Sydney, AU III (8/20/2025)

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Today was definitely a rainy day in Sydney. Sharon and Colin gamely accompanied us on another walking tour, this time in the Barangaroo and Darling Harbour sections just west of Circular Quay in Sydney.

Shadows (2019, by Sabine Hornig) is a series
of images of native flora embedded in glass
along a walkway connecting the three
International Towers, as a reminder of
the ancient past of this location

Another panel in the series of Shadows

Stories of the Moving Tide (2022, designed
by Mermer Waiskeder) features hand-
stitched and woven Eagle Rays made from
"ghost nets"/abandoned fishing nets
recovered from the ocean

Mooring Rope design of the drain covers in
this precinct that once was home to
shipping docks and maritime trades

On the left is Beacon (2018, anodized
aluminium posts that conceal vents, but are
inscribed with words describing the history
of Barangaroo), and across the street is
Anemone (2009, by Anton James) that
also conceal vents (KSS)

shellwall 2015 (by Esme Timbery and
Jonathan Jones, both indigenous artists) (KSS)

Looking back along the Barangaroo promenade toward the
Crown Towers (2016-2020, by WilkinsonEyre), nicknamed
Packer's Pecker for the owner of Crown Resorts;
apparently this is where Taylor Swift stays in Sydney (KSS)

Australian National Maritime Museum (1988-1991, by
Philip Cox) includes a replica of the Dutch ship Duyfken
(the first European ship to reach Australia in 1606) on the right
and behind it the naval destroyer HMAS Vampire (1959)

Life from a Suitcase (2010, by
Terrance Plowright) was commissioned by
Paul Signorelli to represent his grandfather
Biaggio Signorelli who immigrated from
Sicily in 1954; depicted are Biaggio and
Filipa Signorelli with their grandchildren

After a coffee break/respite from the rain, we continued on the Darling Harbour Art Trail.

Woodward Water Feature aka Tidal Cascade (1988, by Robert Woodward)

Harbour Veins (by Yukupin/Toby Bishop)

Sydney Town Hall (1869-1889, by
John H Willson in Second Empire style)

Islay Wishing Well (1987, by Justin Ronson)
features the favourite dog of Queen Victoria,
a Cairn terrier named Islay, who begs for
coins to benefit the Royal Institute for
Deaf and Blind Children in front of
the Queen Victoria Building

The Queen Victoria Market Building
(1893-1898, by George McRae in
 Romanesque Revival Style) with a statue
(1902-1908, by John Hughes) of Queen
Victoria for the Leinster House in Dublin,
Ireland; however, after Ireland's independence
the statue was removed and spent years
forgotten in an Irish farmhouse; when the
Queen Victoria Building was being restored,
a search was made for statues and in 1985
Ireland happily gifted this one to Sydney

Interior of the Queen Victoria Building

Stained glass and reflection under the
retrofitted escalator (2006)

Koko Black: Home of Real Hot Chocolate

Took the train to the Circular Quay Station, the station
with the best view of Sydney Harbour

Beacon (1994, by Robert Klippel) evokes
history and time in The Rocks neighborhood,
site of the first European settlement in Australia

Chicken Parmi, an iconic Australian dish of chicken
parmigiana served with cole slaw and chips

Lunch was at Fortune of War (1828),
the oldest pub in Sydney

Nurses Walk shows the use of limestone in this area

Foundation Park with remnants of terrace
housing built right on the limestone

A couple of toilets

Living space carved into the limestone

Terrace housing (1880s); the open doorway 2nd
from right leads through to Foundation Park

Letter box and terrace housing in The Rocks

First Impressions (1979, by Bud Dumas):
The Soldier representing the military presence
of the European who arrived in Australia

First Impressions: The Convict

First Impressions: The Settlers

A chance to get out of the rain at The Rocks
Discovery Museum (2005), located in
three buildings dating to 1844

Model of a Gadigal Aboriginal canoe made from a
buranburan/Eucalyptus melliodora/Yellow Box Canoe Tree

Bangawarra Nura/Story of Creation (2020, by N Dixon)

Cargo ship artifacts including spring balance
scales and ship's pulley block

Pinball machine (c 1835) from the 
former Australian Hotel on George Street

Mummified remains of a rat and rat trap

Back out in the rain.

Cadmans Cottage (1816), the second oldest surviving
residential building in Sydney, was built for the
Superintendent of Government Boats

Aha! ... a cruise ship blocks the view of the Sydney
Opera House across the harbour

Statue (1987, by Peter Tonkin and Marc Clark)
of William Bligh who served as governor
of New South Wales (1806-1809) after
the infamous Mutiny on the Bounty (1789)

Mordant Wing (2010-2012, by Sam Marshall)
of the Museum of Contemporary Art with
the sculpture Secret World of Skylight Ember
(2020, by Lindy Lee)

Next: Perth I.