An empty shell

As I l meandered from Leichhardt to Newtown the other day, along Norton Street, Parramatta Road, and then Australia Street, I was overwhelmed with the amount of building work I passed. I though we were in a recession, being pummled by the 'patchwork economy'. There were numerous shabby, vacant shop fronts, but they were matched by factory conversions into living units and trendy workplaces.

Here is one such. Along the lower end of Australia Street stand these old warehouses. Only the facade of the original remains, the guts to be renovated to within an inch of its life, no doubt. I have seen so many of these go pear-shaped, be insensitive to the original, be PC-heritage.

I will come back and look at these apartments in the Spring, and see if they get MY tick of approval.

Old Balmain Cemetery

Perhaps the children's playground was built up, rather than dug down.

Old Balmain Cemetery conducted its first interment in January 1868, and its final interment in May 1912. It was converted to the Pioneer Memorial Park during World War II. It covers 11 acres, and all told 10,608 people were interred there.

The bandstand is an unusual design with its own solar power.

As the conversion from cemetery to public park progressed, descendents were encouraged to make decisions about the remains of their ancestors. Very few people were exhumed and moved elsewhere. I will tell you about one such tomorrow on Taphophile Tragics. All the headstones were removed. Some were used to 'adjust' the surface of the park. Some were used in retaining walls. There is none left in situ. About 30 headstones were removed to Camperdown Cemetery. Others were used as historic markers where requested. The headstones of two ex-ministers were removed to St Barnabas' Church on Broadway. However, this is just the headstones. The vast majority of bodies remain interred beneath the rolling green of the park.

The war memorial was moved from elsewhere in Leichhardt to its prominent position within the park.