blinnov’s blog

Middle Ages, that left Europe with heaps of what today is mainly used as tourists attractions, did not happen to Australia. Well, the Black Death and other little happinesses of these times such as inquisition and accompanying obscurantism did not happen here too, which is some sort of luck. But Black Death is gone (forever, hopefully, despite humans keep inventing new methods of reducing its population) and Acropolis in Greece, Stonehenge in UK are left. In comparison, Down Under can offer something even more ancient - aboriginal engravings, some of which can even be found in Sydney and which age can sometimes be compared with fossil mammoth’s shit. May be, this is the reason why they did not attract crowds of tourists yet.

Things aren’t better with architectural masterpieces. Want to see baroque, renaissance, Gothic or whatever it is called - there is Versailles, Saint-Petersburg and German castles. But those who say there aren’t many historic places in Down Under are wrong - they are almost everywhere, one just need to have a look around. For example, take a look at this panoramic picture I took in one of sought after locations in Woolloomooloo

See the funny greenish building on right? Today it is a very expensive hotel and apartment block. I mean very expensive - one bedroom apartment for rent starts from $500 a week, which is, well, comparable with apartments in CBD, but something $150 more expensive than other 1br apartments in Sydney.
Anyway, this is not that important - 20 years ago this place was looking different

This picture has nothing to do with today’s anti-globalists movement. These people had more concrete reasons for going out - they were protecting their history.
The deal with this place is in that until mid 1980th that fancy greenish building on poles was nothing else but a big wharf and it was used as overseas passenger terminal. This is where post-war immigrants were first standing on Australian ground, this is where Australian troops were departing for Gallipoli and this is where survivors were returning to, but jumbo jets influence almost had nearly fatal concequences for the quay as after more than 70 years of service wharf was closed.

We all live in modern civilized world and no wonder that politicians and just wealthy and influential people did not loose a minute in taking a control on situation - the decision that Sydney needs another private marina in its center was taken shortly. But incredibly dying wharf found support in citizens (one of demonstration is on the picture above) and Australian Building Union put a ban (known as Green Ban) on any demolition and other works on site. Builders in Australia were always taken seriously and wharf remained untouched for a while.

Well, plans to demolish the wharf and build a big parking spot for boats were not embodied. Instead, Finger Wharf in Woolloomooloo had undergone plastic surgery and now there are plenty of water-side restaurants, hotel and number of apartments.
The building has large area inside open for public. Many thanks to builders - reconstruction did not alter barracks appearance (I think); moreover, antique wooden conveyors have been left where they were!

Their exposed gears complete interior

The conveyors’ lane is made from wood indeed:

No doubts, this is one of the most authentic places in Sydney. It has its own history, no matter it is shorter than 100 years, this place has a noticeable layer of country history behind and it is great that people some years ago said their convincing word in its protection.
But the way, it looks like modifications that transformed a wharf into block of apartments were not that massive. Initially had only practical purpose, internal passages expose all details of construction - all beams, bolts and rods supporting the frame can still be seen, but they perfectly complete the interior.