This directory of New South Wales is divided into five main sections:
Sydney and Suburban Alphabetical Directory - covers Sydney as well as the suburbs of Balmain, Camperdown, Darlington, Double Bay, Glebe, Manly, Marrickville, Newtown, North Shore, Paddington, Petersham, Randwick, Redfern, Ruchcutters' Bay, Waterloo, Waverley, and Woolahra. Details include name, occupation and address.
New South Wales Trade and Professional Directory - arranged alphabetically by trade, this list provides the names of each person with their trade, together with their address. An early version of our current day yellow pages.
New South Wales Country Alphabetical Directory - is arranged alphabetically by surname, and lists householder, and address (town). The towns covered in this section include Balranald, Euston and Maude, Bathurst, Clarence, East Macquarie, Eden, Bega, Pambula, Goulburn and Argyle, The Hume - Tumberumba (Ten Mile Creek, Corowa, Howlong), the Municipality of Albury, as well as Albury, Illawarra and Wollongong, Kiama, Liverpool Plains (Tamworth, Wee Waa, Nundle, Bendemeer, Breeza, Gulligal, Walgett), Maitland (East and West), Manning and Hasting River, The Murrumbidgee, Newcastle and Northumberland, New England, Armidale and Tenterfield, Orange and Lucknow, Parramatta, Penrith, Picton and Campbelltown, Paterson and Allen, Patrick's Plains (Singleton, Scone, Muswellbrook, Murrurundi, Jerry's Plains), Queanbeyan, Shoalhaven, The Williams, Wellington and Lachlan rivers (Mudgee, Dubbo, Forbes, Braidwood, Emu Creek), Windsor and Richmond, and Yass Plains.
New South Wales Sydney and Suburban Information - contains information on banks, insurance and other companies, Freemasons, Independent Order of Oddfellows, Ancient Order of Foresters, Government and Official Parliament of NSW Civil Departments, Municipal. General Information of the Country Towns of New South Wales - a mini geographical sketch is given for each town, i.e. where it is situated, nearest largest town, population, together with the names of persons of note in each community. Magistrates, Sheriffs, Postmasters, Commissioners, Police, Hospital, Poundkeeper, Clergy, Telegraph Station Master, Hotels, Churches and more.
The Sands' directories are one of the best known of the Australian directories as well as one of the most comprehensive. Directories are an invaluable resource for local, family and social historians as well as for researchers in other fields of Australian history. While they do not give you birth, death and marriage details - the core records for genealogists - they can certainly provide you with information on the region where your ancestors lived, as well as information on their occupation and more.
Divided into six main sections:
Street directory lists householders street-by-street, and covers Sydney, Alexandria, Annandale, Ashfield and Summer Hill, Auburn, Balmain, Bankstown, Beecroft, Bexley, Botany, Burwood, Cabramatta, Canley Vale, Canterbury, Concord, Darlington, Drummoyne, Dundas, Eastwood, Enfield, Epping, Ermington and Rydalmere, Erskineville, Fairfield, Glebe, Gordon, Granville, Holroyd, Homebush, Hornsby, Hunter’s Hill, Hurstville, Killara, Kogarah, Kuring-gai, Lane Cove, Leichhardt, Lidcombe, Lindfield, Liverpool, Manly, Marrickville, Mascot, Mosman, Mount Colah, Newtown, Normanhurst, Northmead, North Sydney, Paddington, Parramatta, Pennant Hills, Petersham, Pymble, Randwick, Redfern, Rockdale, Roseville, Ryde, St Ives, St Peters, Smithfield, Strathfield, Sutherland Shire, Thornleigh, Turramurra, Vaucluse, Wahroonga, Warringah Shire, Waterloo, Waverley, Willoughby, and Woollahra
The alphabetical directory is state-wide, and lists persons alphabetically by surname, together with their address, and usually their occupation .
Trade and professions directory - arranged alphabetically by trade and lists the person, together with their trade and address.
Country Commercial – lists alphabetically by town and gives the name and occupation
Country trades and professions – arranged as its city equivalent
Directories are great for genealogy tools - not only in listing thousands of names of householders, but providing details of their occupation and address. They're a particularly valuable tool in helping track where a person was at a certain period of time. If you're searching a family history in NSW or building a family tree, this collection is definitely worth exploring.