Sydney history in stone

What are the chances 2 different books on a linked but largely unknown obscure topic both arrived within days of each other?

‘From quarantine to Q Station : honouring the past, securing the future’ by Dannielle Viera, Jennifer Cornwell, Simon McArthur, Dr Peter Hobbins, Dr Annie Clarke, and Dr Ursula Frederick.

Once home to generations of Aboriginal people attracted by the abundance of seafood, the deep coves, fresh breezes, clean water supply and remoteness from the fledgling colony of Sydney made North Head at the entrance to Sydney Harbour an ideal place for the creation of a quarantine area.

Before the development of modern medicine, infectious diseases posed a major public health threat. The only known means of protecting communities from outbreaks was to isolate sufferers and those with whom they had been in contact. 

Q Station with Sydney behind

For immigrants in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries who had already endured the long voyage to Australia, quarantine could be a frightening and traumatic experience. Separated from healthy family members, those in quarantine had no way of knowing whether they would see their loved ones again. Some children left the Quarantine Station as orphans, and some women as widows, alone in a strange country with no means of support. 

The accommodation at Q Station

‘From Quarantine to Q Station’ tells the fascinating story of the evolution of this site, from its early days as the colonial Quarantine Station through its transformation to the peaceful accommodation and conference facility now known as Q Station. 
 

The wharf and arrival area of the station with the rebuilt hospital on top of the hill

Richly illustrated with more than 200 colour, sepia and black & white photographs, many dating from the late-1800s, this captivating, well-researched book takes readers on an evocative journey through time. Newspaper articles, archaeological research and anecdotes from detainees bring the past to life, while modern preservation and restoration efforts are described in fascinating detail.

The main street in the mini settlement of the quarantine station

‘Stories from the sandstone : quarantine inscriptions from Australia's immigrant past’ by Peter Hobbins, Ursula K Frederick, and Anne Clarke. 

Sailing to Australia from Lincolnshire aboard the the ship the "Canton" in 1835, 16-year-old John Dawson watched in alarm as three of his sisters developed smallpox. Although all survived this dreaded disease, their faces bore tell-tale scars for the rest of their lives. Yet John left an even more enduring memento of his family's perilous voyage in the soft sandstone of North Head.

Carving a lengthy message proclaiming that the Dawsons had landed here to perform a month's quarantine, John began a tradition that continued until Sydney's Quarantine Station finally closed in 1984.

During its 150 years of operation, nearly 16,000 people were held in isolation on this headland. Interned for days, weeks or even months, many followed John's example, leaving an extraordinary gallery of more than 1600 carved and painted sandstone inscriptions.

Combining intensive archaeological investigation and historical research, this book illuminates Australia's past through the portal of these intriguing and often evocative inscriptions, as well as North Head's numerous headstones. 

Drawing upon historical records, diaries and other writings, the book highlights the dramatic personal and social effects of diseases that once terrified the community. This book conveys the compelling personal stories of lives lived not just in despair, but also in hope for the future. 

100 years of Gumnuts

The original Gum-Nut Babies

May Gibbs (1887-1969) is one of Australia's most beloved children's authors and illustrators, and one of her most famous characters is celebrating 100 years of publication.

Inspired by the Australian bush, as well as her English roots, she created characters that were essentially European fairies with gumnuts on their head and flitted around the forests of Australia.

She used them on cards sent to friends and included one on the cover of a book she illustrated before writing them into her own children’s book. On December 5, 1916, during World War I, Gumnut Babies was published.

 
 The Gumnut Babies became an instant hit when they first appeared in a booklet published by Angus & Robertson in 1916 although their most famous members, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie wouldn't appear for another couple of years.
 
The first edition sold out and Gibbs would publish many more works based on the idea of Australian bushland fairies. She also produced greeting cards, bookmarks, postcards and other merchandise carrying her distinctive images.

Nutcote

Nutcote, overlooking Sydney Harbour

May died in Sydney on November 27, 1969, and many of her books are still in print.

Her Sydney house 'Nutcote' in Neutral Bay, was threatened with demolition in the 1970s, but was saved by the efforts of her fans & children's librarians around the country. It is now preserved as a museum to May Gibbs and her characters.
  

The Bad Banksia-men still eternally battling the Gumnuts & Lizard, in the Nutcote garden >>

Island out of time

 

Cockatoo Island - the Alcatraz of Sydney

Cockatoo Island sits in the middle of Sydney Harbour, in sight of the Harbour Bridge, but is a world away from the city.  The island is 500m long, 360m wide, and covers 18 hectares. It consists of two parts – the Lower industrial area - where shipbuilding activities were carried out (two tunnels were driven through the centre of the island to facilitate this work), and the Upper plateau – which was originally the convict prison and later where draftsmen, pattern-makers & management worked and lived.

Storage caves and tunnels

The island has a long and illustrious history dating back to the first settlement of Sydney. In 1839 Governor Sir George Gipps chose the island as the site of a new penal establishment, to alleviate overcrowding on Norfolk Island. Convicts were put to work building prison barracks, a military guardhouse and official residences. 

Remains of the convict barracks on the plateau (500 prisoners in the cells)

It continued as a convict station until the 1850s. The convicts were transferred to the Darlinghurst Gaol on the mainland in 1869. Then in 1870, Cockatoo Island was used for an Industrial School for Girls and a reformatory. The ship, Vernon, was anchored nearby to train wayward and orphaned boys. From 1888 to 1908 it reverted back to a gaol due to prison overcrowding.

Convict Grain Silos - 20 were built 1839-42, only 13 now survive. Approximately 7m wide & 6m deep it had an opening in the ceiling. This one was excavated in the shipbuilding period.

The pontoon in Fitzroy Dock, built 1840-50s, it took convicts 11 years to excavate the dry dock

From 1850 the island has been associated with shipbuilding. The Fitzroy Dock and a workshop were built by convict prisoners to service Royal Navy and other ships. 

The caisson in Fitzroy Dock

The Sutherland Dock was built between 1880 and 1900 as shipbuilding and repair activities expanded. 
The dock is 210m long, 27m wide and 8m deep.

When completed in 1890, the Sutherland Dock was the largest single graving dock in the world and a fine example of late 19th century engineering. The two docks nearly bisect the island.

Crane on Sutherland Dock

The Timber Drying Store, built 1916-17 used for storage & seasoning of timber

WWII Air Raid Shelter, built in 1942 it was surmounted by a crane

In 1913, Cockatoo Island became the Commonwealth Naval Dockyard, and Australia’s first steel warship was constructed on the island. Following the Fall of Singapore in World War 2, it became the major shipbuilding and dockyard facility for the South West Pacific. 

Turbine Shop, built 1944-45 for assembling the massive propulsion engines, it was excavated from the sandstone escarpment

Heavy Machine Shop North, built 1898-1903 & extended in 1910-11

Following the end of the war, additional buildings are constructed for shipbuilding and repair, and the dockyards refitted the T-Class submarines and built the Navy destroyers, HMAS Voyager and HMAS Vampire. From the mid 1960s, the island's work included the servicing and refit of Oberon-Class submarines and the construction of HMAS Success. The dockyard closed in 1992, most of the machinery was sold off (nearly 50 cranes are left), and about 40 buildings and several wharves are demolished.

The office section of the Heavy Machine Shop North

The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust assumed control of the island in 2001 and embarked on major restoration works. After extensive remediation works, it was opened to the public for cultural activities in 2007. It is now the venue for art installations, concerts, sporting events, and for tourists. It is possible stay overnight on the island in the old residences or to camp out. The camping area was the plate yard where steel was cut and bent to space into the hulls.

Campers having jockey races in the luggage trolleys, beside the beam benders

Armchair traveller

Explore Sydney like never before Has Sydney always been on your travel wishlist?  Now you can try before you fly.   Discover Sydney Harbour,  Bondi Beach,  Taronga Zoo,  Palm Beach & Barrenjoey,  the Hunter Valley  in fully interactive 360 degrees with five fantastic fly-over videos. Each clip is just over one minute and has been filmed from a helicopter (I know it will be the only time I fly over the Harbour Bridge). You can control the view via your mouse - pan or zoom. Unfortunately the Palm Beach one doesn't do a fly-over of Barrenjoey Lighthouse and does a hover out from the beach instead (missed opportunity to my mind). Link to Sydney 360

Game over in a grand slam

The abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger Factory in the Sydney suburb of Alexandria is an urban art gallery of graffiti.

The factory is huge, spanning two massive levels in two separate buildings, with a maze of rooms large & small.

Layers of graffiti cover every wall and surface – bright colours on the dull concrete.

Littered throughout the entire building are thousands of empty paint spray-cans in a large variety of colours.

On the upper floor, the holes in the roof create a beautiful light pattern when the sunshine filters through. The material looks like asbestos sheeting, could possibly been damaged in that hailstorm that hit Sydney in April 1999.

I'm glad I went there in October 2011, as the Dunlop-Slazenger buildings have since become the location for the redevelopment of the site as a mixed use development of residential apartments, commercial offices and retail units. So another abandoned building will bite the dust (currently listening to Queen).

Slazenger was founded by brothers Ralph & Albert Slazenger in 1881, manufacturing golf clubs in 1890, Slazenger tennis balls were first used at Wimbledon in 1902. The first Australian factories began in 1922. Slazenger acquired Dunlop in 1959. In 1963 Slazenger started its clothing line and the Panther logo.

In 1909 Dunlop entered the golf market in Birmingham England. The Australian arm began manufacturing sand-shoes in Melbourne in 1924, and the Volley in 1939. It launched the Flying D logo in 1960.

Dunlop-Slazenger sold to BTR (British Tyre & Rubber) in 1985.

All fired up



Side view of the Switch House with the Boiler House behind & red brick 1948 Control Room

The White Bay Power Station was built by N.S.W. Rail to provide power for Sydney's growing tram and electrified rail network, carved out of former residential land in Rozelle and reclaimed tidal flats of the Whites Creek estuary (chosen as it provided water for the turbines, and easy access to the harbour).
The 3.4 hectare site is approximately 150 metres long by 70 metres wide with a number of buildings and wings constructed in the Federation Anglo-Dutch architectural style, and two 60 metre tall chimney towers.


The 1950s Boiler House and the Turbine House

The coal-fired power station was constructed in two stages. The first stage, built between 1912 and 1917, consisted of a boiler house, and part of the turbine hall and switch house. The second stage, which commenced in 1925, saw the completion of the turbine hall and switch house.
Between 1950 and 1958, the first boiler house was demolished and replaced in two stages with the present boiler house.



The coal elevator attached to the Boiler House

 In 1953 the newly created Electricity Commission of N.S.W. took over control from the Railways. By the 1970s, demand for power from White Bay had diminished to such an extent that the second boiler house was pulled down and the turbines sold. The power station was decommissioned on 25 December 1983, but retained for emergencies, its last operational use was during the power crisis in 1984.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the power station was gradually stripped with the majority of the machinery removed, except for items identified for heritage conservation, now a massive industrial relic.

In August 2000, Pacific Power sold the White Bay Power Station to the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority. A number of proposals for its future have been put forward, but the ultimate fate of the heritage-listed site remains uncertain.
I was unable to enter the site, but the YouTube clip below gives a good view of the interior, machinery, coupled with commentary from the ex-workers.

The derelict site has been used by photographers, and in a number of movie and tv productions - The Matrix reloaded, Red planet and in Water Rats. 


Nature is taking over the Turbine House castellated parapets

Moments in time

While doing some research on digitisation programs on the Net, I came across a link to a wonderful new book - "Moments in time : the State Records Authority of New South Wales".

State Records NSW holds tens of thousands of archival photographs from the late 19th century through to the present. They are undertaking a digitising program to bring these images to light, you can see the images online at their website, or on their Flickr account, or in their book "Moments in time".

There are beautiful old sepia and glass slide photographs from the grand - the Art Gallery of New South Wales, to the squalid - The Rocks area.

The portico and side galleries, Art Gallery NSW

Cumberland Place, The Rocks, c1901

The book is divided into three broad chapters: Sydney Harbour Bridge, Transport (which begins with the dramatic shot of the steam locomotive half balanced on the cliff edge of the Zig Zag Railway), and Sydney. 

The photographs make ideal subjects for the "Now & Then" project, I know I'll attempt to catch the scene on the front cover. Have already worked on one of the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge "Eastern Footway looking north" taken on 3rd September 1931. Mine wasn't from quite the same angle (had I only known at the time), but it shows the change to the Sydney landscape and skyline, and from the construction workers to the Bridge Climb tourists (they did it without the steps).

Sydney Harbour Bridge - September 1931 & October 2011