Sydney's newest park: Barangaroo Reserve

A former container terminal on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour.
See an aerial shot, and learn more here.

Sandstone restoration, Hyde Park

Sydney City Council is restoring and repairing the sandstone perimeter wall and features of Hyde Park, including stairs, pavements, plinths, and the wall. 

I came across these workers installing caps along the wall. 

Meanwhile, the NSW state government is planning to privatise public works heritage services. These skilled craftspeople have been responsible for much of the restoration of Sydney's unique sandstone buildings and features over recent years, including the Queen Victoria Building, Hyde Park Barracks, Central Station. 

Where will the skilled tradespeople come from in future? They won't be home grown, if the state government has the final say. 

Sydney Town Hall restoration work

Restoration of this beautiful Victorian sandstone building  is currently under way. The first time I saw that "picture of the building" scaffolding cover was in Italy. 

Another bright blue winter sky...before the front which arrived later and brought a dramatic change.

Click here to see a previous post of the jacarandas in bloom.

And here to see the Town Hall from the diagonally opposite view.

Sally and Ann's Excellent Adventure 36: Sandstone

Sandstone outcrop on the small headland separating Mona Vale and Warriewood beaches.

Carved in sandstone

Detail from the facade of St Patrick's Catholic Church, Grosvenor St, Sydney

Sandstone wall

This beautiful sandstone wall runs along the railway line near Central station, on Elizabeth St. It has recently been cleaned. Sandstone is the "Sydney stone", beautifully exploited in colonial times for building. Click here to see more examples of Sydney sandstone.

Old and new

Part of historic Sydney hospital, with modern buildings on the opposite side of Macquarie Street behind.

Cockatoo Island Part 5

Inside the dogleg tunnel - beautiful Sydney sandstone.

Moore's Wharf building, Millers Point

Moore’s Wharf building at Miller’s Point was built in the late 1830s using local sandstone and remains in operation as a base for Sydney Ports’ harbour operations.
It was the site of Sydney’s first shipment of Australian gold to England, with the clipper ‘Phoenician’ departing in 1851.

Sadly, in many respects, Sydney Harbour has finished as a working port, other than for cruise ships. All the commercial port activity has moved to Botany Bay to the south.

Sandstone, Little Bay

A wonderful, sheltering overhang. Bottom picture - looking back towards the beach.

The overhang - Woolwich Dock

Here is the magnificent sandstone overhang at the end of Woolwich Dock. The dock was dug into the Woolwich peninsula as seen yesterday.

Tomorrow we'll have a look at the view from the viewing platform way up the top.

The Flight of the Bogong Moth (Skywatch Friday)

A pic from my stock of Sculpture By The Sea snaps from last year. (To view all my 2008 Sculpture By The Sea posts CLICK HERE.) I hadn't previously published it, even though it was a favourite - I was saving it for a Skywatch Friday, and then it kind of got lost in the picture vault!

Perched on one of the sandstone cliffs between Bondi and Tamarama, which make the most dramatic open air art gallery, is this wonderful piece by Marguerite Derricourt. It was yet another favourite of mine.

Derricourt says: "On their annual migration from Queensland to the caves of the Snowy Mountains, the bogong moths are blown off-course and end up clustering in their thousands on lighted windows in the city."

Some years in Sydney, there are bogongs a-plenty. Other years, none. You can read all about them here, and here . Bogongs were an important protein food source for Aborigines who roasted them in hot ashes and mashed the bodies to make 'moth meat', which is said to have a nutty taste.

To see skyscapes from around the world, click here.

Outdoor eating and Central Local Court

Outdoor eating across the road from the Central Sydney Local Court in Liverpool Street.

Government House - the outside

NSW Government House was built between 1837 and 1845 in the Gothic Revival style. The porte cochère at the front, providing shelter for carriages, was built in 1873.















I particularly liked the verandah along the eastern side, and so did many of the visitors who took advantage of the raffia and cane chairs to relax for a chat or a catch up with the Sunday paper. There are expansive views across the gardens to the harbour.

Thames St Wharf, Morts Bay, Balmain

Thames St Wharf at Morts Bay, Balmain, again. The huge sandstone blocks were being "protected" by that keep-off orange plastic, awaiting landscaping duties.

Left: And there's that bridge again: what a tart - always getting in Sydney shots!

Sydney Sandstone Tour: The coda and a geology lesson

Dark Beach, Murramarang National Park.

This beach, about 275 kilometres south of Sydney, and near where we go for our summer holidays, is significant for its geology.

It is here that the lip of the sandstone Sydney Basin reaches the surface at its southern most end.

The strata of the Sydney Basin, seen at the northen end of the beach, were laid down in the Permian (300-250 million years ago) and Triassic (250 - 205 million years ago) eras. They formed a saucer shape and lay in shallow water. They were lifted up out of the sea bed midway through the Triassic.The sandstone at this beach is the oldest part of the Sydney Basin, where the base rocks curve up and emerge. This is exposed in the magnificent cliff at the northern edge of the beach. To get to the sandy beach you have to climb over the sharp dark rock formation, which we didn't do.

On the southern end of the beach are rocks of the much older Wagonga formation (Ordovician - 500 to 450 million years ago). This junction is known as an Unconformity, where adjoining rocks are separated in age by 200 million years.

The beach derives its name from the dark pebbles on the southern end of the beach.

For the rest of my Sydney Sandstone Tour photos click here.

For more pictures of this beach and its rocks and vegetation, click here.

The Three Sisters. Sydney Sandstone Part 20 (repost)

Originally posted 30 Oct 2006

The western edge of Sydney is marked by the dissected, uplifted plateau which forms the Blue Mountains. Mostly sandstone, it is basalt capped. This formation, The Three Sisters, is the premier tourist attraction, and shows the layers of sandstone superbly.

I'm away on holidays enjoying myself at the beach. I'm therefore re-posting some sandstone photos I've used previously, some more than two years ago....

Check here for holiday photos, and click here to see the complete sandstone collection.

Sydney University. Sydney Sandstone Part 19 (repost)

Originally posted 16 Dec 2006

Originally posted 18 Jan 2007

The main Quadrangle, University of Sydney.Originally posted 27 October 2006

I'm away on holidays enjoying myself at the beach. I'm therefore re-posting some sandstone photos I've used previously, some more than two years ago....

Check here for holiday photos, and click here to see the complete sandstone collection.

Duke Kahanamoku. Sydney Sandstone part 18 (repost)

Originally posted 10 October 2006

I'm away on holidays enjoying myself at the beach. I'm therefore re-posting some sandstone photos I've used previously, some more than two years ago....

Sculpture of surfing legend, Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku.

He is credited with popularising surfboard riding in Australia when he demonstrated his skills at Freshwater Beach in December 1914.

The statue was unveiled by his widow Mrs Duke Paoa Kahanamoku (Nadine) on Australia Day, Wednesday January 26, 1994.

There's a walk around the headland with mosaic tributes to the many Australian men and women who have since been world surfing champions. The plaque at the site adds "It is hoped that this Park and the men and women it honours, will help to fulfil Duke's dream of surfboard riding becoming an Olympic sport." There's more pictures of the Duke here.

Check here for holiday photos, and click here to see the complete sandstone collection.

Cliff walk between Bondi and Coogee. Sydney Sandstone part 17 (repost)

Originally posted 30 July 2006

I'm away on holidays enjoying myself at the beach. I'm therefore re-posting some sandstone photos I've used previously, some more than two years ago....

Check here for holiday photos, and click here to see the complete sandstone collection.