Visiting The Strand.... Arcade and other Sydney miscellania

I've been to Sydney twice during this American summer of 2026, and picked up some tit-bits to share. They aren't necessarily all Sherlockian, but are close....

When one hears the phrase "The Strand 1891", the mind immediately leaps to The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. In Sydney, walk along the first road in Sydney - George Street - and look up and you'll read exactly that:

This delightful Victorian facade sits above the entrance to the beautiful Strand Arcade - walk through the arcade to Pitt Street at the other end and a similar view awaits: 

 

To walk through the Strand Arcade today is to step into 1895. It even has some of the stores one might expect in 1895 - a hat store, jeweler, watch and clock store, a cobbler, and more. The Strand Arcade was named after the famous London street - "London's smartest theatre, hotel and shopping street".

So next time you are in Sydney, step into The Strand of 1891. 

 

Here's an interesting advert placed in The Daily Telegraph in Sydney on Mon 30 May1898. The advertisement can be found at least five times in papers:

 

And here is another from The Sydney Morning Herald  on Sat 25 Jun 1898:

It would be wonderful to know who this private detective was. A mystery, but one that means Sherlock Holmes had a mailing address here at Sydney's General Post Office in Martin Place:

The University of Sydney's Chau Chak Wing Museum brings together treasures from a number of collections, including its archaeological collection.

Among items in display is a stele discovered at an Egyptian site. A stele is an upright stone, taller than it is wide, used in the ancient world as a monument, grave marker, or legal notice.

The item description notes that the object was discovered by Sir Max Mallowan. What the description does not state - but I think it should - is that Max is better known as the husband of the far more accomplished golden age mystery author Agatha Christie. Was Agatha with Max when this stele was discovered?

"This stele was discovered in the throne room of King Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud. Its cuneiform inscription glorifies the king's conquests and public works. It is one of four tablets, carved with the same inscription and hidden within the palace walls. Why hide such fine stele? He probably hoped they would be discovered  when future rulers came to renovate the palace, and so glorify his name forever. Sir Max Mallowan discovered this stele in 1950. It was sent to the Australian Institute of Archaeology in Melbourne, who part-sponsored the dig...."

Speaking of 1895, the R.M. Williams store has been making footwear and clothing (usually associated with horse-riding and farming) since 1932. Among the women's boot range is the Moriarty. 

This one is just a great story - with a tiny connection Doylean connection (there's always one).... Doyle commented on the spiritualist connection to the death of Lord Carnarvon following the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb, and Bertram Fletcher Robinson's earlier death that was also associated with Egyptology. It also connects through Lord Carnarvon to the very popular Downton Abbey.

But really it's just a great story and could be used in a mystery novel plot....

Shabti and model-coffin, for Senseneb, mother of Tetiky

The reason the University of Sydney has these items makes for a great tale. This is the transcript from the item description (and you can read a longer article about it here):

From Highclere to Sydney

In the decades before the sensational discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922, Lord Carnarvon had funded many other excavations in Egypt's Theban Valley. The shabti, a figurine magically charged with assisting the deceased in the afterlife, had been discovered in 1908 when Carnarvon excavated a tomb dated to the reign of Ahmose (c1550-1525 BC), the first Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty. The lavishly decorated chambers revealed the name of the owner, Tetiky, an important administrator. At the entrance to the central burial shaft, four nices contained eight mummiform shabti with golden faces, each with their own model coffin....

Lord Carnarvon died days after the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1923, of a septic mosquito bite rather than of the 'Mummy's Curse' as claimed by the press of the day. His successor, the 6th Earl did not share his father's passion for Egypt nor the many objects taken back to the grand family estate, Highclere Castle (the setting of Downton Abbey). The ambivalence might explain how some of the precious artefacts, including this shabti, were accidentally left in a cupboard sold at auction in London around 1926. The purchaser, Maximillian Preston, alerted the auction house to the forgotten trove, and was rewarded for his honesty with a gift of this shabti. Preston's descendants migrated to Australia, and the tale of this remarkable shabti has been passed down through the family, who took care of the item for nearly 100 years, before donating it to the Nicholson Collection in 2021.

 

Spotted at a bookstore in Newtown - going to need this set at some stage: