"It was March 2006 but already it feels like ancient history.
I finished it just in time for my solo exhibition "Sydney’s Disappearing Industrial Treasures" at the National Trust Centre,on Observatory Hill. It's the left hand side of a diptych (right hand side at https://picasaweb.google.com/102416937657804721652/BarangarooSydney#5495219308075149554 whole painting at https://picasaweb.google.com/102416937657804721652/BarangarooSydney#5495219313377685442 )
Unfortunately the gallery stuffed up & sold the 2 parts to different people.
My personal bias is for a hodge podge of grunge. Paul Keating has always had a pathological hatred of industry, especially maritime industry, and has tried to suppress any evidence of former maritime use of the Harbour. Such a weird attitude for a Labor politician & so very disrespectful for all the people who worked so hard down there to supply the rest of Sydney with their consumer goods!
When the port was still operational he would make a nuisance of himself by ringing up & whinging about the noise from the ship's foghorns.One of the Port Operations people tersely asked him exactly which landmark he would like the ship to crash into & how many people he'd like to drown & then slammed the phone down so hard he nearly broke it.
Paul wants to scrape Goat Island clean of all structures except for the convict ruins & wants to get rid of the tugs at Balmain. He also wanted to pull down Woolloomooloo Fingerwharf & Walsh Bay Wharves.
I wish some of the sandstone that is being artfully "distressed" to look "natural" could be used to replenish the dwindling stock of yellowblock for the heritage sandstone buildings. They only have a couple of buildings worth left, & the Gosford stone is not fine grained enough for gargoyles & finials. Apart from Pyrmont, the only sources of yellowblock in Sydney are a tiny seam on Goat Island (not really practical to extract apart from heritage issues) & whatever is under Millers Point.What they are doing to abuse the Millers Point yellowblock for a "naturalistic" headland reminds me of designer acid washed distressed jeans - cool for now, but we'll cringe & call it bogan in 10 years time."