Arthur McElhone was deeply involved in the City of Sydney from the late 1800s to the mid 1909s he served as an alderman and Mayor of Sydney. I’m standing in front of Elizabeth Bay House in a little green reserve named after him. The yachts at rest, the palm unswayed, Sydney Harbour is peaceful.
I asked AI to write me a haiku about this shot of a lane in Sydney’s Darlinghurst: Dust on cracked old stone, Neon hums through cobwebs thick, Shadows hold their breath.
A rather mixed weather morning and day ahead. Sydney has already had sunshine, blue skies and clouds. And the forecast people say maybe showers later. At dawn, I got a glimpse of all the action as well as light towers for the Opera House forecourt and the sail of the Bennelong Restaurant.
Sydney’s Bourke Street is festooned with plane trees. This one in Surry Hills may appear to be asleep under the street lights waiting for this bakery just to the right to open, but don’t be fooled. It’s planning for spring when it will burst its seed balls and choke passers by.
Tibby Cotter played 21 test matches for Australia (cricket) between 1904 & 1912. Sadly he was killed in action at Beersheba in WWI while on a mounted charge with the 4th Light Brigade. This abstract is an ICM of the lights on the bridge named after him.
What are you doing on the first day of the last month of winter? Want to join me for When The Levee Breaks on the mighty 2SER, Sat, Aug 1 6pm-8pm for some hot tunes and tales? Click on the link for track list. wp.2ser.com/episodes/whe...
I normally keep humans out of my shots, but on a really brisk Sydney early morning, I pay homage to these two brave blurs who are exiting the surf at the northern end of Bondi Beach.
Built more than a century ago, the Walsh Bay timber wharves were designed for the bustle of loading and unloading cargo vessels. Now they house wealthy Sydneysiders, arts companies and well heeled businesses. The moon made a nice addition on a rather chilly dawn.
The periphery might have the stars, but this old workhorse dates back to 1792 with the first commercial shipping docking here on the western side of Sydney Cove. Many facelifts later, the Overseas Passenger Terminal still has it 1960s charm.
Originally a small rocky outcrop used as an Indigenous fishing ground for millennia, Sydney’s Darling Island was bought for £10 in 1799 as it was spotted as a deep water location and ideal for ship building. In 1834 it was connected to the shore by a stone causeway. Then major slipways.
When the Georges River meets Botany Bay at the perfect time on a cloudy Sydney dawn, I’m a happy lad.
Intentional camera movement. On this cold Sydney dawn, you can just make out the subject from the top right of the shot. I take pics of this structure often, it’s like an old friend. It’s the Harbour Bridge.
The construction of the Sydney Opera House started the year before I was born, I feel my age, but it still looks fresh. Speaking of fresh, my weather app had it feeling below 1C at 0700 this morning.
While we may have past the shortest day of this Sydney winter, not too many on Bondi Beach at dawn this morning. My rough count was one, and that person appears fully clad.
Withers Lane connects Crown and Reilly Streets. It has a bit of a dark history. In the times of the Razor Gangs Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh’s gang members trawled this lane. “Big Jim” Devine, Frank “The Little Gunman” Green, Guido Calletti and Phil “The Jew” Jeffs among them.
I love an urban wall in the dark hours, shadow play, contrasting surfaces, and sometime an art surprise. Will Coles in Sydney’s Newtown.
Who knows what evils lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows. This radio show started in 1930, but James Street in Sydney’s Redfern predates the broadcast.
You can run across it, you can drive over it, walk it, take a bus or a train, cycle over it and even climb up it. The steelworks for the Sydney Harbour Bridge began 100 years ago. I still get a thrill anyway I cross it, but I’m no climber😉
If past performance is an indicator for present and future outcomes, I should not be able to see any sky. Thankfully, we finally got some pleasant dawn action above the Duck Pond at Sydney’s Centennial Park
Sydney’s Glebe Public School traces its origins back to 1858, with classes first commencing on November 3 of that year. It was later officially opened in its current building on Derwent Street in 1862. There’s only certain times you should take your camera out, 5am works.
Few know that the University of Technology, Sydney’s Faculty of Engineering and IT is actually a launch site for probes. I’m not sure what this probe will probe, but I won’t be standing at takeoff.
Woolloomooloo has a few possible meanings from the first Australians. I’ve found young black kangaroo; place of plenty; burial ground; and field of blood. More recently it has meant working class area, wharfies, navy, meat pie and community. And a good dawn today.
Eerie dawn light paints the façades of apartment buildings on the western side of Sydney’s Rushcutters Bay.
I’m at the old Sydney Fish Market on a cool clear early morning, enjoying the stars above the ANZAC Bridge.
I’m out early inspecting The Fleet Steps at Mrs Macquarie’s Point. Sydney Harbour laps against a stone wall a metre behind me as fog shrouds the scene. These steps were built in 1908 to welcome Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet on its Sydney leg of a round the world cruise.
Looking south from Farm Cove with Sydney Harbour behind me, expensive low rise Harbourside apartments in the foreground, Harry Seidler’s Horizon in the background, and above hopeful dawn clouds. Word is showers to return.
The heritage listed brickworks chimneys at Sydney Park in Sydney’s St Peters stand still under scudding clouds in the pre dawn quiet of a winter’s day.
I was elated that Sydney seemed to be having a good start. It’s greyed over now and drizzling, but I’m still positively engaged with the prospect of wet laundry hanging around my house.
Name one country that can’t cheat its way through the World Cup?
We were told the the current El Niño would bring a dryer than normal winter, but no one told the weather goods. I don’t mind the rain, but I’m a line dryer, so there’s a backlog. Bourke Lane in Sydney’s Redfern is named after Sir Richard Bourke, Governor of NSW, 1831-38.
