"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." RLS
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…””
While a little hard to decipher, especially from my photos, three sets of initials (WB, FM and IR) and the year 1788 engraved on sandstone rocks on the hilly and wooded northern part of Garden Island are thought to be genuine, dating back to 1788. This makes them the earliest known examples of graffiti in Colonial Australia and the oldest surviving evidence of British settlement on the continent. Continue reading “The Oldest Colonial Graffiti in Australia”
The thing that most impressed me about the RAN (Royal Australian Navy) Heritage Centre is its focus on the leisure and off-duty activities of sailors at sea and in port (ok, maybe not all of them!). A significant part the Centre’s exhibits is focused on giving the visitor an understanding of what it was, and is, like to live on a warship and an understanding of the traditions and pastimes of the Navy and how these reinforce the spirit of a fighting service. Continue reading “The Esther Williams Trophy”
Not least due to its location, Australia’s first and only direct enemy attacks in its history (leaving aside recent terrorist activity) were in World War II – the Japanese bombing of Darwin in the Northern Territory and their attack on Sydney Harbour using midget submarines. Continue reading “M22 and the Japanese Attack on Sydney Harbour”
For two reasons, I suspect, not many people visit the RAN Heritage Centre.
Firstly, from the name they have no idea what it is – it is the flagship museum of a small number of Australian navy museums – and secondly, they hear reference to its location on Garden Island, an active naval base, and assume it is going to be difficult to visit for security reasons – it is not. Continue reading “RAN Heritage Centre (Naval Museum)”
Making your way from the Garden Island Wharf towards the RAN Heritage Centre you will encounter, by the shore on your left, memorials to HMA Submarine AE1 and HMA Submarine AE2 and the bow of HMAS Parramatta. Continue reading “Memorials to Australia’s First Submarines”
Garden Island’s European history goes right back to the arrival of the First Fleet (European settlement) into Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788. The island was set aside as a vegetable garden (hence its name) to grow food, initially for the crew of ships anchored in the Harbour. Continue reading “Garden Island”
I came across this eclectic mix of ceramic tile murals as I was wandering around some of the lesser known streets in Darlinghurst. Continue reading “St Vincent de Paul – Murals”
In 1857 Sydney acquired a small number of these ornate cast iron drinking fountains from Macfarlane & Co, a prominent Scottish iron foundry. Continue reading “Oxford Square – Canopy Drinking Fountain”
Since 1945, more than seven million people have migrated to Australia making it one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. Adding those who arrived between 1788, when the first Europeans settled in Australia, and 1945 brings the total to over ten million. Continue reading “Welcome Wall”
The Rambling Wombat 