Donât look back: the year the world was finally wowed by our culture Weâre sorry, this service is currently unavailable. Please try again later. Dismiss Donât look back: the year the world was finally wowed by our culture As The Sydney Morning Herald celebrates its 190th birthday, three leading Australian writers consider the stepping stones to the development of Sydneyâs artistic culture. April 23, 2021 â 4.00pm Save Normal text size Advertisement Everything changed in the 1970s. Until then, for almost three-quarters of the 20th century, London was still our cultural âhomeâ and Australian artists as varied as singer Nellie Melba, dancer Robert Helpmann, pianist Eileen Joyce, and actors Judith Anderson and Peter Finch debuted on its iconic stages in order to make names for themselves. Painters like Sidney Nolan, and playwrights Alan Seymour and Ray Lawler also joined this cultural caravan but apart from our most famous diva, Joan Sutherland, Sydneyâs arts exiles were more likely to be writers, Patrick White and Christina Stead being the most acclaimed.