The University has a vast history covering many aspects of intellectual, scientific and socio-political life in Australia.
The University Archives preserves the records of permanent value of the University, its amalgamated institutions, and the personal papers of individuals and entities associated with the University.
The University was founded on two main principles — religious tolerance and the admission of students on academic merit. The first principle ensured students were admitted regardless of religious belief. The second, that students ‘matriculated’ to university by passing an academic examination.
Both ideas were new ways of thinking about universities in the mid-nineteenth century and challenged traditional university models. They emerged out of serious conversations in Britain and Europe about the purpose of universities and were adapted by our founders to create a university to suit the colonial circumstances of New South Wales.
These principles are enshrined in the opening pages of the first University of Sydney Calendar.
Over the past 175 years, the University of Sydney has grown and evolved with our students, staff and community to lead in education, research, student experience and graduate employability.
1850: The University of Sydney is established by an act of NSW Parliament.
1852: The University’s doors open with a focus on the classics, sciences and mathematics, as well as 'modern' subjects French, German and political thought.
1852: The first student scholarship is established through a donation by Thomas Barker.
1856: First degrees awarded.
1859: Great Hall opens.
1874: University of Sydney Union (USU) established – the first in Australia.
1880: John Henry Challis leaves us the equivalent of $32 million.
Female students enjoying afternoon tea outside the women's common room in around 1893.
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Link1881: The University of Sydney Senate formally approved women’s admission to all undergraduate courses.
1882: The first women undergraduate students commenced.
1885: Mary Elizabeth Brown and Isola Florence Thompson each graduate with a Bachelor of Arts.
1890: 12 percent of undergraduates were women, increasing to 27% in 1919.
1904: Nigel Barker becomes our first Olympian at the St Louis games.
1909: MacLaurin Hall opened as the first Fisher Library, serving as the university's main library.
1919: Faculties increase from four to 10.
1919: Pioneering obstetrician and gynaecologist Dame Constance D’Arcy becomes the first woman elected to the University Senate.
1919: 50% of undergraduate enrolments in the faculties of arts, science and architecture were women. Women enrolments in these faculties remain almost 50% until the end of World War 2 when they increase due to the introduction of Commonwealth Scholarships.
Editorial student staff of Honi Soit - From Left to Right: (first two unknown), Ruth or Shirley Harris, Jenny Nisbet, Jenny Snelling, Dick Woodward, Peter Lazar, Michael Baume, Michael Lazar, Peter Tranter, David Ross, and H. Brunen. Courtesy of the University of Sydney Archives, 1949 [G3_224_0024]
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Link1928: The University of Sydney War Memorial Carillon dedicated on Anzac Day to commemorate the 197 undergraduates, graduates and staff who died in the First World War.
1929: Students’ Representative Council formed.
1929: First edition of Honi Soit goes to print.
1939-45: Over 6,000 staff and students support WWII war effort.
1951: First PhDs awarded.
1956: SILLIAC machine built.
Historic photo of Charles Perkins leading the Freedom Ride bus tour of western and coastal NSW to fight for the rights of Indigenous Australians.
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Link1963: Charles Perkins, an Arrernte and Kalkadoon man, and Gary Williams, a Gumbayngirr and Mullumbimby man, matriculate to the University of Sydney, the first two students to identify as Aboriginal.
1965: Charles Perkins leads the Freedom Ride bus tour of western and coastal NSW to fight for the rights of Indigenous Australians.
1965: Felcia Corowa matriculated from Tweed River High School and enrolled in Arts at the University of Sydney, the first woman student to identify as Aboriginal.
1965: Honi Soit sends a reporter to Vietnam.
1966: Charles Perkins, Bachelor of Arts, the first University of Sydney graduate to identify as Aboriginal.
1972: The USU and the Sydney University Women's Union join forces.
1975: Seymour Centre opens.
1978: Westmead Hospital opens its doors to patients.
1990: Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Sydney College of the Arts and other colleges incorporated into the University of Sydney.
2012: 'Wingara Mura – Bunga Barrabugu' strategy launches to encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation.
2014: The Charles Perkins Centre, a cross-disciplinary research and education hub, opens to discover life-changing solutions to global health problems such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease and related conditions.
2020: Chau Chak Wing Museum first opens.
2020: Our experts help shape the COVID-19 response.
2021: New Indigenous strategy launches. One Sydney, Many People 2021-2024 Strategy aims to support the best researchers and most promising students to achieve their full potential.
2022: All university campuses and student accommodation switch to 100 percent renewable electricity.
2022: The University launches its 2032 Strategy, that sets out its vision for the next decade.
2023: MySydney Entry and Scholarship Scheme launched.
2025: The University of Sydney celebrates 175 years of leadership for good.
The archives were established in 1954, with the appointment of David Neil Stirling Macmillan as University Archivist, the first qualified archivist in an Australian university.
We hold audio-visual media, photographs, and publications (including annual reports, award conferring programs, brochures, calendars, handbooks, films, sound recordings, and video recordings) documenting the University.
We are responsible for the care and preservation of the University’s administrative records such as those of the University’s key governing bodies and offices, including:
We have records relating to departments, faculties, schools, and other academic units, such as for:
We also have the administrative records of institutions which have amalgamated with the University, including:
We hold a significant collection of personal papers of people closely associated with the University.
Please note that Rare Books & Special Collections of the Fisher Library also have personal papers.
We have two key resources for information about former students and graduates – Alumni Sidneienses and the University Calendars.
Please note that we do not provide academic verifications – please contact Student Records.
We have a limited collection of records relating to Clubs and Societies of the University.
Please note that Rare Books & Special Collections of the Fisher Library also hold material relating to clubs and societies.
We do not have records for the Archives of Australian Judaica, Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness (SUSF), University of Sydney Union (USU), or the residential colleges (Sancta Sophia, St Andrew's, St John's, St Paul's, Wesley, or the Women’s Colleges).
We hold the oldest Australian academic anthropology records documenting First Nations communities in Australia and the South Pacific region, including the records of anthropologists AP Elkin, HIP Hogbin, AR Radcliffe-Brown and Camilla Wedgwood.
The anthropology field research and teaching records for 1926 to 1956 were inscribed in the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register in 2017 (learn more about this significant recognition).
The records contain sensitive content in various formats including audio, film, photographs, and printed material, which may be considered distressing or offensive. First Nations peoples should be aware that we hold material that contain images and names of deceased people, which may cause sadness, particularly to the relatives of these people.
The records presented may contain descriptions and words which may not reflect current understandings. In particular, material regarding First Nations peoples and cultures has historically been created and recorded by non-Indigenous people and may not have had the input of First Nations peoples themselves. As a result, this material may contain inaccuracies and misinterpretations, or words and descriptions which could be considered insensitive, outdated and/or offensive in today's context. While we do not necessarily support such language and views, it is considered important historically to present this information without alteration.
Care and discretion should be taken when viewing these records and their descriptions.
Please consult our Cultural Care and Sensitivity statement for more information.
The University Archives' GL Fischer Search Room is open by appointment only for research (10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday). An appointment must be made at least two business days prior to visiting us.
Please search our collections to first determine which record/s are required for your visit and include the Identifier of the required record/s when contacting us to book the appointment.
The user guides available under Help can assist with browsing and searching records, accessing and requesting records, and citing and referencing records. If you are unable to locate the required item/s, please contact us.
Interested in the history of the University? You can find out more by having a look at these resources
Sydney: The Making of a Public University (The Mieugunyah Press, Carlton, 2012) by Julia Horne and Geoffrey Sherington.
Australia’s First: A History of the University of Sydney (2 vols. Jointly published by the university and Hale and Iremonger, 1991, 1996) vol. 1 by Clifford Turney, Ursula Bygott, & Peter Chippendale; vol. 2 by W.F. Connell, G.E. Sherington, B.H. Fletcher, C. Turney & U.Bygott.
Radical Students: The Old Left at Sydney University (Melbourne University Press, Carlton, 2002) by Alan Barcan
From New Left to Factional Left: Fifty Years of Student Activism at Sydney University (Australian Scholarly Publishing, North Melbourne, 2011) by Alan Barcan
University of Sydney Architecture (Watermark Press, Boorowa, NSW, 2008) by Trevor Howells