King Street, circa 1908

Unconcerned about the approaching 'toast rack' tram, a traffic policeman poses for the camera at the corner of King and Castlereagh streets. There isn't a motor vehicle in sight and pedestrians are free to wander over the roads with impunity. They knew, from the tram tracks, exactly where the tram would be going. This is a picture of a prosperous self-confident Sydney that would soon be shaken by the privations of the First World War and then, following a very brief period of prosperity, by the Great Depression and the Second World War. Note the young man on the left wearing an ostentatious white cowboy hat.