Centenary 1950-1952

Photo gallery: The Centenary Oration, 28 August 1952

The University of Sydney Centenary celebrations commenced in 1950 and commemorated various important phases in the foundation of the University. These included: the speech made in Parliament on 6 September 1849 by William Charles Wentworth advocating a university for Sydney; the passage through the NSW legislature of the Act of Incorporation on 1 October 1850; the first Senate meeting on 3 February 1851; and the inauguration of the University on 11 October 1852 and the arrival of the first students and the presentation of the first lectures in October 1852.

The Centenary Oration was delivered at 2.30pm on 28 August 1952 in the Great Hall by The Honourable K W Street, Lieutenant-Governor and Chief Justice of New South Wales. It was followed at 4.00pm by a Garden Party in the Quadrangle for staff, graduates and friends of the University.

Sydney Morning Herald photos, copies held by the University of Sydney Archives:

Greeting the Governor-General

Above: His Excellency the Governor-General, Sir William McKell being welcomed by the Chancellor Sir Charles Bickerton Blackburn and the Vice-Chancellor Emeritus Professor Steven Henry Wallace. Click here to view enlargement.

Above: Greeting the Governor-General. Click here to view enlargement.

Above: Greeting the Governor-General. Click here to view enlargement.

Above: Greeting the Governor-General. Click here to view enlargement.

Above: Greeting the Governor-General. Click here to view enlargement.

Guard of honour for the Governor-General

Above: The Guard of Honour of the Sydney University Regiment for His Excellency the Governor-General, Sir William McKell. Click here to view enlargement.

Academic procession to the Great Hall

Above: The academic procession. Click here to view enlargement.

Above: The academic procession. Click here to view enlargement.

Above: The academic procession. Click here to view enlargement.

Above: The academic procession. Click here to view enlargement.

Above: The Chancellor and the Governor-General at the rear of the academic procession to the Great Hall. Click here to view enlargement.

Above: The Chancellor and the Governor-General at the rear of the academic procession to the Great Hall. Click here to view enlargement.

The Centenary Oration

Above: Chancellor Sir Charles Bickerton Blackburn's welcome and introduction. Click here for the Chancellor's words and here to view enlargement.

Above: The Loyal Address to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, read by the Vice-Chancellor, Emeritus Professor Steven Henry Wallace. Click here for the Loyal Address and here to view enlargement.

Above: The Royal Greeting in Reply, read by His Excellency the Governor-General, Sir William McKell. Click here for the Royal Greeting in Reply and here to view enlargement.

Above: The Centenary Oration, delivered by The Honourable K W Street. Click here for the Centenary Oration and here to view enlargement.

Above: The Honourable K W Street.

Academic procession from the Great Hall

Above: The Chancellor and the Governor-General at the head of the academic procession from the Great Hall, preceded by officers carrying the Mace and the Yeoman Bedell's staff. Click here to view enlargement.

Above: The Chancellor and the Governor-General at the head of the academic procession from the Great Hall, preceded by officers carrying the Mace and the Yeoman Bedell's staff. Click here to view enlargement.

Above: The Chancellor and the Governor-General at the head of the academic procession from the Great Hall. Click here to view enlargement.

Above: The Chancellor and the Governor-General at the head of the academic procession. Click here to view enlargement.

Above: The academic procession showing the seating provided in the Quadrangle for the Oration.

Above: The academic procession.

Above: The rear of the academic procession showing the seating provided in the Quadrangle for the Garden Party.