So, since we don’t live by politix alone (I sincerely hope), what did people get up to this weekend? Join in, share some tales, regulars and lurkers all!
It’s Jacaranda time in Brisneyland, and the livin’s easy. My peregrinations on Friday night have already been Facebooked, and Saturday really was a lazy day. But we’re dealing with 30+ days in Brisneyland at the moment (gloriously relieved tonight by the first summer spring storm), and I was a bit wary of wandering down to the Powerhouse for the free Sunday arvo LiveSpark gig. But we’re inured to the weather, we Brisvegans, and so I thought I’d do a bit of a photo essay, as part of my visual/urban sociology project, to document how we enjoy hot afternoons in my neck of the woods. I’ll post all the photos over the fold, but for best results, click through and then click again on the photo or on the full view link for the larger version.
The full set of pics can be viewed @ Facebook. I tend to reserve the deviantart gallery for the ones I like most/think are actually half way decent photos.
The bands playing were the excellent Do the Robot, whom I’ve blogged previously, surely Brisvegas’ premier indie rock glockenspiel band, and Iron On. I’ll be uploading some vids overnight, so watch this space or check out their myspaces (follow the band name hyperlinks) for a taste of what I listened to this arvo. Anyway, I hope everyone had a glorious weekend. I’m kicking back tonight with a six pack of James Squire amber ale and some cashews!
Hot October afternoon by *phenomenologist on deviantART
We’re ahead of the country here in progressive inner city Brisbane, and we’re already having an election before all of youse Mexicans! In typical Brisbane style, the Libs aren’t even running in the race to replace Peter Beattie in the State House, and the action is between Labor and the Greens. We vote next Saturday.
Vote by *phenomenologist on deviantART
Vote II by *phenomenologist on deviantART
Jacaranda time by *phenomenologist on deviantART
It’s not just Jacarandas in Brisbane Spring - the roses are in full bloom too.
New Farm Park.
Jacaranda time II by *phenomenologist on deviantART
Some of my friends who’ve visited from interstate are under the impression that the biggest political issue in Brisbane is what to do with the Ibises. They may be right.
OMG It’s the Ibises by *phenomenologist on deviantART
Sign reproaches city by *phenomenologist on deviantART
New Farm Park by *phenomenologist on deviantART
New Farm Park II by *phenomenologist on deviantART
Do the Robot I by *phenomenologist on deviantART
Do the Robot II by *phenomenologist on deviantART
After the gig by *phenomenologist on deviantART
Lazy Sunday by *phenomenologist on deviantART
Iron On I by *phenomenologist on deviantART
Iron On II by *phenomenologist on deviantART
Iron On III by *phenomenologist on deviantART
Man, you need a hat in this weather!
Summer Trilby by *phenomenologist on deviantART
Lazy Sunday II by *phenomenologist on deviantART
Lazy Sunday III by *phenomenologist on deviantART
This Italian game (somewhat akin to bowls) has been popular in New Farm Park for a long time. There used to be a site set apart for old Italian blokes to play it. It’s great when accompanied by a beer or two.
Bocce and beer by *phenomenologist on deviantART
Lazy Sunday IV by *phenomenologist on deviantART
New Farm Park III by *phenomenologist on deviantART
New Farm Park IV by *phenomenologist on deviantART
Writer in the park by *phenomenologist on deviantART
I went to a fantastic production of ‘Much Ado about Nothing‘at the amphitheatre in Roma Street Parklands on Saturday night. It was presented by the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble, another arts group who puts on good shows but struggles to get reliable sources of funding because what it does will not qualify as ‘new work’.
Much Ado about Nothing opened Friday night and has a matinee and Saturday night show over the next few weeks except October the thirteenth and is an enjoyable play if Brisbane people want to see something of quality that is a both stimulating and witty. Details here.
It was a lively show which has taken a number of liberties with the script to heighten the Play’s contemporary relevance and produces a great sense of fun. Much Ado about Nothing beautifully explores the Question, Why do we care about what other people think of us. It also looks at the ways we all make drama out off ‘nothing. In fact most of our daily dramas are self created… When we deny our true feelings, indulge in gossip and scandal and pretend to be other than we are we all make our own Ado about Nothing according to the Director, Jo Loth.
Shakespeare must have had a great contempt for authority figures judging by the way the piss was taken out of the reasons people marry or don’t marry and the local cops seemed to be fashioned on the worst aspects of thugs everywhere. Funnily enough the Friar seemed to come out of it quite well.
The park setting was very pleasant with seating under cover right over the stage, so even the possibility of rain at this time of year would not be a problem.
It was interesting to see that the major Queensland Universities are still turning out competent well trained people to work in the Arts Industry. The University of Southern Queensland was linked to the play by Jane Barry (Beatrice), Hannah Levian (Leonata), Tamara Meade (Hero,Verges) And Angela Ponting (Production Designer).
QUT was the grounding for Jo Loth (Director), Amanda Bell (Stage Manager), Ruby Drury (Production Manager), Jason Glenwright (Lighting Designer), and Colin Smith (Don Pedro).
University of Queensland provided Gavin Edwards (Boracho, Friar Francis and Music), Claire Hielscher (Ursula), Stephen Mackie (Claudio and Music), and Rob Pensalfini who is a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and Drama at UQ.
Rebecca Murphy (Margaret,Dogberry) is a graduate from James Cook University with Kathryn Fray (Lady Juanita) hailing from the UK and G.R Blazely did the Costume buider role.
Great entertainment at a reasonable price.
My baby girl had a runny nose for two weeks - the virus suddenly hit four other family members (including me) on Wednesday. It hit hard, as modern viruses tend to do (*), and has gotten worse - we are all heading to the doctors tomorrow. Wouldn’t you know, it’s the first day of my week’s vacation!
So thanks for the walk in the park, Mark. It’s the only time I’ve been out all day!
(* I blame the gummint)
i spent saturday pottering around the house after a rocking gig at Stagger Music at Rosies, then had a quiet afternoon checking out Mark B’s bookshelves….
Very excited to borrow his copy of Dr Adder, one of the best sci-fi novels about genetically engineered chickens and christian cannibal cults ever written.
then, i got wet in the rain.
My fiancee’s off teaching kids in the top end so I spent the time at uni, without enough sleep, trying to get some work done. Did the shopping down at Northey St Markets today, picked up Perelman’s “Steal This Idea” as I’ve recently become interested in intellectual property law reform.
Went for a ride from QUT to UQ this afternoon and then back to the city via the Schonell Bridge and then Toowong. It was a bloody stinker even at 5:30! I was sweating on the train home (there was no way I was riding in this weather) and jumped straight in the shower as soon as I got home.
The rain is definitely welcome as I’m riding to uni tomorrow morning and am not enthused about getting blacklung from the car emissions that have been hanging around for God knows how long.
Got up around 7:30 (a luxury as the Little One let us sleep in) to go get the papers and some scrumptious cakes from the bakery for morning tea. Then entered our Kitchen Stadium for the bacon and eggs challenge.
After that, Beloved, Little One and psycho jungle cat all decided on a nap. After more baby doting, everyone (bar psycho jungle cat who was coolly asleep and finds the world beyond our house a little too large for her liking) went for a walk to the Japanese Gardens at the Gosford Regional Gallery, were we got married. Some nice little paths behind the gallery through the local coastal woodland that we all explored.
Then a visit from Gran and Gramps, a fishing trip planned and before you know it, dinner bed time for little one and chance for the adults to have at a game of Scrabble.
A lovely day. Even though I was supposed to play cricket but the round for my grade postponed because of an inclement local cricket association.
I’m expecting a running review, Barry!
I must say ale and cashews is a nice way to finish off a Sunday night.
C ya!
Today was the Troll Princess’ second birthday party so my day was a pastiche of noise, sugar fuelled tots, cake crumbs, tears, frankfurts and parents decrying the state of Australian Rugby. Somewhere in the afternoon Bathurst popped in to our consciousness for a while before popping out again.
I love Sundays.
Awwww, isn’t our city so gorgeous?
http://phenomenologist.deviantart.com/art/Jacaranda-time-66705443
Great photos, Mark!
Some quick parsing:
http://phenomenologist.deviantart.com/art/Iron-On-II-66707250
Drummers are always teh hot!
http://phenomenologist.deviantart.com/art/Do-the-Robot-II-66706547
Love the shoe/beret combo! (Where’s Liam?)
http://phenomenologist.deviantart.com/art/Do-the-Robot-I-66706381
It’s really a stunning space, isn’t it?
http://phenomenologist.deviantart.com/art/New-Farm-Park-66706098
That’s a gorgeous photo! Heat/pollution haze, the skyline, the girl, the park.
http://phenomenologist.deviantart.com/art/OMG-It-s-the-Ibises-66705823
OMG! The ibises! Hang on, you already said that!
I’m around, Kim, where I’m allowed to be.
Mmmm, I can see the Dorothy shoe combo works, and I’ll take Mark’s words for it that the music was good, but for me, red berets are bad taste.
To me, they’re “Raspberry Beret” by Prince, they’re the Indonesian Kopassus and the scary bloke who came and supported Persik Kediri wearing their insignia when they played Sydney FC at Parramatta Stadium, and most of all they’re for the monarchist Requetés of the Spanish Civil War. (Warning: interesting but ultra-rightist site, in Spanish).
How do you know they didn’t do a cover of Rasberry Beret, Liam? In which case, by your rules, it would surely be in good taste!
I’d pay “Cream” or “Diamonds and Pearls”, maybe even “Nothing Compares 2U”. But “Raspberry Beret” was schlock, even for the sex-god himself.
Great photos, Mark. In comparison, I worked all week-end.
However, in the past few months, I’ve attended a number of picnics at that very spot by the river just south of the PowerHouse.
The ibises cop a lot of flak, don’t they? I remember decades ago, my uncle ploughing a canefield. Whenever the plough hit a rock, he would have to stop, dig it out and throw it down the gully. He would say, “I’m sure I threw that one down there last week. It’s the ibises! They bring the rocks back here to wipe their beaks on them.”
Cheers — Mike
Well they didn’t play it anyway Liam!
Anyway, Liam, I’m sure you know my love for red shoes is amply documented on this here weblog so I’m sure you can read my comment in that context…
Yes, Kim, I thought the shoes were cool. To strut any stage you need adequate strutting-shoes, and red ones do the most awesome damage. Certainly red football boots are a common touch amongst the squad of my football team, the very outstanding but temporarily not very winning Sydney Swans.
On shoes (and boots), I’m currently lusting after a pair of these, if you please, Santa. Size 9.
Hmm, not bad at all, Liam!
But we risk derailing the “what did you do on the weekend?” talk with all this *vital* shoe discussion!
In red?
Marked essays and re-read “On Liberty” by Muttonchops Mill for tuesday tutes.
Nice pics! Jacaranda time, luvley. And just before its gets too hot.
I just saw Bebel Gilberto, largely out of respect for her own man (and general hero of mine, the boss of bossa, Joao). But boy, is she stonking live! What an inconceivably sexy babe … whispering lovingly in Portuguese at us over acoustic trancey beats.
Aya! ‘ta bem!
Now *that* would be totally late 90s, Anna. Red boots, a You Am I shirt, black jeans, and drinking Tooheys Old out of longnecks in parks… but before I get too nostalgic, yes, let’s get back to weekends.
I’ve been considering applying for a particular job. That’s pretty much occupied two spare days.
Is she touring? More than just Melb?
You’re behind the times, Lefty E - should read the post. Brisbane seasons aren’t what they once were! It was 30 max today and we’ve had that for about a fortnight with a few 32-34 days. So, erm, I think it’s bloody hot already! Had the first storm of the season tonight which anyway was a good sign…
http://www.ourbrisbane.com/news/weather/currentweather.htm
Nice pictures, Mark, and that’s a magnificent park you’ve got there, too. Take extra special good care of it, it looks spectacular.
On the vital subject of shoes, I just went shoe-shopping about two weeks ago, and got these awesome Timberland black leather loafers that have a sort of almost athletic-shoe cut and sole to them, and now I’m living in them. Also got these incredible black sort-of boots-crossed-with-oxfords that are hard to describe, but trust me they rool. I’m afraid I don’t think shoes for men should ever come in any color other than black. They’re a little like tuxedoes, bridegrooms, and male ballet-dancers: the point is to recede gracefully into the background and let the ladies do their pyrotechnics.
The weekend is not over here, in fact it’s very early Sunday morning as I write. (Watch out, the world’s behind you!) Spent half the night trying to sleep on a crappy office couch (ugh) in Southern California, after a long Saturday of various kinds of crisis management. Got up in the middle of the night (see crappy office couch above) to watch “Key Largo” and “Blue Velvet” on DVD to pass the time, and I’m now surfing the toobs, drinking Miller Genuine Draft because that’s all these savages have to offer in the office fridge, and waiting for the churches to open so I can make an early Mass and then spend Sunday having dim-sum in the mid-morning and sushi in the late afternoon with various groups of friends.
Man, I love big cities pre-dawn. I love seeing giant streets, half-lit, with not much traffic on them, and being one of only two or three people out on the sidewalk on a long stretch of street with unusual reasons for being there. I love bread trucks and news trucks on early morning runs, (used to love) the old Fulton Fish Market at 4 in the morning, early-morning coffee shops with only the serious workers there yet, the way things are lit at this hour, what people’s motives are for being up. This place has a huge picture window overlooking the boulevard, so I can check it all, before heading out there to mingle in the semidarkness. Two of my favorite pre-dawn poems are O’Hara’s “Ode to Willem de Kooning” and Carroll’s “An Apple at Dawn.”
Hmm, the traffic is starting to make some real noise. Time to go investigate.
Must check those out. Pre-dawn poems I have never thought of!
Moi aussi, j_p_z!
Amen! That’s what I love about living in the city and regularly being up til say 1 or 2 or 3am on weeknights. You really get the impression that you’re part of a very unusual and interesting community that isn’t one really!
Glebe at 3.30am by *phenomenologist on deviantART
There’s one for the Sydney folks!
Anyway, just so as I’m on topic, I’m finishing my weekend off by listening to Franz Schubert’s Trio in E Flat Opus 100. Some may know the second movement Andante Con Moto from The Hunger. It was the piece that David Bowie (as the vampire) was teaching the little girl (as his violin pupil)…
30-32 in October! Blimey. Red hot October. Steamed purple mush! At least you got a storm. Brisbane got into a bad habit for several years of threatening a downpour then leaving me hanging.
You’ll excuse me if I don’t pop up this summer….
AS for Bebel, Kim, I think you may have lucked out. This link suggests she’s off to Mexico next. http://www.sixdegreesrecords.com/tourdates.php
Oh bugger. I didn’t have the impression from her cds she’d be a knockout live.
I guess I could always go to Mexico!
JPZ and Kim, for you: Antonio Lopez GarcÃa.
Just by the by, that’s true but interesting in another way. Is there another city where its inhabitants personify her so much? Or is it that in a city with subtropical weather we equate the weather with the city? Just wonderin… (on my weekend!)
Thanks, Liam!
I often wonder whether the trick to the atmosphere of the De Chirico paintings is the apparent depopulation of the urban space. But then it’s unpopulated for at least a quarter if not a third of most days…
Ooh, Schubert. One of the ten or so reasons why the Lord does not destroy the world in wrath. Schumann’s another one.
Yesterday I heard a clarinet piece by this very obscure German composer, a friend to both Schumann and Mendelsohn apparently, who sadly died at a very early age (25) — and the piece was marvelous, the work of a person with such promise. The world was truly deprived of this man’s further work.
And now it’s quite light outside, and very very green, which is not how people usually picture Los Angeles, but it is. This city, for all its faults, has Nature integrated very nicely into its structure: mountains and canyons and forests and lakes and beaches and deserts, all crashing into one another in the same place. It’s a scream to have to drive through the Laurel Canyon pass, which is quite melodramatic, just to get to a business meeting.
As Neil Young, I think, once put it…
“Oh they say that Laurel Canyon
Is full of famous stars,
But I hate them worse than lepers
And I’ll kill them in their cars.”
At least someone told me that was Neil.
A few more great early-morning poems…
Frank O’Hara, “Getting Up Ahead of Someone (Sun)” and “Poem (Light, clarity, avocado salad in the morning)” and the transcendent, a-landmark-of-the-twentieth-century “A True Account of Talking to the Sun at Fire Island”. And also James Schuyler’s luminous “June 20, 1974″ with its great line “how can coffee be / healthful?” and the best climax I can think of in a poem: “I think / I’ll make / more toast.”
But to me the greatest is always “Ode to Willem de Kooning,” with its great pre-dawn only-in-New-York moment…
“a bus crashes into a milk truck
and the girl goes skating up the avenue
with streaming hair…”
That’s ace.
Neither did I Kim. In fact, Im not a huge fan of her discs. As I said, really a fan of her old man, the homem grande of bossa nova.
But woaaaaaaaaah! She’s a knockout.
Noted, Lefty E. Will check out how many $ going to Mexico takes!
Saturday (don’t know why this is on bold - some computer mystery)
early morning- thought I better check the mail, which I hadn’t done for some days - have 2 parcels to pick up on Monday -delivered last Thursday while I was out. Either electoral material for Socialist Alliance or 2 books from London for me to review.
Spent a good part of the day reading Jeremy Black’s new biography of George III. Quite interesting. Spent afternoon checking booklists on American Revolution on net, the more obscure stuff, as I now have most of the mainstream books. Night. Watched ABC Sat night. Again delighting in Foyle’s War.
Sunday, Watched Insiders, finished George III biography on the Sat, so read Woody Holton’s Forced Founders about Revolurtionary Virginian aristocratic elite (inc. Jefferson and Washington) being forced into Revolution by the lower orders as well as the Brits). Watched Rainshadow on ABC. Not exactly Tree-change is it?
This morning - not exactly weekend, but I think you all moght find it interesting. Due to a thunderstorm last night, all TV channels except 7 are off the air. Though it might be a bushfire somewhere. Heard helicopters buzzing round just after daylight.
Had a very quiet Sunday arvo after a boozy bubbly brunch with the neighbours.
Drank more bubbly. Tried not to think about the rugby. Watched DVDs, played scrabble, more bubbly.
Slightly delicate today.
Saturday night watched Rugby - unsurprised at loss as after the first 15 minutes it was obvious the aussie team were a bit taken aback by the brute attacks of the poms. Pretty unsatisfying game though - few big moments of excitement, just a bit of boring old trench warfare.
Sunday morning surprisingly hungover (must have imbibed a fair bit). It’s 6:00am, baby is making get me out of bed noises so I do it greeted by usual huge, dribbly, gummy grin. She’s one of those people who smiles with their whole face so hangover abates quite quickly.
Turn on telly (bewitched on Austar!) ahhhh Elizabeth Montgomery. Fed baby. Made vegemite toast and coffee and shared toast with her.
Other kids and wife stirred out of bed between 8 and 9, allowing passing of baby and contemplation of bits of Alfa in the laundry. Made a new steering bush from found rubber (you find all sorts of interesting things when you ride to work on a bicycle). Wrestled with Alfa on and off during the day putting steering rack back where it should be and reassembling suspension after replacing CV joint boots (heh, new boots and panties). Did not finish - car won as I could not coordinate fingers on inner CV joint bolts after a few tired attempts. Next weekend for that. Very pleasing to feel the smoooooth, clunk free motion of the steering though.
Did not watch Bathurst for the first time in about 20 years, not sure why, not very interested any more. Dinner was thai food from neighbour across the street, who is making a habit of cooking us food in exchange for company. It’s nice.
Oh wonderful weekend! I spent Saturday recovering from a night of bourbon and hyperbole with friends at the Kings Head Tavern. Then I spent Sunday recovering from BBGrog ‘07 - the USyd Vet revue, held at Camden on the outskirts of Sydney. My sister is a soon-to-be-vet, and she was heavily involved in organising the event and creating content for the revue, so I was out there in support and to enjoy the atmosphere.
I drank some pretty terrible local wine, as well as some Bacardi with inappropriate mixers (orange juice, Powerade!) just to get into the spirit of the thing. There was a band playing covers after the revue - pretty terrible stuff for the most part, but they coaxed me into the pit with ‘Seven Nation Army’, and kept me there with some Arctic Monkeys, Blink 182 and Lynyrd Skynyrd. I may have inadvertently stomped some vet kiddies in the process of drunkenly thrashing around, but it was all in good fun.
Oh, and ‘Raspberry Beret’ was genius psych-pop, Prince at the peak of his powers. I have little time for his work after Sign of the Times.
Dim-sum was great fun, though it’s by far my least favorite kind of Chinese cooking; still, the company was superb, so I gladly put up with the somewhat iffy food in order to enjoy the break-neck conversation and occasional nasty bits of gossip. I have a pretty funny story about a very, very political wedding reception I once had to attend in LA’s actual Chinatown (as in, “forget it, Jake”), but it takes too long for the present moment.
This next is for Kim — sadly, the whole of “Ode to Willem de Kooning” is way too long to post here, so I thought I’d just post Part 3, the final part, which is also my favorite part. Although Part One begins, somewhat uncharacteristically for Frank, with some rather portentous notes, almost like the start of a Mahler symphony, which are worth reproducing…
1.
Beyond the sunrise
Where the black begins
An enormous city
Is sending up its shutters
And just before the last lapse of nerve which I am already sorry for,
that friends describe as “just this once” in a temporary hell, I hope —
I try to seize upon greatness
Which is available to me
Through generosity and
Lavishness of spirit, yours…
* * *
You have to kind of imagine that the poet is looking out his window onto the street at around 5 am, after a long night of some sort of romantic-sexual-spiritual crisis; watching the light change on the avenue as the night ends and the new day starts. So here is Part Three in its entirety… (his line breaks don’t show up quite right in this blog’s software, in reality they are a little more W.C. Williams-y than they look here)…
3.
Dawn must always recur
to blot out stars and the terrible systems
of belief,
Dawn, which dries out the web so the wind can blow it,
spider and all, away;
Dawn,
erasing blindness from an eye inflamed,
reaching for its
morning cigarette in Promethean inflection
after the blames
and desperate conclusions of the dark
where messages were intercepted
by an ignorant horde of thoughts,
and all simplicities perished in desire…
A bus crashes into a milk truck
and the girl goes skating up the avenue
with streaming hair,
roaring through fluttering newspapers
and their Athenian contradictions,
for democracy is joined
with stunning collapsible savages,
all natural and relaxed and free
As the day zooms into space and only darkness lights our lives,
with few flags flaming, imperishable courage and the gentle will
which is the individual dawn of genius rising from its bed
“maybe they’re wounds…. but maybe they are rubies”
each painful as a sun.
If anyone is ever faced with a choice between sanding and sealing their own timber floors or hiring a pro, DON’T BE A FUCKING HERO!!!
Worst. Job. Ever.
Your bocce and beer girls look like they’re on the “piste”.
I’m conflicted.
You’ve got one shot up there of what seems to be a young girl in a yellow sundress. Lower down, same park, same dress(?) but now she looks like totally hawt and ‘developed’ (not just in the frisbee skillz dept). What’s going on?
Anxious,
Northcote.
FDB wrote:
Heh heh. I could have told you that. We spent many of our sundays trying to remove the finish from our floorboards - some of it was a kind of boot polish that got stuck in the sanding disks and belts. I wondered why the sanding rental guy was laughing so hard when I left the establishment after assuring him it’d be a doddle with all that fancy equipment.
Gee they look nice when they’re done though.
Don’t understand the question, Anxious of Northcote.
Please note though that all frisbee throwers’ permission for photography was sought, and no frisbee throwers were harmed in the production of this post.
Sorry Mark. Emphasis on the “young girl” may have been lost.
Somehow it seems that either two females with the same hair and dress were there aged 10-15 years apart, or you have some kind of age+hottify filter on your camera.
David - doing research for how to get it done, I found three sites that said “get someone else to do it, but if you must DIY…”
I will listen next time I see that.
Heh.
No, it’s the same person FDB.
Yes, I don’t want to question phenomonologist’s sociological and/or documentary credentials, but there seems to be an, erm, healthy sample of hawt babes in the shots!
Naturally, I presume this is merely representative of the general hawtness factor at this time of year, and thus speaks to a sound method
Everyone in Brisneyland is hawt, Lefty E. It’s summer temperatures, as I said! Doozy of a storm we had again tonight…
I think New Farm Park and I know it intimately could do with way more trees.
Don’t wait for the Council, just go and plant em. Start a market garden too.
We do this all the time in Sidley which is why we have such luxuriant parks.
Historically, jinmaro there aren’t too many trees in the centre because it was a race course! I’m not sure I agree - there are lots around the edges and by the river to provide shade and the open space in the middle allows people picnic and sport space and highlights the rose gardens.
I can assure you the Council wouldn’t let new trees stay there for a second! They’re already obsessed with “dangerous” trees…
Well, I’ll be damned, Mark. A race-course! Didn’t know that. Yes, it has that feel still too. I can sense the silent canyons and gullies 10kms from Sydney Airport often, on foot.
I was lying. I don’t really know New Farm Park intimately. I reserve that distinction for other parks. Though my father lived around there as a young man and an older, richer sister and husband have just bought one of those ultra-discrete apartments near the Powerhouse, which I visited last month. So I expect to get to know it a lot better.
But I do remember going there as a child and it all being a bit twee and controlled, and rose-gardenish and a rel got married there recently, an Amazonian beautiful female triathalete and doctor strutting through the park on her father’s arms to the rotunda.
The mad dogs do so like to cut and spray “dangerous trees” but then enough unauthorised plantings survive in some places to make a difference, I find.
Yep, makes sense too when you think about the circular road around the centre of the park!
There used to be an excellent old council bus seat which one of the figs had literally reclaimed - long tentacle roots had dragged it into the tree. I wonder if its still there?
That storm made the Melbourne news, Mark, must have been huge!
I think so, Lefty E.
The storm was pretty spectacular (as was last night’s in the Western Suburbs apparently…) - Because of our sort of peninsular micro-climate here on the Farm we tend to be on the edge rather than the centre of most storms - but we got some fireworks tonight! (And a decent downpour!)
and here’s me thinking it was a Druidic, pagan circle or bora ring.
What a fabulous image. That’s the best thing about Brisbane. It’s so relentlessly fecund.
True Jinmaro: leave Brisbane alone for 5 years and some upwardly mobile root system would conquer the Story Bridge. No doubt about it. Life in the barely suppressed tropics.
Maybe thats part of the ceaslessly pro-development culture. Its a war out there!
I’ll have a poke around - might have an old photo of the seat. WIll scan and send to Mark if I can find it.
It wouldn’t surprise me if it was a significant site for Murri people, jinmaro. But I’m no expert on the park’s history. I’m deriving my info from the historical signs in the park itself!
Here’s some history from the EPA:
http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/projects/heritage/index.cgi?place=602402&back=1
The park is on the state heritage register:
http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/projects/media/?release=753
Here are some images from the Council’s archive:
http://elibcat.library.brisbane.qld.gov.au/uhtbin/cgisirsi/NLXtVHTrN7/ZZELIBCAT/282210011/9
And if you go to Picture Australia and type in “new farm” as a search term, you get lots of groovy historical images:
http://www.pictureaustralia.org/
thanks for the links, fascinating stuff.
Interesting too that mostly the park’s planted trees (EPA report) have been non-natives: palms, jacarandas, poinsettias, poincianas, rosebushes, Chinese elms, etc. A propos Lefty E’s comment, a large part of the vociferous subdueing of nature in Brisbane was the non-native planting blitz. Not that I’m a botanical ethnic cleanser or anything. But it is noteworthy and has fashioned Brisbane in many ways.
The St Lucia house I lived in from age 3 to 19 had a beautiful diverse, tree-filled garden, but it was entirely non-native, except for a couple of wattles and this was the norm.
Yep, I think that’s true.
Here’s the tree/bus stop Lefty E was talking about!
Got there by typing “new farm” into the BCC’s elibcat image search engine.
http://elibcat.library.brisbane.qld.gov.au/uhtbin/cgisirsi/JBdn1ux423/ZZELIBCAT/247780058/60/1322/X/BLASTOFF
that is so adorable. Figs rule. The photo reminds me of stagmites and stalactites. Infinitely more inspiring than any man-made cathedral.
Gorgeous, isn’t it? I’ll have to go and check if it’s still there.
Anyway, I’m having fun tonight browsing online archives of old photos of New Farm and the Valley!
You found it! Nice one Mark. Give that man a research award!
Now thats a flashback. Used to hang out in parks in New Farm at night circa 90-91.
….Not on my own I hasten to add, usually stoned with flatmates. And usually after a bingle with the Brisbane home entertainment system (aka bong). That treeseat was my fave - because there was also an old school playground with one of those deadly nausea-inducing mini-merry-go-rounds that had been banned circa 78; there were only a few left.
Used to sneak into the Powerhouse pre-reno too. Freaky tidal noises and dark drops.
Anyway, nothing more dull than some Bris conehead RSL story, (hey Birmo?). Im off to elibcat!
Watched the rugby union on Saturday night. What a gruesome way to lose a match. With a decent goal kicker we would have won. And the last kick missed by about 30 cm from 45 m out.
Then at 4 am the young bloke got up to head off to the Wilson HTM Brisbane to Gold Coast Cycle Challenge. He’d sold them his services as a mechanic and had a 5.15 check in. He came back on the train but it stopped near Woodridge because the line was buggered so he got out and rode the rest. 138 km for the day some of it in the heat.
For me it meant missing an hour of sleep after getting to bed after 1 am.
Then I had to work in the heat and missed my power nap before dinner. Does anyone know whether Aurora, the polar bear mum and her cub made it? Or did they kark it in the cruel but beautiful landscape? I was waiting to see but fell asleep.
That is a really nice park. How big is it? It looks enormous, but maybe that’s a trick of photographic angles?
Anyway, very cool.
It’s big. I wouldn’t say enormous!
Here’s a trick next time you’re feeling “nostalgic”. Lie down with your head in the centre of the thing, and get a mate to set it spinning. As a young tike on acid at the Cottesloe Civic Centre this would while away hours - if you zone out and stop thinking too much, you invariably forget that it’s you who’s moving.
Hope nobody mentions workchoices at the Politics in the Pub do tonight at New Farm.
I’ve uploaded a few more images of the Park:
Fish and chips by *phenomenologist on deviantART
Rose garden by *phenomenologist on deviantART
Lazy Sunday V by *phenomenologist on deviantART
And there are a few more images of the Valley and New Farm in my gallery if anyone’s interested:
http://phenomenologist.deviantart.com/gallery/