TheRamblingWombat Sydney

Barrenjoey Lighthouse & Its Luckless Early Keepers

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At the northern end of the Pittwater Peninsula, Barrenjoey Headland commands the entrance to Broken Bay, the Hawkesbury River and The Pittwater. Throughout the 19th century The Pittwater (see my separate review) was an important shipping route giving access to Sydney, used by legitimate traders and smugglers alike. It also provided temporary safe anchorage for passing ships seeking to escape a storm. Safe access to it from the ocean was an imperative. Continue reading “Barrenjoey Lighthouse & Its Luckless Early Keepers” →

TheRamblingWombat Young

Former District Court House

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Without knowing a little of the history of country New South Wales towns such as Young, Cooma and Goulburn (and there are others) your initial encounter with court houses in these places will undoubtedly cause raised eyebrows. Like me, you will wonder why such grand court houses were built in what are today are rather modest towns in most other respects. Continue reading “Former District Court House” →

TheRamblingWombat Sydney

The Post Master General’s Flirtatious Maid

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When I admired the former General Post Office (GPO) spandrels, or rather the adornments thereon, I had never heard of a spandrel – though, as it turns out, I have seen and admired many. Lest my reader be as ignorant as I in architectural nomenclature, a spandrel is the space between two arches or between an arch and a rectangular enclosure.

When admiring the former GPO building do make your way around to the Pitt Street side of the building and look up at the spandrels. Continue reading “The Post Master General’s Flirtatious Maid” →

TheRamblingWombat Sydney

The General Post Office (Former)

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While no longer a post office, the exterior of this building, thankfully, retains its classical elegance and beauty. The interior which now, in the main, comprises the lobby, bars and restaurants of the Westin Sydney Hotel, retains a significant number of architectural features of the former post office but it’s just not the same and to me more resembles the recreated architecture of a Las Vegas casino than the original building interior that it actually was. That said, what’s here is better than nothing, and I do especially like that part of the original ceiling which remains accessible to pubic view as depicted in picture four attached. Continue reading “The General Post Office (Former)” →