Residents of colonial Sydney absolutely loved communicating about science through newspapers, theatre, poetry, paintings and more, according to CPAS academic Dr Lindy Orthia.

Dr Orthia published a paper in Historical Records of Australian Science and an article in The Conversation on the topic this week.

"Of course colony people were very interested in practical areas of science, like agriculture and health," said Dr Orthia. "But they also seemed fascinated with science just for the pleasure of it - they were interested in new species, new inventions, and with the very idea of science and how it changed the European world."

Historians of Australian science have generally believed that ordinary members of the public in colonial Sydney had little exposure to science and were indifferent to it, according to Dr Orthia.

But her research shows nothing could be further from the truth.

"Sydney residents, including convicts and emancipists, were not indifferent to science — they embraced it, criticized it, reported it, reframed it, and generally speaking engaged with it," she said in her journal paper. "Public science in Sydney during the period may not have compared to that in London or Paris in size or spectacle, but nor was it trivial."

Dr Orthia's article in The Conversation focuses on the letters colony residents wrote to Australia's first newspaper, the Sydney Gazette, during its first two years of publication in 1803-04. Just like the Australian public today during a federal election campaign, nineteenth century Sydneysiders wrote to the paper to discuss the environment, education and health.

"The Gazette's letter writers cared about all kinds of things including marine animal sustainability, teacher salaries, the societal benefits of sharing knowledge and finding better ways to treat injury and illness," said Dr Orthia. "And the Gazette ran an ongoing pro-vaccination campaign from 1804.

"The specifics have changed but there's a lot of similarity in the general concerns between the Australian media then and now."

Dr Orthia has also created a range of mugs, t-shirts and other merchandise to celebrate the publication. She gets no profit from any sales.