TheRamblingWombat Sydney

Fort Denison – Guarding Sydney – Perhaps Not

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Today dwarfed by high-rise buildings on the shore and massive cruise ships on the Harbour, Fort Denison was a barren rocky out-crop when the First Fleet arrived into Sydney Cove in 1788. Called Mat-te-wan-ye by local Aboriginals, Governor Phillip renamed it Rock Island. The island was soon informally christened Pinchgut, in memory of the convicts who were, in the early days of the colony, put there on starvation diets as a form of punishment for their misdemeanours. Continue reading “Fort Denison – Guarding Sydney – Perhaps Not” →

TheRamblingWombat Sydney

Societe Overboard: “Overpriced And Pedestrian”

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On weekdays there is only one option to purchase food on Cockatoo Island (Dec 2016) and that is the oddly named Societe Overboard just by wharf where you will have disembarked the ferry. At weekends the Marina Café (on the other side of the small island) opens. As I was, on this occasion, visiting during the week I didn’t have an opportunity to try out the Marina Café. If it is on a par with the Societe Overboard I am glad I didn’t. Continue reading “Societe Overboard: “Overpriced And Pedestrian”” →

TheRamblingWombat Sydney

AMP Building – Sydney’s First Skyscraper

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My observant reader will have noticed that this is the second building to which I have ascribed the accolade of ‘Sydney’s first skyscraper’. You may have noticed though that there was a question mark behind the title of the other review – Culwulla Chambers – Sydney’s First Skyscraper?. As it happened the Culwulla Chambers, while being the tallest building in the city (and remaining so until 1961), actually did not fit the then definition of a skyscraper as it lacked the requisite steel frame. Continue reading “AMP Building – Sydney’s First Skyscraper” →