Sydney abounds with curious history. 

Warren Fahey, cultural historian and storyteller, has created 12 video stories about Sydney’s hidden past. Sydney Stories with Warren Fahey features footage from over 40 titles from the NFSA collection and is newly available.

You can view the complete series of 15-minute episodes in the Sydney Stories curated collection or in the YouTube playlist below:

From Bards to Billycarts, Convicts to the Cross    

Each episode explores an aspect of colourful Sydney history including street gangs, burial practices, celebrations, protests and child's play.

Warren's tales bring to life Sydney locations like The Domain, Sydney Harbour, Kings Cross and Rookwood Cemetery, and institutions like the Royal Easter Show.

Fahey was born in Paddington at the end of the Second World War. The inner-city Sydney suburb was also where he established his music businesses, Folkways Music and Larrikin Records.

He told the NFSA, 'In creating the video series I wanted to share my personal history without boundaries. I selected 12 unusual aspects and let the stories unfold using archive photographs, drawings, recordings and film.

'Partnering with the NFSA allowed me to access some very rare films of Sydney, which are truly bringing these 12 stories back to life.'

Explore the Sydney Stories with Warren Fahey curated collection.

Sydney Stories was created with assistance from the City of Sydney Creative Fellowships Fund and support of The Vine Foundation. The grants were under the auspice of the Folk Federation of New South Wales.

Main image: South Australian schoolchildren in The Rising Generation, c1925. NFSA: 1930