Wooloomooloo Bay

Two, ever so slightly different, views of this bay on the southside of Sydney Harbour. I included the second shot, to show the proximity to the city, ie including Sydney Tower. In the foreground is "The Andrew(Boy) Charlton Pool". In the centre, middle-ground, is The Finger Wharf. On the left, two ships of the Royal Australian Navy, ride at anchor adjacent to the Garden Island Dockyard.

Millers Point - Stalking Sydney Tower

Sydney Tower was open to the public in August 1981. It affords wonderful views of the city, and cameras are welcome, unlike the Bridge-Climb where cameras are banned but they will sell you photos! The hassle with Sydney Tower, is its omnipresence. Every time, I turn around, there it is. Many times I have to step across until I can manage to hide it behind something else.

However, this post is not about Sydney Tower, but about Millers Point, and its current predicament. Millers Point hugs the shoreline immediately to the west of the southern pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It is a very old quarter of Sydney, many of its houses dating from the turn of the century (ie, 1900), when a massive proportion of housing was bull-dozed on the pretension that they housed the plague. Or even THE PLAGUE! Now, some of the buildings in Millers point date from the first half of the nineteenth century, which for this country is very old, and historic, even. But many are simply old, ramshackle, and in want of attention, either from a tradesman, or from a bulldozer. The issue is, many of the structures are owned by the state government, as part of their social housing stock. They have tenants; some of whom have lived there for decades, in subsidised housing. Now, the government wants to liquidate its stock, and the tenants are up-in-arms. I can see both sides of this arguement, but being a pragmatist, sense what is going to eventuate. There is more to this story, so will chat it through for the next couple of posts. I am doing double-time child-care this week and last, so my time is limited, not to mention my energy of an evening.

3. What would I miss? Sydney's icons ...

The Opera House and the Harbour Bridge separated by a swivel.

If I had to leave Sydney, or if I CHOSE to leave Sydney, what would I miss? William Kendall seems to think that one of us Sydney bloggers will say that we will miss one of these two icons. Well, yes, I love having them there, and I am emotionally attahed more to the harbour bridge than to the opera house. But, they are just buildings. There are other bridges, albeit they do not have views over Sydney Harbour. But they do have views of water. There are other opera houses, staging remarkably similar versions of the oeuvre. Some avant-garde like this one, and others architectured more conservative. There are other Sydney icons, too. Like the green and gold First Fleet Class ferries. Like Sydney Tower, which just HAS to be a sibling of the Seattle Space Needle. Like North and South Head which stand as silent sentinels at the opening to our harbour. But they are all replaceable, to some extent, in my affections.

Sydney from on high (4)

This is looking north-east from the Sydney Tower observation deck. The obvious landmark is the harbour bridge, completed in 1932. At this point the water beneath the bridge changes name. On the eastern side (the right, in this image), the water is called Sydney Harbour or more officially, Port Jackson. On the western side (the left in this image), the water is called the Parramatta River. It is all a massive drowned valley. The high-rise buildings on the other side of the water are North Sydney, and the little bay in front of the high-risers, is Lavender Bay. From the bridge, one can make out the Warringah Expressway as it streams traffic away from the CBD and up to the "north shore" (curving left), or across to the northern beaches (curving right). It is pretty much houses as far as the eye can see. Sydney, Australia.

Sydney from on high (1)

On the left, surrounded by red pebbles, Hyde Park Barracks, commissioned by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, 1818. Top centre: St Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral, foundation stone laid 1868. Middle centre: Archibald Fountain, erected 1932. In and around Hyde Park North, set aside for public recreation by Governor Macquarie in 1810. Taken from the observation level of Sydney Tower, Pitt Street, Sydney Australia.

Monday Mural - Sydney Place

Deep in the heart of Wooloomooloo lies a town centre, where the decaying tenements of the early 1970s were demolished. Through roads have been blocked off, parks and playgrounds take their place. It is low-rise all packed together, with a large number of unemployed, indigent, and indigenous inhabitants.


There are a number of murals in the area, mostly with indigenous motifs, which were restored by the City Of Sydney during 2010. Once again, for residents of Sydney, I have included the ubiquitous Sydney Tower in the post to enable you to orient yourself. One of the signs says 'Dowling Street'. I was standing in Sydney Place to take the photograph of the mid-nineteenth century working man's cottage.

This is my contribution to the Monday Mural community.