Underworld is an art installation at Taylor Square, in the inner city suburb of Darlinghurst. The artwork is part of the Taylor Square Plinth Project, which is having three temporary art projects installed from 2009 to 2011 to enliven the square and make people think about art. Underworld, by Dale Miles, is a set of colourful arachnid legs emerging from the staircase of a disused underground gentlemen's convenience. This work of art gives voice to the lost habitat of the notorious and venemous Sydney Funnel Web Spider.
Sydney Park is a large inner city recreational area in the inner city suburb of Alexandria. It features a number of ponds and wetlands that attract many animals and birds. This is a view of the pond in the south-east corner of the park with a Little Black Cormorant, also known as a Shag, is seen here sunning its wings, while its mate enjoys the view from the boardwalk.
Sydney Park is a former brickworks that has been transformed into 44 hectares of parkland, in the inner city suburb of Alexandria. This storm water retention pond, with a weir, stores rainwater for the connected ponds and wetland areas in the park.
This tree on the nature strip beside the road, on Morshead Drive in the southern suburb of Connells Point. It seems that rather than move the power lines for the street lights or remove the tree altogether, the power company has decided to sculpt the tree into a ring to allow the power line to run through the middle unobstructed. I discovered this tree while out exploring the sights and thought it was a different way to view the sky.
The promenade behind the harbourside beach in the eastern suburb of Watsons Bay, bathed in the golden glow of sunset. The are two famous landmarks here with brilliant views of Sydney Harbour and the city skyline. Doyle's On The Beach is a seafood restaurant on the left and Watsons Bay Hotel is a pub with a beer garden on the right. This was only a couple of weeks ago when we were having unseasonally warm weather and it felt like Summer was still hanging around. We've have a dose of reality since then with rain and a cold snap bringing us back into Autumn.
The view from the Watsons Bay wharf across the bay towards the eastern suburbs of Watsons Bay and Vaucluse at dusk.
The site of the old Darlinghurst Gaol is now occupied by the The National Art School. The walls of the prison were built by convicts between 1822 and 1824. Work began on the prison buildings in 1835 in the Victorian Regency style and took 50 years to complete. By 1840 the Governor's residence, one men's cell block and the women's cell block were finished and prisoners were marched here from the old gaol at The Rocks in 1841. Darlinghurst Gaol was also the site for many executions at the gallows just inside the walls near the intersection of Darlinghurst Road and Burton Street or numerous public executions on a makeshift gallows outside the main gate in Forbes Street. The gaol was the main Sydney penitentiary up until 1914, when inmates were transferred to Long Bay, a new 'model prison' at Malabar. This site was transferred to the New South Wales Department of Education in 1921, who adapted the buildings for use as the East Sydney Technical College and by 2005 was solely occupied by the The National Art School. I've used the old British and Australian spelling for gaol in this post here since that's the way it was spelt back then, even though the American spelling for jail seems to be more commonly used in Australia these days.
The Forbes Street entrance of the The National Art School in the inner city suburb of Darlinghurst. This was originally the main entrance of Darlinghurst Gaol. The walls surrounding the prison were built by convicts between 1822 and 1824. The site was transferred to the New South Wales Department of Education in 1921, who adapted the buildings for use as the East Sydney Technical College and the National Art School. In 2005, the Technical and Further Education (TAFE) College moved off the site, leaving The National Art School as the sole occupant.
The former police station in the inner city suburb of Darlinghurst is now used as a Community Health Centre. Located behind Taylor Square, it sits on the corner of Bourke Street and Forbes Street, opposite Darlinghurst Court House and the old Darlinghurst Gaol.
The Darlinghurst Court House is located on Oxford Street at Taylor Square, in the inner city suburb of Darlinghurst. This sandstone court house is still used by the New South Wales Supreme Court. The central block, designed by Mortimer Lewis, was built in 1835 in the Greek revival architectural style, with the side wings added in the 1880s. The court house was connected to the old Darlinghurst Gaol, which was located directly behind it, via underground passages.
The Horizon Apartments rise above the inner city suburb of Darlinghurst. This landmark building with the scalloped balconies was designed by Harry Seidler and Associates and completed in 1998. It was shaped to gain the greatest exposure to views centred on the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. The 43-storey tower contains 260 apartments and an excavated five-storey, 500 car garage.
The Strand is a typical suburban street with a shopping strip in the inner west suburb of Croydon. It is part of the Malvern Hill Estate which was subdivided in 1909 and designed as a model suburb with Federation style houses and tree-lined streets. Lined with rows of shops in the Federation style and palm trees in the centre traffic island, this street is now heritage listed in its entirety.
Seven Shillings Beach sits along the shore of Blackburn Cove on Sydney Harbour, in the eastern suburb of Point Piper. Blackburn Gardens is a heritage garden that sits behind the wall of the sandy beach, adjoining Woollahra Library. Access to the beach is from the adjoining Redleaf Pool. This beach is named after the seven shillings paid to Gurrah, a local Aboriginal man who sold his fishing rights here to William Busby in the 1800s.
Redleaf Pool is an enclosed swimming area on Sydney Harbour, in the eastern suburb of Double Bay. There are two pontoons floating in the middle of the pool that are a perfect spot for swimmers to rest and enjoy the sun. Last weekend we had above average Autumn temperatures in Sydney, so the pool attracted quite a few swimmers but not quite the crowd it can usually attract in Summer. The kiosk and cafe behind the sandy beach provide glorious views over Blackburn Cove, Point Piper and Sydney Harbour. The pool is named after the Redleaf estate, which was owned by William Busby, a pastoralist and politician in the 1800s.
A view of apartments in the eastern suburb of Point Piper from the boardwalk around Redleaf Pool at Double Bay.
A scenic view of Sydney Harbour from the rooftop of the Glenmore Hotel at The Rocks yesterday, where we had a Sydney Bloggers Meeting. The boats on the harbour, the people on the Sydney Opera House steps and the helicopters in the sky were there in the afternoon to celebrate the return of Jessica Watson, the youngest person ever to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world.
'Gables' is a recently restored house built in the Federation style on Forest Road, in the southern suburb of Arncliffe.
The sun sets just beside the apartments in the southern suburb of Wolli Creek, viewed from the banks of the Cooks River at Tempe.
This giant spider and web are located in an abandoned stairway in the sandstone wall at Barangaroo. This part of Hickson Road is now officially named The Hungry Mile, recognising its nickname during the Great Depression. It came from harbourside workers lined up along the road opposite the wharves as foremen chose the casual labourers for the day and those without work were often left hungry. I had trouble finding information about this artwork and then noticed a sign in the corner for Guerrilla Gardeners, which was a short-lived reality television, gardening makeover show. The gardeners would spruce up certain parts of the city that they feel had been neglected and created controversy with local councils because they did the work without permission and the show highlighted the council’s neglect. Strangely, this doesn't appear in the website's list of episodes but the show was axed, so maybe the work on this project never screened. Without regular maintenance, some of the plants on the stairway look rather neglected, just like another of their installations at Moore Park.
The S.S. South Steyne is a former Sydney Ferry that is now berthed next to Pyrmont Bridge at Darling Harbour. The 70 metres long steamship is the world's largest operational steam ferry. It was built in Leith, Scotland for the Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company in 1938 and was in service between Manly and Circular Quay for over 36 years. It was restored in 1987 and is now used as a floating restaurant.
I stumbled across this film shoot a couple of weeks ago, which I think might have been for a television commercial. It was shot behind the Australian Steamship Navigation Company building at The Rocks, that I featured yesterday. The usually quiet Circular Quay West was transformed into a busy city street involving a number of cars and people, with a fake street light, bench, payphone and zebra pedestrian crossing markings. The set up must have taken a really long time and I saw the performers waiting around for quite a while. The cameras only rolled for about two minutes and then everybody scattered. I took these photos from Elevated Road which connects to the Overseas Passenger Terminal.
The Australian Steamship Navigation Company building (ASNC) is located on the corner of Hickson Road and George Street at The Rocks. This warehouse and office building was designed by William Wardell in the Federation Anglo-Dutch style and completed in 1884. It was later used as Government Ordnance Stores and in 1906 the Department of Defence moved in. It was converted to office space and from 1950 was occupied by the Australian Commonwealth Offices for the Department of Works and Housing. It was acquired by the Sydney Cove Redevelopment Authority in 1989, who restored it in 1991-92 to its original appearance. It now has galleries, retail space and restaurants at street level on Hickson Road and Circular Quay West and commercial offices on the upper floors.
Woronora River Bridge crosses the Woronora River, between the southern suburbs of Sutherland and Woronora. It was completed in 2001 to eliminate the steep descents and ascents for traffic using the Old Woronora Bridge, which also remains in use for local traffic, just south of this bridge. The new bridge is approximately 600 metres long and features a 3 metre public wide shared pedestrian walkway and cycleway suspended below the northern deck.
Cronulla ferry wharf is located on Gunnamatta Bay, in the southern suburb of Cronulla. It is serviced by Cronulla and National Park Ferry Cruises which provides regular ferry services across Port Hacking estuary between Croulla and Bundeena, on the edge of the Royal National Park.
The sunrise provided a bit of colour in the gap on the horizon for an otherwise overcast sky above Bate Bay last Saturday morning. I discovered this magnificent wooden bench in the shape of a surfboard installed at the lookout behind Wanda Beach, close to the Greenhills sand dunes. It's a perfect surf culture design for the great surf beaches here, in the southern suburb of Cronulla. Another view can be seen here.
These are two sections of a mural created by Roger Robinson Artwrx at Cook Park, in the southern suburb of Kyeemagh. 'Noise Wall Mural' was commissioned by Sydney Water to cover the concrete walls surrounding construction work for Sydney's desalination plant at Kurnell, currently in progress. These excerpts feature yachts on Botany Bay during the day and the moon and the Southern Cross constellation at night.
The lake in the middle of Holroyd Gardens Park was created by filling an old clay brickpit in the western suburb of Holroyd. The old Goodlet and Smith Brickworks that were located here, were founded in 1884 and ceased operating in 1989. They were redeveloped as part of the Holroyd Gardens Estate in 2004. The remaining heritage brickwork kilns and associated buildings (left) sit alongside the new residential flats (right).
This sculpture is located on the corner of Regent Street and Redfern Street, in the inner city suburb of Redfern. 'The Redfern Bower' was designed by Susan Mine and Greg Stonehouse in 2007-2008. The plaque reads: This artwork transforms the mysterious courtship ritual of the bower bird into a contemporary sculpture, using items from the Redfern community to reflect and celebrate the heritage of the area.
The Redfern Court House is located in Redfern Street, in the inner city suburb of Redfern. This heritage listed sandstone building was constructed in 1898 and used as a local court until 2008. It was designed by Walter Liberty Vernon, the first New South Wales Government Architect, in the Federation Free Classical style.
The post office in the inner city suburb of Redfern is a wonderful heritage building with a magnificent clock tower and cupola. Completed in 1882, it was designed by James Barnet in the Victorian Free Classical style.
I've featured many statues of prominent people around Sydney but for this theme day I thought I'd feature something a bit different. This bronze statue of a dog called 'Biggles', created in 1995, is located at the corner of Atherden Street and Playfair Street at The Rocks, outside his owner's home. The Miniature Schnauzer born in 1980, was a loved friend of the community here and his antics such as leaping off balconies to chase cats, made him a minor celebrity. He met with an unfortunate end, last seen leaping off a cliff near Mrs Macquarie's Chair in 1994, rumoured to be chasing a rat. The devastated local community rallied around to organise a statue in his honour.
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants of this theme day.
