I don’t know why but I have always found it rather disconcerting that a war memorial be placed in a location more renowned for depravity and debauchery than commemoration of battles in distant lands. Placed in the centre of Kings Cross (affectionately referred to simply as The Cross), Sydney’s notorious red light district, it is hardly surprising that this memorial has become known locally as the elephant douche. Continue reading “The El Alamein Fountain”
If you visit Elizabeth Bay House (or even if you don’t, as it has very limited opening hours), a heritage property built for Colonial Secretary Alexander Macleay in the 1830s, do pop across the road for a look at the delightfully manicured, though small, Arthur McElhone Reserve. Continue reading “Arthur McElhone Reserve”
It had been a number of years since I had visited the Australian Museum but I was recently drawn back, attracted by the fact that it was hosting a special exhibition, Trailblazers, honouring Australia’s 50 greatest explorers and because I had a museum pass, bought on a recent trip to Melbourne, which gave me free entry to museum’s permanent galleries. Continue reading “The Australian Museum”
Until 1967 Indigenous Australians did not have the right to vote and were not included in Australia’s census counts.
This effective non-recognition of Indigenous people as Australian citizens was particularly troublesome for the authorities when it came to them serving, or not, in the armed services. Continue reading “Yininmadyemi – Thou Didst Let Fall”
I have often wondered about the origin of this Obelisk. Surely it must be of some importance, standing grandly as it does at the top of Bathurst Street where it intersects with Elizabeth Street, on the edge of Hyde Park? Continue reading “Hyde Park Obelisk”
The last place I would have ever expected to find a Chinese temple would have been tucked away in the leafy, well to do, backstreets of Glebe but to my surprise that is exactly where the Sze Yup Chinese Temple is located, on a block of land acquired by early Chinese settlers for 325 pounds. Continue reading “Sze Yup Chinese Temple”
While Glebe is a rather hip and affluent inner west suburb of Sydney this has not always been the case. In the 1930s it was a distinctly working class area and many people were hit hard in the depression. Continue reading “The Wireless House – Glebe”
While this building, St John’s Parish Hall – designed by Edward Halloran and built in 1897, is a pleasant enough red brick affair with a nice art nouveau balcony I would not have drawn it to my reader’s attention were it not for a terracotta plaque affixed to the front of the building.
I am aware that many old schools have Rolls of Honour remembering those who you took part and died in World War I. Indeed my own former school Portora Royal School in Northern Ireland had one. Continue reading “Glebe Superior Public School War Memorial”
There are two eating options on Garden Island.
The first is to bring your own food/picnic. This is an entirely feasible option given the lovely lawn areas on which you can sit and eat right on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour. Should you prefer it, there are a number of tables and seats which you can use. Although I didn’t notice them, there are free bbq facilities if you want to go the whole hog and cook. Continue reading “Salthorse: “When Visiting Garden Island…””
The Rambling Wombat 