'Now and then' and gone

It must be time to resurrect 'Now and Then' images.
Unfortunately in the fast moving app development arena, apps come and go the National Trust's "Lost! 100 lost buildings of Melbourne" is no longer available, (I first encountered this Augment Reality app in 2012, the interactive 3D app enabled users to "ghost" - visually overlay buildings from the past onto the present, by augmenting the iPhone's existing camera function. A history, photos and stories of these often long-demolished buildings was also available), likewise the "StreetMuseum" from London.
Fortunately people have utilised the app and we can see the 'now and thens' they have created, and published in a Daily Mirror article.

This image shows Piccadilly Circus, Coronation day, June 1953. Crowds gather to witness the Coronation procession of Elizabeth II. The coronation went ahead in Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953, and at the Queen's request, the entire ceremony was televised throughout the Commonwealth, and watched by an estimated twenty million people.

People and traffic in Oxford Street around the turn of the 20th century. Christina Broom at this time photographed London street scenes to reproduce as postcards for sale.

 

Street scene at Covent Garden with underground station and horse and cart in the background. George Davison Reid photographed activity in the marketplace from opposite Covent Garden Underground station on Long Acre. A police constable was often needed to control the congestion of the horses and carts and increasing numbers of motorised vehicles. The long established market place was under pressure to move. The congested facilities were described at the time as 'altogether inadequate to the necessities of the trade'. However, the fruit and vegetable market did not relocate until 1973.

And my personal favourite, it is the children which really elevate its impression.

The pressure to build upwards is coming from demands on the Greater London Assembly and local authorities to come up with more housing at a time of very high land prices. Pictured here is the west side of Tower Bridge showing London as it is now and back in the 19th Century

The R.R.R. Tricycle

This was a highly requested film, back in the days when film meant a 16mm film reel. 
In fact I was surprised to read that the film was created in 1981, it seemed to have a 70s look & feel to it (the book was published in 1978).

This is 'The remarkable riderless runaway tricycle' by Bruce McMillan. 

It began as a picture story in which a tricycle, whose young owner distractedly abandons it, ends up in a dump, but escapes and careens around town evading adult humans in a series of humorous hi-jinks and then returns, at last, to its downcast young owner.

Then Evergreen Productions made it into this 10 minute film. Enjoy.

3D bookshelf

Didn't realise it has been sooo long between posts.
So here is one from Twisted Sifter.

Dutch street artists Jan Is De Man and Deef Feed recently completed this amazing mural on the side of an apartment building in Utrecht, Netherlands.
According to Jan, the artists asked people in the neighbourhood to share their favourite books so they could incorporate local favs into the 3Dtrompe-l'oeil mural. The mural took about a week to paint. 

Love the way they have incorporated the windows into the work, think they look like the pamphlet boxes with the insert label frames.

From in space

It has been a long time between posts, but not a great length of time in galactic terms. So I've gone into space for inspiration - the result:

Trami

In September European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst recently shared a series of incredible images of Typhoon Trami from the International Space Station, where he is currently serving as Station Commander for Expedition 57.

Trami

‘Trami’ was originally a category 5 super typhoon but has since weakened to a Category 3 hurricane with sustained wind speeds of approximately 195 km/h as it prepared to make landfall.

Trami

According to CNN, ‘Trami’ comes on the heels of Super Typhoon Mangkhut, which cut a swath of destruction through northern Luzon in the Philippines less than two weeks ago.’

Gerst described it ‘as if somebody pulled the planet’s gigantic plug.’

Florence

Also in September, Gerst took another series of photographs, this time of Hurricane Florence as it approached the United States.

Florence

Then in October Gerst captured a brief and yet beautiful time-lapse of the Aurora Borealis dancing above Earth.

Inspiring nature

Faye Halliday is a travelling artist best known for her incredible black marker illustrations. 

Originally from the UK and currently living in Costa Rica, the artist has amassed huge followings on Instagram and Facebook as she shares her ongoing artworks and creative pursuits. 

In an ongoing series of illustrated paper cutouts, Faye has been using nature’s vibrant palette to fill in her works and she has been using the results as inspiration for her coloured prints and canvases.

The stories behind the faces:

Faye has been drawing these animals for years. She sees “each creature has brought with it a lesson and a means for me to heal and grow as a person during different points in my life. 

Sometimes I'd approach the paper with a particular intention in mind and have it reflected back to me. Other times, the meaning or lesson behind the animal would reveal itself towards the end of the piece.

This is why I refer to these creations as ‘family’. The countless hours of love and attention that went into creating them...and the warm reminders of the lessons and support they gave me. 

In my experience, people have resonated with the pieces that carry a meaning relevant to their present circumstances. 

Which is why it might be interesting for you to see which animal you're drawn to, before finding out its meaning." 
(Check out the Meet-the-family link).

< Possibly my fave 'Rajaga' (Fire)

Faye produces her designs as prints for sale, and also t-shirts, temporary tattoos, and as phone cases.

The story behind the 'Pani' (Water) phone case design.

Heaven on earth is waiting for us to relax into our hearts, let go of the burdens we hold onto and wake up from the dream of stress. Inspired by the colours dancing in its glimmering surface, Pāṇī is an acknowledgement of the endless lessons to be found in water.

In a world of rigidity, water shows us how in all of its gentle flexibility, it cannot be destroyed. Freeze and it turns to ice, boil and it turns to vapour, drink it and it endlessly nourishes the people it passes through before eventually returning to its source.

Enclosing Australia

‘Fences of Australia’ by Jack Bradshaw.

Fences in the rural landscape are prosaic affairs. From stone to post and rail, from the utilitarian to the sculptural, a well-built fence is a thing of beauty and a monument to workmanship. These practical but symbolic structures are part of the story of Australia.

A reconstructed post-&-rail fence of separate panels rather than overlapping rails

Starting with 7,000-year-old Aboriginal fish traps and ending with a look into the future in a chapter on virtual fencing, Jack Bradshaw (who was inspired by the rabbit-proof fence) traces the history of Australia's fences in words and pictures.

A section of the rabbit-proof fence

The materials, design and method of construction reveal a great deal about the surrounding landscape, the type of farming enterprise and even the economic conditions of the time.

Dry-stone limestone fences at Kappawanta Station's shearing shed, on the Eyre Peninsula - still in use

A 90 year old split rail/paling fence around an orchard at Deeside near Manjimup, W.A.

Sheep yards built by the Pergandes family in the 1920s using layers of rock from a nearby outcrop, near Bencubbin, W.A.

Must emulate Jack – travel around the countryside taking photos of fences.

One of the more bizarre fence materials, around a W.A. wheatbelt homestead

The Stinson (the aftermath)

March 1937 and onwards

Bernard O'Reilly was lauded by the general public but never received any official thanks or reward and returned to the guesthouse. The 'Green Mountains' guesthouse has remained with the O'Reilly family ever since and is now a high end retreat 'O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat', and it still celebrates Bernard’s achievements.

O'Reillys accommodation

O'Reillys have special 80th anniversary treks to the crash site with a commemorative ceremony that you can join.

The Stinson wreckage in 1990s

Stinson Walk Option 1 – Walk in Bernard’s Footsteps

Starting from O’Reilly’s Resort we hike along the same route that Bernard followed in his search for the Stinson Wreck in 1937. The walk begins on the Border Track, later going off the graded trail into rough terrain and dense misty rainforest, summitting Mount Throakban to reach Point Lookout and on to the Stinson clearing where we shall meet up with the Rescue Route group. There is an opportunity to go to Westray’s grave.

Stinson Walk Option 2 – The Rescue Route

Walking from the Christmas Creek end of the track, this walking group will creek cross, rock hop, and make their way alongside the tumbling creek to the site of Jim Westray’s grave. From creek level you will then climb steeply up the side of the hill to eventually reach the site of the Stinson Wreck. Reaching the Stinson clearing you then have the option of continuing a little further to Point Lookout to look towards Mount Warning in N.S.W.

Both groups meet at the Stinson Clearing for lunch and time for a commemoration and to hear the remarkable tale of the Stinson rescue.

The Stinson crash had a profound effect on Australians, and via the results of the inquest, saw changes to Australian aviation. The much discussed topic of radio communications and navigation led to (Check out the local connection in the 'Nhill Aeradio Station, navigating safely' story) a network of radio beacons across the country to aid pilots.

In 1940, after he had volunteered to join the Air Force, "and since the future is so obscure" Bernard fulfilled requests to write the story of the rescue - the result was the book "Green Mountains and Cullenbenbong".
Bernard O'Reilly died in 1975.
John Seymour Proud continued his career as an engineer, and died in 1997. Joseph Robert Binstead's death date of 1969 is uncertain.

Sources: Bernard O'Reilly "Green mountains", Jennifer Beck "Crash", Trove historic newspapers.

 

The Stinson (2nd)

At dawn on Tuesday 2nd March 1937, the rescue team began the descent of the ridge in steady rain. Each 8 man stretcher team had to be rested every 10 minutes. It was some 11 hours later, after 4pm in the afternoon, when the stretchers reached the foot of the mountain.

The searchers with Proud & Binstead on stretchers (Wix.com)

The Stinson (1st March)

In the early hours of Monday 1st March 1937, Bernard O'Reilly and the locals were organising 2 rescue parties. The first led by Bernard and accompanied by Dr Lawler would follow Bernard's route back up the Christmas Creek to the Stinson survivors. 
Another party would cut a 14 mile long track along the ridge to ferry out the stretchers (Bernard’s fast route was too steep and treacherous for men to carry stretchers, even the ridge route required men at the front to carry the stretcher extended over their heads while the men at the back held it below knee height, in an attempt to keep it relatively level). 
Bernard’s party started out at 3am and arrived at the wreck site around 11am. They triaged the survivors and carried them up to the ridge. 
The Ridge party arrived around sunset.

Dr Lawler had been prepared to amputate Proud’s leg at the crash site but as the fly maggots had eaten the putrid flesh, they had actually slowed down/prevented gangrene infection setting in and poisoning the leg. The leg was saved but Proud never regained full use of the limb.