for a University assignment, which along with newspaper clippings I found in Trove, helped me discover some fascinating details, which also provided an insight into the Greek community of the 1920s to 1950s in that area, including Kytherians.

Sydney's King's Cross 1940s. Photo: City of Sydney Archives

In the late 1880s and early 1900s it was more than likely that most Kytherians coming to Australia either arrived into Sydney, settled in the city or transitioned here finally settling in Brisbane and regional Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Although we may never learn details about the life of many Kytherian immigrants to Australia, some records found on the City of Sydney Archives website may offer surprising new details and may help unlock and piece together the timeline of your Kytherian ancestor’s time in Australia. We have added three new links to our Links Page which may assist in finding where your relatives lived and worked.


The Sands Directory from 1858 to 1933 (with some missing years), is the equivalent of the White Pages, listing not only businesses but residential addresses, which also offer an interesting glimpse into the expansion of Sydney suburbs where more Kytherians worked and lived.  The second link is the Assessment Books, which contain details of property ownership and occupancy.  Lastly, the third link provides details of Lodging and Boarding Houses containing the names of residents living in them at the time.  Each website page provides information and instruction on how to use each collection, with a search boxes provided to the right of the text for The Sands Directory and Assessment Books page. Here you can simply type in a name and see what results you find.  The three new links will take you directly to these collections, however if you know how your family spelt their surname you may wish to search the whole City of Sydney Archives digital collection which will return results including the Lodging and Boarding Houses at www.archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au.


Hopefully these resource links will help unlock even more undiscovered facts about your Kytherian ancestors and their time in Sydney.  

Happy exploring!

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