Below is a 1998 newspaper advertisement for an apartment for sale at 1 Missenden Road, Camperdown. The apartment was listed through Richardson & Wrench, Glebe. No price is listed for the two-bedroom apartment.
Source: Richardson & Wrench Glebe. 1998. "Luxury Living at an affordable price". The Sydney Morning Herald, May 2: 35RE (Real Estate).
Below is a 1998 newspaper advertisement for Pioneer Homes Australia promoting house and land packages in New South Wales. Sydney locations included Narellan, Glenmore Park and Quakers Hill.
Hazel Hawke was the marketing ambassador. You may remember her from television commercials from around this time promoting the company. I recall the line "Rent money is dead money" in the television commercials as mentioned in the newspaper advertisement.
Repayments started at $199 per week.
Source: Pioneer Homes Australia. 1998. "Builder pays deposit" (Advertisement). The Daily Telegraph, January 3: 7 (Homes Liftout).
This week's entry in the series focusing on the redevelopment of East Circular Quay is on the completion of Bennelong Apartments in 1998.
The building itself at 1 Macquarie Street was the first building in both developments to be completed. The remaining buildings, including Mirvac's Quay Grand Development, would be completed the following year.
Completion revealed one change to the design: purple windows, which needed to be approved by Sydney City Council as part of the Development Application.
Source: Skelsey, M. & McDougall, B. 1998. "Final Insult: Colour purple renews calls for building's demolition". The Daily Telegraph, March 25: 4.
The Daily Telegraph shared two photos of the views from the 13th floor, which gave its readers what the residents would expect from their apartments. Apart from the spectacular views of Sydney Harbour, the Harbour Bridge, and the Opera House, one aspect of the view made it better (in the newspaper's view)—you couldn't see "the toaster."
Source: Chancellor, J. 1998. "Finding bread for the Quay's 'toaster'". The Sydney Morning Herald, August 15:13.
Source: Richardson & Wrench Project Marketing. 1998 "Abbotsford Cove" (Advertisement). The Sydney Morning Herald, May 2: 33RE (Real Estate Liftout).
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Source: Sydney Ferries, Sydney Buses & CityRail. 1998, "Don't get stuck when New Year's Eve turns into New Year's Day" (Advertisement). The Sydney Morning Herald, December 30: 11.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
For the first time since 2017, Christmas Day falls on a Monday and its perfect timing for our Christmas Snapshot, focusing on how Sydneysiders marked Christmas 25 years ago.
The year of focus is 1998.
Christmas Services
The Daily Telegraph provided its readers with an overview of what would open and what would be closed on Christmas Day, and generally, there has been little change over the past 25 years.
On December 26, The Daily Telegraph provided a summary of how the city marked Christmas Day. Ashfield Uniting Church hosted 2500 people for Christmas Lunch, led by Rev. Bill Crews. Sydney Lord Mayor Frank Sartor acted as Santa while former Prime Minister Bob Hawke and wife Blanche d'Alpuget waited on attendees
Their work has expanded over the years. Apart from Christmas Lunch at Ashfield, the Bill Crews Foundation will have delivered hampers to thousands of homes in the lead-up to today.
10,000 people, mainly backpackers, converged on Bondi Beach for their traditional Christmas Day gathering. The weather played its part, providing attendees with perfect skies.
Carols in the Domain was on 19 December 1998 and was compered by Hugh Jackman.
Boxing Day Sales on Boxing Day
Source: Ryan, R. 1998. "City stores don Boxing Day gloves". The Daily Telegraph, December 26: 7.
In 1998, Sydney CBD retailers traded on Boxing Day for the first time, which gave Sydneysiders an opportunity to obtain bargains on Boxing Day without having to leave the Sydney Metropolitan area. However, suburban retailers were still prohibited from trading. Under the legislation, the Sydney CBD was deemed to be a tourist area, alongside centres in NSW that were also designated as tourist centres for the purposes of retail trading on Boxing Day. This had been allowed for years, but retailers refused on their own accord to do so.
One retailer that did not participate in Boxing Day trading in central Sydney was David Jones.
This arrangement continued until 2003. In 2004, Sydney CBD retailers were not permitted to trade on Boxing Day as it fell on a Sunday, and a public holiday in lieu was given (27 December 2004).
Sydneysiders voted with their feet, with 100,000 shoppers travelling into the city to take advantage of the bargains on offer, led by department stores Grace Bros and David Jones.
Source: McCabe, K. "Shoppers create a retail heaven". The Sunday Telegraph, December 27: 7.
This year is 25 years since Sydneysiders were introduced to variable speed signage signs.
There were speed advisory signs on the F6 Motorway (now known as Princes Motorway) when it opened in 1975, but they were primarily used to alert drivers of hazardous road conditions and recommend that they slow down.
The variable speed limit signs, which are now standard on Sydney motorways, were introduced first on the M4 Motorway in 1998. Below is a newspaper advertisement that was used to educate drivers on the new signs.
Below is a 1998 newspaper advertisement promoting apartments for sale in the Horizon Towers in Hornsby.
Below is a 1998 newspaper advertisement promoting apartments for sale in The Forum at St Leonards. Apartments were on sale from $220 000, compared with the $177 000 they had on offer the previous year (link at the bottom of entry to view a 1997 advertisement).
Back in the late 1990's uninterrupted panoramic views were the standard, but sadly those views south and east are now increasingly blocked due to tall towers built in recent years along the southern side of the Pacific Highway.
Below is a 1998 newspaper advertisement by AVJennings promoting new housing estates at Beaumont Hills, Hoxton Park and Prestons.
Today is the final day of the Royal Easter Show for 2023. Welcome to the third and concluding entry on my series, looking back at the 1998 Royal Easter Show, which was the first to be held at Sydney Olympic Park.
Last week focused on the first week of the Easter Show. This week will focus on the second week, including the Easter weekend.
Good Friday - 10 April
Source: Bye, C. "1.23 million smash Easter Show record". The Sun Herald, April 19: 10.
That concludes our three-part series on the 1998 Royal Easter Show. Hope you enjoyed looking back at a historic and record-breaking show.Related Entries
Royal Easter Show Flashback: 1998 (First Show at Sydney Olympic Park) - Part I
Royal Easter Show Flashback: 1998 (First Show at Sydney Olympic Park) - Part II
