Sydney

The periphery might have the stars, but this old workhorse dates back to 1792 with the first commercial shipping docking here on the western side of Sydney Cove. Many facelifts later, the Overseas Passenger Terminal still has it 1960s charm, and due to berth-deepening, can support modern mega ships. Having said that, I prefer the boar out when they are not clogging the view.

Originally a small rocky outcrop used as an Indigenous fishing ground for millennia, Sydney’s Darling Island was bought for £10 in 1799 as it was spotted as a deep water location and ideal for ship building. In 1834 it was connected to the shore by a stone causeway. Then major slipways built in 1851, over the 1870s & 80s, rubble and fill were used to permanently connect it to the mainland.

When the Georges River meets Botany Bay at the perfect time on a cloudy Sydney dawn, I’m a happy lad.

Intentional camera movement. On this cold Sydney dawn, you can just make out the subject from the top right of the shot. I take pics of this structure often, it’s like an old friend. It’s the Harbour Bridge.

The construction of the Sydney Opera House started the year before I was born, I feel my age, but it still looks fresh. Speaking of fresh, my weather app had it feeling below 1C at 0700 this morning.

While we may have past the shortest day of this Sydney winter, not too many on Bondi Beach at dawn this morning. My rough count was one, and that person appears fully clad.

Withers Lane connects Crown and Reilly Streets. It has a bit of a dark history. In the times of the Razor Gangs Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh’s gang members trawled this lane. “Big Jim” Devine, Frank “The Little Gunman” Green, Guido Calletti and Phil “The Jew” Jeffs among them.

I love an urban wall in the dark hours, shadow play, contrasting surfaces, and sometime an art surprise.

Who knows what evils lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows.

You can run across it, you can drive over it, walk it, take a bus or a train, cycle over it and even climb up it. The steelworks for the Sydney Harbour Bridge began 100 years ago. I still get a thrill anyway I cross it, but I’m no climber😉

If past performance is an indicator for present and future outcomes, I should not be able to see any sky. Thankfully, we finally got some pleasant dawn action above the Duck Pond at Sydney’s Centennial Park.

Sydney’s Glebe Public School traces its origins back to 1858, with classes first commencing on November 3 of that year. It was later officially opened in its current building on Derwent Street in 1862. The garages aren’t part of the school, but the hint of bars appeals. There’s only certain times you should take your camera out, 5am works.

Few know that the University of Technology, Sydney’s Faculty of Engineering and IT is actually a launch site for probes. I’m not sure what this probe will probe, but I won’t be standing at takeoff.

Woolloomooloo has a few possible meanings from the first Australians. I’ve found young black kangaroo; place of plenty; burial ground; and field of blood. More recently it has meant working class area, wharfies, navy, meat pie and community.

Eerie dawn light paints the façades of apartment buildings on the western side of Sydney’s Rushcutters Bay.

I’m at the old Sydney Fish Market on a cool clear early morning, enjoying the stars above the ANZAC Bridge.

I’m out early inspecting The Fleet Steps at Mrs Macquarie’s Point. Sydney Harbour laps against a stone wall a metre behind me as fog shrouds the scene. These steps were built in 1908 to welcome Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet on its Sydney leg of a round the world cruise. The tour was to demonstrate the growing might of the blue-water naval capability of the US by sending battleships into friendly waters.