This is not a church - so what is it? (Skywatch Friday)

Breakfast Point is a brand new, still-in-progress housing development between Mortlake and Cabarita, on the Parramatta River. The site used to be a gas works. Environmentalists and some residents say that the formerly heavily industrialised site still contains toxins, and that clean up plans are inadequate. See here.

It's an interesting development, on a huge site. Lots of people would love it, but when we drove around my son just kept saying "It's so clean! It's TOO clean..." In the end he said "OK, enough - let's leave - it's just too., tooooo....American looking."

It does have that manicured-edge look of a Pleasantville or Stepford or Wisteria Lane of the Desperate Housewives. The houses and apartments are cookie-cutter perfect, every blade of grass manicured. But we know what sorts of dark secrets those places hide!

And I think the fake-New England church, which is a community hall is just too "cutesy" for words, and makes me laugh. The Country Club lends that air of exclusivity, and I think is meant to evoke the "romance" of Connecticut in the 1950's, when only "the right sort of people" were allowed to join, and housing covenants ensured none of the "wrong sort" appeared - Blacks, Jews and the like.

Of course, none of that would apply here, and the few people I saw getting in and out of cars (I was the only person walking anywhere) were very diverse. But it all just looks far too twee for me to be happy there.

I think one of the most interesting aspects is that many of the residents have turned NIMBY and oppose the proposition of a marina for luxury boats in the bay upon which this development is located. There are "No Marina" signs adorning various balconies. But in keeping with the overall "look" they are uniform, neatly blue and white - no hand-painted individualistic placards and protest at Brekky Point!

I'm going to poke around Brekky Point a bit more in the next few days if you want to come with me.


Other places, other skies.