Into the woods

We walked home through the local park tonight. Football training was underway under the lights. It cast a glow through the avenue of oaks.

Sundown, Silver Jubilee Park, Bardwell Valley

A bit of rustic Sydney

You might be excused for thinking I was still in the country, but this is just around the corner from me.

School vegetable gardening

I love these vegetable gardens at Arncliffe Public School.

Train lines

As i sat waiting for a train I was struck by three things: the blue sky and ochre paintwork, the light reflecting off the corrugated iron roof, and the horizontal lines everywhere.

House names

Naming houses is a tradition which a long history, from Roman villas, to the castles and manor houses of the nobility. In the days before street numbers were common, many more humble abodes received names.

I have been walking my local area collecting names. Thee's such a great variety, ranging from the humorous, to flora and fauna, lots of place names from afar (mainly, but not exclusively from the UK), to deeply personal ones.

One thing I've noticed is the vast majority of named houses are from the Victorian or Federation [Edwardian] periods - around 1900 to 1920 - but not always - some are later, some are clearly whimsical. Sometimes you can see where a name plate once adorned the front wall, but is now gone.

Do houses get named where you are?

Names I have collected: 

Abingdon, Agrinion, Allambe, Alpine, Antikythera, Arcadia, Assety, Attercliffe
Bayview Cottage, Betonville, Boheme, Bonnie Jean, Bowood, Braeside, Bredbo, Brightampton Caloola, Capricorn, Carinya Lodge, Casa Albanese, Casa Nostra, Cerisy, Chateau "D" Oex, Cpburra, Coorawong, Cruden
Dallas, Dappeto, Dawn, Delhi, Dew Drop Inn, Dunnview
Edelweiss, Elouera, Elysium, Fairfield, Fairview, Florida, Franenstein, Freestone, Frenvilla
G & N Paladino, Gables, Gladstone, Glenara, Glenview, Grosvenor
Hadley, Hickman, High Per Area, Hornby, Humming Bird Cottage
Ivyvale
Jacaranda, Joyful
Kia Ora, Kyeema
Lidsdale, Lilyvale, Linden, Lipari, Loganview, Lorna Doone
Maroomba, Maurig View, Maxgate, Menton, Milfordhaven, Mill Cove, Millthorpe, Mimosa, Missabotti, Moloha, Montrose
Nindethana
Often Inn, Oldenburg, Orana, Orwell, Our Happy Home
Pateena
Raynor, Ravon Cottage, Restalrig, Ridgeway, Rita & Nev's Cottage, Rivendell, Rose Cottage, Rose-Lyn, Rose Villa, Rossmoyne, Rossneath
Sarcherie, Stafford, St Kilda, Strathmore, Sydney Athens
Thame Cottage, The Rest, Travancore, Tullamore
Valpre, Vasanta
Waemel, Waya, Weamba, Wentworth, Wolumla
Yack
Zenobia

Cockatoos (and an ibis)

Arncliffe Park plays hose to a large flock of cockatoos, and ibis. The cockies fly over to the 100 year olf mandarin tree in our backyard, and create an incredible mess, as they dive into the fruit for the seeds, and then drop the fruit all over the back yard...and sometimes out on the street!

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!

Wolli Creek apartments

Out of former light industrial and warehouse land at Wolli Creek, a whole new city of apartments is arising.

Previously blogged here 

Moratorium

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, opposition to the war in Vietnam had grown to a huge mass movement.

This piece of remnant graffiti promoting the cause still exists (as of yesterday!) in the railway underpass at Arncliffe in Sydney. I wonder if there is any elsewhere?

The Moratorium against the Vietnam War began in the United States, with the first Moratorium march on 15 October, 1969. This followed anti-war marches on the United Nations and Pentagon in 1967. On 15 November, 1969, 500,000 people marched on Washington DC.

In Australia the first marches took place on 8 and 9 May, 1970. Over 200,000 people took part, 100 000 in Melbourne. It was the largest mass movement against the war to that time. The second was in September 1970 and the third  in July 1971. By this time, public opinion was turning decisively against conscription and Australia's involvement in the war.

Arncliffe station



A splendid piece of Victoriana in Sydney's inner south

 Taken on iPhone 4S

Illawarra Flame Tree

Photos taken 29 Nov 2012 on iPhone 4S

A contrast to the lavendar of November jacarandas is the native Illawarra flame tree. They are often planted alongside each other. This specimen is in Arncliffe Park.

The Illawarra flame tree (Brachychiton acerifolius)  is native to subtropical regions on the east coast of Australia. Sometimes it is called a Kurrajong, like other brachychitons of which it is a relative.
The flowers are bell-shaped, and it has pod-like fruit, which contain masses of thin bristles and seeds. The seeds were eaten by Aborigines after toasting.

Morning stroll

Ibises moved into urban areas looking for food during the prolonged drought. A whole heap set up residence in the nearby park (shown yesterday). No drought any more, but the birds seem to like their digs and intend to stay. Now they're out 'n' about checking out the 'hood!

Taken on iphone

Morning

The sun was shining this morning over Arncliffe Park as I was on my way to work; so I had to stop and capture the oh so green green-ness, a result of all the rain we've had lately.

The sun is noticeably lower in the sky and the season is changing, but it's still warm, humid and summery. Beautiful!

Winter blooms

Garden

Getaway

It's Easter, and time for many to pack up the car and get away for a few days on a nice long break. We have public holidays Friday (Good Friday), Monday (Easter Monday) and Tuesday (ANZAC Day)...so for many - me included - there's no work til next Wednesday!!!

I'm staying put, just like this ute - not rusted into place, but looking forward to some sun and swimming, reading and excursions.

If you're off for for a break, have a great time!

Tempe House

This house, now magnificently restored, has quite a history – from glamorous high society home, to a school operated by early Sydney philanthropist Caroline Chisholm (she previously appeared on the Australian five dollar note), through nearly a century as a home run by Catholic Good Samaritan nuns for women judged to be in “moral danger”.


In the past few decades it has been in danger of total dereliction, the gardens and grounds overgrown and inaccessible.

Unfortunately, the only way the house has been able to be restored has been in conjunction with a major high-rise housing development. While I haven’t got an issue with the flats themselves, I do feel they mar the line of sight of Tempe House and divorce it from its context of expansive grounds. It has also meant the excision of a part of the rocky knoll to one side, called “Mount Olympus”. This part of the grounds has also been restored as a garden, for the private use of the apartment dwellers.
On the positive side, the vast lawns down to the Cooks River have been rehabilitated.

The house was built for a wealthy and successful Scottish émigré, Alexander Brodie Spark. He had travelled extensively in Europe, having undertaken the classical gentleman’s Grand Tour of classical sites, and named the estate “Tempe” after the Vale of Tempe in Greece, and the rocky hill he named “Mount Olympus”.

In 1834 he commissioned colonial architect John Verge to design an arcadian villa with resemblance to a Greek temple. Behind the house there was an orchard, greenhouse, shrubbery and gardener’s cottage. On the river he constructed a rococo bathing house.


For a full history and more photos see my Postcode 2205 blog entry on Tempe House.

Sunday bike ride

How did you spend Sunday? Doing something healthy, or did you have to work, or do you live in a country where Sunday is a normal day? ( I went for a swim)


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Tree down!

Last Sunday, in high winds, one of the beautiful trees in the avenue of trees in Arncliffe Park came down. I got talking to workers waiting for equipment to arrive to cut and remove it, who insisted on taking my photo! It was termite-ridden, and the other trees in the avenue will be checked out too; reportedly some are "ready to go". They were planted in 1904.