Friday 25 February 2011

Shooting Through : A fond remembrance

Pitt Street (Christmas 1935) taken from
'Shooting Through' published by the Historic Houses Trust of NSW (2009) pp 76-77
Come for a meander with me down memory lane, as we remember that day fifty years ago today, when the last tram of the massive Sydney tramways system trundled from Hunter Street out to La Perouse. Clocks can not be turned back, society moves on. Arguments for or against are futile.

Raise your glass: 'Sydney trams'.

2) Cable trams in King Street, 1890s
3) A queue of trams waiting for punters to exit from Randwick Racecourse, 1922

4) Official tram initiating the crossing of the bridge, 1932
5) Trams servicing Circular Quay (looking east), 1930s

6) Major tramways intersection at Railway Square, 1910s
7) Tram cresting the rise along Glebe Point Road, late 1950s

8) Along Eddy Avenue, in front of Central Station, late 1950s
9) Queens Square, Macquarie Street, 1960

10) Looking south along Elizabeth Street, 25 February 1961
For the last 18 months or so, I have participated in an email ring that has shared images of Sydney trams. I have hundreds of the blighters. There are two categories of image that bring me pain: the burning of the carriages, which occured within weeks of the final journey; and, the graffiti covered carriages out at Rozelle.

23 comments:

Luis Gomez said...

Wonderful post Julie. Thanks for sharing these beautiful images.

Kay L. Davies said...

Burning, did you say? SO sad, Julie. I always look at decommissioned train cars - passenger cars and cabooses - and such as potential homes for singles (or a very close couple). They could be wonderful if the interiors were designed carefully.
Sigh.
Wonderful old photos, however. I love the last ones, from the 50s and 60s, because I remember those years.
-- K

Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

Julie said...

I am fond of the last image, Kay. My grandmother moved to North Bondi in August 1956, and I used to catch a Bondi tram from along Elizabeth Street. Wonderful memories ...

Joe said...

A past era, past time and places remembered well. Thanks for you pictures Julie. The top one really show how popular the trams were. I am glad Melbourne kept theirs.

Anonymous said...

'Tis a sad day. Have you seen the Max Dupain photo of Railway Square? I just tried to find it but I have 473 Sydney tram photos.

Julie said...

I have it now, Andrew. It is a beauty and fleshes out my collection wonderfully. I have wandered every which way around Railway Square but need to get up high to reproduce many of he earlier views.

Thank you ...

Mark said...

Great post Julie. I love trams. Have a nice weekend.

Kirsten said...

Such a shame.

But on a photography front, I love the colours of the last few images.

cara said...

"Besotted with Shabbiness"

- Love it!

Jim said...

This is a magnificent collection, Julie. I'm not old enough to have experienced trams in Sydney so these look almost surreal. I was particularly interested in the shot on Elizabeth Street, near the obelisk. This is near where I work and every building in that shot has been replaced by a highrise.

My shot of the sunset from the Anzac Bridge was taken last Sunday. I was standing midway across the bridge, and looking through the cables on the Rozelle side. I had to wait for breaks in the traffic to get some shots without cars streaking past.

Ann said...

I wish I was old enough to have ridden the trams. I see they are again talking about reintroducing them. This time down Anzac Parade to the Uni of NSW. Be wonderful if they did but pigs might fly.

Windsmoke. said...

What a sad day that was, i'm glad down here in Melbourne we still have our trams even though some people don't want them at all :-).

Kevin said...

Very interesting post. Thanks for sharing the photos.

Joan Elizabeth said...

I love the top shot as much for all those people and the clothes they are wearing as for the trams. I am developing an extremely soft spot for trains as the more I travel through rural Australia the more understand the part they played in the development of towns. Was not a city dweller during the tram era so don't have memories of them -- other than my dad complaining about the car getting stuck in tram tracks when we went to Brisbane .. he wasn't a great driver in the city.

Julie said...

Well, maybe come to think of the tram as the means of opening up the urban corridors and enabling 'working' folks to move around the city. For this was the attraction, especialy when you follow the 'lines' and track that with the socio-economic ranking of the surburbs as they then were, not as now are. I have a very soft spot for the era of trams, even though I acknowledg3e that trams now would look totally different and service different aspects of the city. Yes, I can see trams between the universities and Central. Yes I can see trams down George and up Elizabeth. But not much else ... not connected at any rate.

Anonymous said...

I think other than the street cars the thing that caught my eye was how different the personal dress was.

Anonymous said...

I do understand your feelings about the burnings and graffities...
Great photos full of memories! In Denmark the last trams stopped in 1972, that in Copenhagen!
Have a nice weekend!!

Victor said...

Brought back memories of my childhood and travelling to/from school by tram (between Kings Cross and Edgecliff).

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Mo said...

I love seeing these old images.

rallentanda said...

Lovely old photos.I hate the waste that takes place in our affluent society.When I see the beautiful solid old doors and moulded timbers thrown out in the skip in Paddington ( that mad lady scouring the skips is me:)it makes me weep particularly with the hideous unsympathetic renovations going on inside those terraces.

I have seen train carriages and double decker buses make for very cheap comfortable accomodation in the countryside....amazing transformations by creative people. Trams could have been used for this as well.Shame to destroy them.
Sorry have digressed somewhat! Have you seen that old VW beetle with a garden growing out of it on the intersection of Cleveland St
and South Dowling...I think that is a very kitsch quirky example of recycling:)

Anónimo said...

Esas fotos que son antiguas me encantan =)
Un gran logro publicarlas.

Julie said...

Rallentanda: yes, I have seen that split VW down on Cleveland & South Dowling. But I think it is no more than graffiti. It was put in by a reality tv show, with no responsibility for upkeep, and last time I looked the weeds and dying leaves were overwhelming any transient beauty.