Australian made

There's very little clothing and textile manufacturing left in Australia. It's wonderful to still see this iconic sign at the Koala factory in Arncliffe.

Arncliffe used to be a mix of light manufacturing and working class housing - a working class inner suburb.

Now the factories have all but disappeared as the high rise housing development has encroached. In planning circles they are called "brown fields sites." Once upon a time, the manufacturing workforce could afford to live in these inner-ring suburbs, and their jobs were located nearby, or on public transport corridors.

How long before the small industrial site is swallowed up?

Hats off to the owners of the family business, Koala, for the following statement on their website. It's a really informative website, with a short video(click here)  of their 82 year history, and a photo gallery of the whole process from designing to manufacturing (click here).

Statement by Koala: 

Australian Manufacturing Is Our Future.

We have a single-minded purpose… to keep Australian manufacturing jobs in Australia. This is our primary goal and it’s at the heart of everything we do. We believe that as long as there is a loyal market of Australian customers who value locally-made high-quality products, Koala Clothing will continue to move from strength to strength. We’re proud of the past 80 years and we’re excited about the next 80 years and beyond!

The Illustrated Man

The tattoo parlour The Illustrated Man has been a feature of the corner of Elizabeth St and Foster St, Surry Hills for as long as I can remember. Recently they have moved a few metres to the other corner of Foster St. Nice, shiny new premises.

The tiger tattoo mural on the wall of the old shop will probably disappear under re-development int he not too distant future. So here it is, for the record, and reflected in the window of the new place.

Local repair shop

This local repair shop was around the corner from me for decades. You could take in toasters, vaccuum cleaners, heaters, radios, TVs.....and they would be repaired.

The shop, and repairer have now gone, subsumed by another apartment development and slick looking shops (still being constructed).

When was the last time you had an appliance repaired rather than thrown it out and bought a replacement? No wonder the world is sinking under a sea of crap, and choking in its own chemicals.

Ned Kelly

Ned Kelly was Australia's most notorious bushranger. This stall in The Rocks Market sells stylised wall hangings based on the famous suit of armour which Ned fashioned from iron.

Raise the red lantern

Traditionally the sign of the doctor's surgery, I don't see very many of them these days. This one is in the heart of Arncliffe.

Harry's Cafe de Wheels, Haymarket

Not the original at Woolloomooloo, and not on wheels any more, but a Sydney institution nevertheless.
Harry's started as a late night pie cart in 1938, a traditional stop for late night revellers finding their way home, taxi drivers and the like.
By the way, for North American readers, in Australia, "pie" is not synonymous with "sweet". They are most usually savoury, traditionally meat based, though being tri-lingual (we speak and understand Australian, English and American) there is some cross-over these days. My favourite are steak and kidney.

No, this tricycle isn't on the pavement, and I haven't tilted the camera; it's actually suspended on the wall of a factory called AFCO All Metal Work. It's the same building outside which yesterday's chair was positioned. So, imagine looking up at it - do you feel a little dizzy?

Mmmmm, Jaffas!

One of my favourites .... chocolate centres and a hard orange coloured and flavoured shell.

The name comes from from the colour of oranges from Jaffa in Israel. Jaffas are part of Australian and New Zealand cultural folklore. Jaffas have often been sold in movie theatres and have gained iconic status because of the noise made when they are dropped (accidentally or deliberately) and rolled down sloping wooden floors. They came of age at the same time as the movies, being launched in the Australian market in 1931.
http://www.shopnewzealand.co.nz/en/cp861/Cadbury_Jaffas_140g

Paramount Pictures

Now an upmarket restaurant, this art deco building from 1940 was the Sydney offices of Paramount. It wasn't a studio, but did have a screening room, and apparently luminaries like Bob Hope and Charlton Heston attended functions. I've been to the restaurant, Lo Studio (The Studio), and it's very good. Inside there's lovely woodwork and other deco features.

Cauliflower Hotel, Waterloo

In the older inner Sydney suburb of Waterloo, amongst heavily trafficked streets, and a congestion of power lines and traffic lights, is the Cauliflower Hotel, first established in 1838. (A pub is often called a hotel in Australia - derived, I think, from hostelry. Many used to offer accommodation in the upstairs section.)

Post Boxes, Sydney City

These brass letter boxes are in the wall of the old General Post Office in Martin Place, Sydney. The post office these days is reduced to a mere shadow of its former self; most of it is now the shell for a posh hotel. There used to be many more of the brass letterboxes. They were removed, but public clamour caused some of them to be reinstated.

This is Australia (for Ben)

I couldn't choose which photo of images from the side of an outside broadcast van to feature, but in honour of my cricket-mad son, went for the top one. It may well be winter, but training for the next cricket season starts this week!

If you want to see the "big picture", ans some close ups of other images, click here to visit Sydney Daily Photo Extras. Here's a teaser:

Château Tanunda

The plaque says:

"The Elizabeth Street entrance of St James Station has been maintained in its original condition as a heritage site. "

Further research (see comments inside) put the date of the Château Tanunda sign at c1938.

Château Tanunda is a famous winery in South Australia's Barossa Valley. Click here to read about it.

We're Happy Little Vegemites

When too much vegemite is barely enough. (And yes, it is winter, but never let that stand in the way of fashion!)

We're happy little Vegemites
As bright as bright can be.
We all enjoy our Vegemite
For breakfast, lunch, and tea.
Our mother says we're growing
stronger every single week.
Because we love our Vegemite.
We all adore our Vegemite.
It puts a rose in every cheek!

-1950's advertising jingle. Listen to it here.

There was a report, later reduced to urban myth status, that the US had banned, yes, banned, the importation of vegemite, allegedly because it has added folate. We can cope with the finger-printing at the border, cope with being grilled on vias applications about our Nazi pasts, or moral terpitude, but being BANNED from taking in a jar of salty axle grease (actually a yeast-based spread, a by-product of brewing) to spread on toast - what an outrage! Fortunately NOT TRUE.

A night at the drive-in

Last week I showed you the back of the screen at Bass Hill Drive-In . And as I promised our son we'd go to the drive-in, last night was the night. We saw the 3rd instalment of Pirates of the Caribbean. The first part was much too long, but the action got going in the second half. Intermission was a chance to stock up with more junk food at the snack bar....mmmmmm choc-top ice creams!
Some things don't change either...little kids still get taken to the drive-in dressed in their pyjamas, dressing gown and slippers. And some people park their station wagons backwards, open the back and lie down to watch the movie.

The Meccano Set, Lansvale

The intersection of Liverpool Road (the Hume Highway), Woodville Road and Henry Lawson Drive at Lansdowne has, for decades, been universally known as 'The Meccano Set', and I think that is its official name now (at least that's how it appears on street directories). It's a Sydney icon.

If you don’t know what a Meccano set is, click here.

You can find out more here and here.

Bass Hill Drive-In

Have you ever been to a Drive-In theatre? Along with ten-pin bowling alleys and courtyard motels, they were an iconic part of 1950s and 60s culture, imported from the US.

I used to love going when I was a kid. Usually there would be a small playground under the screen where kids could play. Many would arrive dressed in their pyjamas, so if they went to sleep in the car they could get put straight into bed when the family got home.

The people who live here must feel like they are there every night! Bass hill is a twin screen theatre, so there is another screen, showing a different movie at the other end of the lot. You just park your car in the direction of the movie you want to see. It was closed when I went past, but here's some great pics.

You can check here to see what' s showing tonight.

To read all about Australian drive-ins, have a look at this website, starting with Bass Hill, one of only two left open in Sydney. And here's a doco, American Drive-In Movie Memories.

And here's one on the history of the drive-in theatre.

Scootin' around

Lunchtime. Elizabeth St, Surry Hills.

He's wearing the currently very fashionable Dunlop Volleys, which have recently re-invented themselves from daggy 1950s style tennis shoes to must-have items.

Tomorrow is Sydney DP's 1st birthday!

Icons and Ice Creams in a little Greek village

There I was driving around Rookwood cemetery (featured yesterday), when I came across what looked like a scene from a typical Greek village: eucalyptus trees, cypress pines, shop with smoking owner, Orthodox church, memorial reliquaries, and, of course, cafe tables. It was undoubtedly the Greek Orthodox section of Rookwood. It was a hot day so I went in to buy an ice-cream.

Budgerigars

Budgies are native to Australia. Many people keep them as caged birds. This collection lives in an enclosure at my sister's flats.

Smuggling Australian native birds is a very lucrative illegal activity worldwide.

But the term "budgie smuggler" has another meaning too....

Read all about it here
and here's the meaning without words!