Saturday, July 31, 2010

Panorama of Brisbane, 1880

More information on this painting later... in the meantime, can you spot anything familiar or where the artist was standing when he painted it? Click on it for a closer view.


(Edit) The artist was J.A. Clark and he was standing on Bowen terrace (at what is now the Wilson Outlook Reserve) looking at the section of the river which now boasts the story bridge so well done to Jake, 'me', anonymous and no doubt tff for spotting it correctly!  Spring Hill stands out with the windmill on the left and the newly erected "old" Parliament House on the right. It's a gigantic painting - I think 5 or 6 feet long - and it hangs in the Queensland Art Gallery. Definitely worth a visit!

Talking of visits, thanks for visiting this blog today! Lovely.

Friday, July 30, 2010

"Here comes a person - freeze!"

I drive past this shopfront in South Brisbane every day and it always brings a little smile to my face. I would really enjoy arranging that display.

It makes me wonder about when all the lights are out and the shop owners go home to bed...

Thursday, July 29, 2010

I am, you are, we are Australian!

Last night, myself and 994 others became Australia's newest citizens at the exhibition centre in South Bank. I was so proud to be one of the many nationalities taking part in the ceremony and grinned all the way through it (although it was a little tough for one of us to grin at certain times!) Unfortunately I don't get to vote in the upcoming election as it's just a bit too late to process... but the NEXT election.... watch out!

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

River City Life

The view from the boardwalk at Teneriffe on a winter's day looking towards Hawthorne CityCat stop. Not too shabby.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Floral Gems



Winter blooms amongst some bare branches at the Botanic Gardens in Mt. Coot-tha. If you are in Brisbane, it is such a great place to relax. It's open every day.... and it's completely FREE.

Monday, July 26, 2010

I know those drawings!

A funny thing happened to me last night when I turned on the telly. An artist was being interviewed and he was talking all about these people that he drew - and how they all look like they're straight out of the 1970s and all the men have these giant beards

The drawings looked vaguely familiar to me and he said he was from Brisbane... then all of a sudden he started talking about how he was asked to project his drawings onto the Willian Jolly Bridge. It was a bit of a Eureka moment for me as I had been wondering who had drawn them and what they were about when I posted the projection a few weeks ago. The artist's name is Laith McGregor and you can see plenty more of his work by doing a Google Image search on his name. He works a lot with biro which I really like.

 He's also exhibiting at the Melbourne Art Fair between August 4-8 if you're in the area.

Or if you like here's a little video. (I'm not sure if that's available outside Australia - sorry if it's not)

Today's picture shows the same projection as my original post,  just a little wider.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

The Engine Room

 

The small red-brick building in the foreground is known as The Engine Room and sits on the banks of the river at Teneriffe. In 1908/9, the Brisbane Stovedoring and Wool Dumping Company constructed wharves and storage areas here for the export of, among other things, refrigerated meat to Britain. This building housed two ammonia compressors that were driven by steam engines to provide the refrigeration needed in the cold storage areas. It's now heritage listed.

I was really surprised they had refrigeration up and running this early - pretty state of the art I would have thought...especially in what was a relatively small outpost at the time.  Although, if you have a look at the buildings that remain in Brisbane from around that time, it is evident the British intended Brisbane to be a sophisticated, cultured and prosperous place and it looks like a lot of money flowed though here at the time.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Ribbed for your (Skywatch Friday) pleasure!


Amazing patterns in the Brisbane sky a few weeks ago. 

Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies around the world.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Now and Then


I'm not sure if it's intentional or not but I LOVE that they've kept the old sign there.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Teneriffe Dock Bollard

It says "Evans, Anderson and Phelan" across the middle (an engineering company, I think). These dock bollards remain along the riverside path, rusting up nicely and serving as a reminder that there wasn't always posh flats round there. By the way, Teneriffe was only recognised as a suburb by Brisbane City Council earlier in the year so a big shout-out to all the Teneriffe dwellers who I'm sure now have a nice warming sense of validity.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Happy Birthday, Powerhouse

This is the entrance to the Brisbane Powerhouse, a major arts venue here in Brizzy. It's housed in the shell of an old power station which was built in stages between 1928 and 1940. It has these old brick walls that are really high. This year, it is celebrating its 10th birthday. Download the program here.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Private Poetry

This sign is on part of the Brisbane Powerhouse property which is a fab arts venue in New Farm.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Traffic Stopping Art (number 48)


Here we are with another one of Brisbane's painted traffic signal boxes. I've posted this one before which is scandalous seeing as there are so many more un-posted that deserve my attention... but this is from a different angle and I quite like the rest of the shot.

Friday, July 16, 2010

A Woolly Blanket For The Moon


 As a native of more temperate climes, I had to laugh when I went to see comedian Bill Bailey at the weekend and he said that it was almost like the people of Brisbane were mocking him by wearing winter coats in 20 degree heat. After five years here, I have now become one of these softies. It's not the 20 degrees that is cold, it's when you get into the shade and lose 10 degrees instantly... really! If there are any Canadians or Outer Mongolians reading this and rolling their eyes: I don't blame you. Wimps, the lot of us.
Anyway. The nights have been in single figures recently... and the moon definitely needs its woolly cloud blanket.

This post was proudly brought to you by Skywatch Friday.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Blue and Green

This is the State Law Building in George Street - a favourite of mine. They call it "Gotham City" as from other angles it is straight out of Batman. I quite like it from this angle too. The blue glass and green steel go well with the sky and trees.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Charcoal Yiros

Greek-style marinated, barbequed lamb and chicken at Char Char Yiros in West End. They serve it with pita bread, Greek salad, chips and a couple of slices of grilled haloumi. Delicious but seriously filling. I had to walk 2kms after eating just to be able to breathe properly!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Bill Bailey

Last night I went to see comedian and musician Bill Bailey on stage at the Performing Arts Centre in South Bank. It was a brilliant night and I laughed loads. At the end when everyone was filing out of the theatre and there would have been about 10% of the audience left in the auditorium, he came back on stage and gave those of us that were left our own private concert - it was excellent!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

George Street Kangaroos


These kangaroos sculpted using scrap metal are called "City Roos" by Christopher Trotter. There are a few of them lounging around the city. Two of them were recently hopped off (temporarily) to be part of the Australia exhibit at World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Rule Of Thirds


Queenslander houses are a part of Brisbane's heritage yet Brisbane City Council seems hell bent on getting rid of as many as possible in order to squeeze blocks of flats in. There is a law in place to protect any pre-1946 dwelling... but unfortunately the council have acquired and bulldozed the house which stood on the right hand side of this picture a few weeks ago to build a roundabout. The act of doing this means that there are only two period houses left in this pocket of West End. Now here's the thing: some bright spark made a rule that if there are less than 3 pre-1946 houses in a cluster, the protection doesn't apply. So. Within a week of the council knocking down the house on the corner, a developer had swooped in, presumably offering a very sweet offer to the current owners, and the application to demolish the two house in the picture in favour of apartments is in the pipeline. 

Decision will be made by the council in two weeks.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Pastel Skywatch

Being the shortest part of the year, I miss 5 out of 7 sunsets as I am still at work inside with no windows at 5pm... it makes you appreciate them all the more.

Luxuriate in other skies around the world at Skywatch Friday.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Canned Great Barrier Reef Turtle Soup, Anyone?

With the opening of the new walkway on the Go Between Bridge, the top portion of a lovely old building has become visible with this old painted sign. Foggitt, Jones and Co. seems to have been some sort of canned meat factory back in the 1930s from most accounts...

If the Brisbane Courier from November 14th 1931 is to be believed, one of it's meats was live turtles from the Great Barrier Reef. They were shipped from up the coast and straight to the Foggitt Jones wharf where they were turned into canned soup! Yikes! Barbarians!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

N is for NAIDOC

It's NAIDOC week from 4th-11th of July. It stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee but it is known now only by the acronym. It's a time when Australia celebrates it's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage. 

On Queen Street Mall in Brisbane, they are doing an art installation spelling out the word NAIDOC using a different artist to decorate a letter each day from Sunday to Friday. This is Melita Harris who was just starting the mammoth task of doing dots all over her 'N' as I walked past.

If you weren't planning on celebrating by visiting the NAIDOC website and seeing what's on around Australia, can I suggest you take four and a half minutes at some point this week to familiarise yourself with the fabulous Aboriginal musician Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu.... here.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Let's See What's Through The Arched Window

There is an upside to the Go Between bridge; the new perspectives from it. One being the city framed in the arch of the Merivale train bridge. You are parallel to the trains that go across it and you are about the same height. Given that the trains pretty much crawl across that bridge, you could probably race one if you were so inclined and you probably wouldn't even have to break into a jog. I also quite like the way that you can see just the top of the Kurilpa Bridge with all of its swaying masts suggesting a marina beneath. Not bad at all.

Monday, July 5, 2010

The Go Between Bridge

Here is the Go Between Bridge. It's a 4-lane toll bridge linking South Brisbane with Coronation Drive with free cycling and walking paths and it opens today. I'm not a big fan of it. I don't think it will reduce traffic much and I think the design is boring. There. I've said my piece.

(Apologies for the soap-box moment)

Sunday, July 4, 2010

One less way to Stick It To The Man...


Parking meters across Brisbane now ask you to key in your registration number so the inspectors can make sure that the payee is the park-ee. Gone are the days of pulling up next to a coin meter with some time left on it - and that feeling of personal triumph that goes along with it. Boo!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Vehicle Respray

As promised from Wednesday's post, this is the sprayed caravan by Shida which was part of the Trailer Trash installation at The Planting festival in Woodford in May. It sure beats beige!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Ripple Skywatch

The sky rippled up over Brisbane like whipped cream last Saturday afternoon... glorious!

For other glorious skies, visit Skywatch Friday.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

July Theme Day: Reflections


It's the first of the month which means it must be Monthly Theme Day for all those City Daily Photo bloggers out there. This month's theme is Reflections.

I've chosen Ron Mueck's Mask Self Portrait which is on display at the moment in Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art. Being a self portrait, it is by definition a reflection of the artist. I guess it would involve some self-reflection too. From an onlooker's point of view, I think all of his amazingly life-like sculptures reflect and provoke reflection in us all.

My other Ron Mueck posts are here, here and here

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