Travel

Il Porcellino

Friday 8th September 2023. Day 3.

Since this may be a long post, I’ll start with one of the best exhibitions I’ve seen (probably ever) of photographs featuring Papua New Guinea, the tribes and their display of wealth. It’s hosted at the Australian Museum (https://australian.museum/exhibition/bilas/) and if you are in Australia, is worth the trek to Sydney to see it in person.

The photographs are very well presented and lit – the images I took with my phone do them little justice but you’ll get the idea. Along with the photos are headdresses and items of adornment – the complex jewellery with beads and teeth (dog, mostly) are intricate and fascinating to see in person.

Back to the chronology of Thursday night and Friday…

Last night (Thursday) I took a quick walk around the Opera House area whilst waiting on my dinner (take-out order) so got to take some photos of the harbour area.

Dinner last night was an excellent chicken tikka and biryani from a really good Indian restaurant right by the opera house. I managed to eat one of the three pieces of chicken and about 1/4 of the biryani. Rest is in the fridge and will be lunch/dinner today. What’s interesting is that the “cutlery” is all wood.

Then this morning (Friday), I was contemplating some toast and came across the spread selection… Two of these things do not belong… I also got into the lift and immediately joined a conversation with an aircrew about big hairy dogs in hot climates – turns out they were from Houston – small world. Texans are everywhere!

Today will be a light day – there’s rain moving into Sydney this morning for a few hours so I’ll be doing a bunch of museum and historical sites. I took the metro train down to Central Station and started from there. Also, Sydney is under a weird weather watch with strong winds having caused structural damage and lightning has sparked several large fires that mean anyone with breathing issues should remain indoors (doesn’t apply to me).

Always interesting when a bank building gets repurposed – this one becoming a pub (what else!) and note the three wise monkeys above the door – a nod to prior management, perhaps? The Bank of Australasia was in business from 1835 to 1951 when it merged with the Union Bank of Australia.

Pies, anyone? Hot Hannah has some 🙂

Stopped off at the excellent Powerhouse Museum (https://powerhouse.com.au) – lots of steam and industrial revolution focused exhibits as well as an eclectic collection of Aussie cultural items (a bit like a mini-Smithsonian, if you will). There’s also air/space stuff, like the rocket engine seen in the last image.

Next, off to the Hyde Park Barracks, now a museum dedicated to early colonial Australia (https://my.mhnsw.au/hpb24) with exhibits about early life. Since Claudia is into embroidery, a lot of what I photographed was related to sewing… When it was done out of necessity.. Note the plaque about the barracks being used to house a number of female refugees fleeing the Irish Famine – much of the sewing items are from this era.

Finally, walking from Hyde Park Barracks to The Mint (https://mhnsw.au/visit-us/the-mint/). Formerly the ‘Rum Hospital’ – oldest surviving public building in Sydney’s central business district. Built for a cost of 45,000 gallons of rum, it was originally part of Governor Macquarie’s ‘Rum’ hospital for convicts and later became the first branch of the Royal Mint outside London. 

Nearby is the large Sydney Hospital (general and eye specialist) which has a rather large sculpture outside (the title of this page refers to it).

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