Saturday 17 August 2013

Harbour Sculptures, Woolwich

A flyer turned up in our mailbox about a month ago for something called 'Harbour Sculptures: An Exhibition of Sculpture along the Sydney Harbour Foreshore.'
A quick google revealed a new event put on by Hunters Hill Council, the Australian Government Sydney Harbour Federation Trust and the good people of Woolwich.
It only has a short run - 9 to 20th August. With so much weekend sport in our life, it was going to be difficult to get over. Fortunately my day off from work this week (on Tuesday), dawned beautifully sunny and warm and I decided to make the most of it by jumping on the ferry...to take me across to the other side of the harbour...to Woolwich.

Woolwich Dock was originally built as a dry dock by the Mort Dock & Engineering Company (who were already running a successful dock in Balmain). It was opened in 1901 and at the time was the largest dock in Australia.
During the war years, the dock was very busy converting passenger boats into armed troopships, but new work declined after this and they eventually closed down in 1958.

The Army then took over use of the dock until 1997 as a repairs and maintenance yard.

The goverment planned to sell this site as well as 4 other former Department of Defence sites around Sydney. Local action groups quickly formed to protest this move and they were eventually successful. In 2001 the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust was formed to administer these sites and oversee their use for the public good.

The docks have been leased out and the old worksheds have been converted into restaurants, cafes, function rooms and gallery spaces. The surrounding green space (Goat and Horse Paddocks) and Clarkes Point Reserve are open to the public...and this is where the Harbour Sculpture event was held.

















You can see lots of gratuitous shots of the Sydney Harbour Bridge through many of the sculptures.
The old water tower behind a couple of the photos is on Cockatoo Island (another of the former Department of Defence sites now managed by the Trust).
All of the sculptures had a light set-up around them. The publicity team encourages everyone to visit at night to see the full effect....next year! For now, I hope you enjoyed my daytime shots of the sculptures.

Saturday Snapshot is a now being hosted by Melinda from West Metro Mommy

The rules are simple:

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

12 comments:

  1. I love those sculptures! I had to look twice at the first one of the dog--I thought it was a real dog at first!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love how the dog sculpture almost looks like a ghost dog in certain lights too!

      Delete
  2. wow! and yes, I thought it was a real dog too!! :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm glad you got there Brona, it all looks wonderful on a perfect Sydney day. I think the pelicans are my favourites. They certainly packed a huge number of sculptures into a relatively small space. It's a shame that it's only on for such a short time.

    ReplyDelete
  4. So many great pieces! I would have loved visiting the exhibit ... at night too!

    ReplyDelete
  5. These sculptures are so original - and beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wonderful. How lucky you are to live in a place of such beauty. I hope to share some of our small city's sculptures in the future. I want to visit Sydney someday!

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a wonderful event. One of my favorite museums is the sculpture museum in Dallas, Texas. Very cool.

    Here's my Saturday Snapshot.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Those sculptures are fantastic. They are original, and work so well in that location - what a shame they can't stay there all the time. My snapshot is at http://goo.gl/SU0f6C

    ReplyDelete
  9. wow! beautiful photos!
    My snap shot
    http://ratherbarefoot.blogspot.se/2013/08/saturday-snapshot-pregnancy-mania.html

    ReplyDelete
  10. Some really fun and interesting sculptures. Looks like a great exhibition.

    ReplyDelete

I know that blogger comments can be a pain, but I do love to hear from you. Please log onto a google account to make it as easy as possible.

All spam & anonymous comments will be deleted and comment moderation is in place for most posts.