Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Ultimo

Western inner-city suburb named for surgeon John Harris's estate, densely populated by the end of the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century it became heavily industrialised, as well as a centre for technical education, and is now largely gentrified.

-33.874525250412, 151.19792550677

Property
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Type

Ultimo

CC BY-SA 2.0
,
2008

Originally the country of the Gommerigal people, the Ultimo estate of surgeon Harris was a rural retreat until the 1840s when industry gradually encroached and subdivision in the 1860s. Quarries and woolstores provided work, but life was hard for Ultimo's residents. Postwar economic changes took away the manual work, and like other inner-city neighbourhoods, Ultimo has become a wealthier area, with rich cultural and educational institutions.

Returned Soldiers on the Ultimo Presbyterian Church Roll of Honour

CC BY-SA 2.0
,
2015

The Ultimo Presbyterian Church Roll of Honour, now housed in the Ultimo Community Centre, lists the names of 36 men who served in World War I. We can only be sure 22 came home but their stories reveal the hardships of war service, larrikin behaviour, heroism and injuries that must have been a terrible burden to returned soldiers.

The Fallen on the Ultimo Presbyterian Church Roll of Honour

CC BY-SA 2.0
,
2015

The Ultimo Presbyterian Church Roll of Honour, now housed in the Ultimo Community Centre, lists the names of 36 men. Four of those men died as a result of their war service and were lost to their families and friends - people who openly grieved their passing. Their grief is a reminder of the true cost of war, for the fallen and for their family, friends, and community.

Ultimo Presbyterian Church Roll of Honour

CC BY-SA 2.0
,
2015

The roll of honour from the former Ultimo Presbyterian Church, now located in the Ultimo Community Centre, lists 36 men associated with the Ultimo community who served in the First Australian Imperial Forces in World War I. The board, instigated in 1916 shortly after the arrival of Reverend John Muir, is part of a tradition in which honour rolls were used to memorialise, mobilise, recruit and mourn.