Rose Bay, St George Greek Orthodox Church

St. George Greek Orthodox Church is located on Newcastle Street, in the eastern suburb of Rose Bay. It was built in 1962 and mixes elements of traditional Greek Orthodox church architecture with contemporary designs of that era.

Darlinghurst, Sydney Jewish Museum

The Sydney Jewish Museum is located on the corner of Darlinghurst Road and Burton Street, in the inner city suburb of Darlinghurst. It is housed in the Maccabean Hall, which was built to commemorate Jewish men and women who served in World War One and to honour the memory of those who lost their lives. The museum is dedicated to documenting and teaching the history of the Holocaust so that these events will never be repeated. The building on the left is the NSW Jewish War Memorial Community Centre, with a stylised menorah on the façade.

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Darlington, Church of the Assumption of Our Lady

Church of the Assumption of Our Lady is a Greek Orthodox Church located on Abercrombie Street, in the inner city suburb of Darlington. The architectural style of this church is not one seen much in Australia. With these colours of whitewash white and sky blue, it looks more like something you might see in Greece. Today is Good Friday, a religious and national public holiday in Australia.

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Martin Place, menorah

This large Chanukah menorah was located behind these small fountains in the Martin Place pedestrian mall last week. Chanukah celebrates the rededication of the Temple after the successful Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy. The nine-branched candelabrum lit during the eight-day holiday of Chanukah (or Hanukkah) is different from the seven-branched candelabrum used in the Temple, a traditional symbol of the Jewish faith. The middle branch, which sits higher than the others, traditionally holds the shamash which is used to light the other candles on each night of Chanukah. A new light was lit here on each night from December 1 to December 9 and they remained lit until the weekend. Martin Place also features a giant Christmas tree at the other end of the pedestrian mall, along with Christmas decorations and banners along the length of it.
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Port Botany, monument

This monument sits on Molineaux Point in the eastern suburb of Port Botany. It commemorates the sister ports relationship between the Sydney Ports Corporation and Yokkaichi Port Authority at Mie, Japan. Botany Bay can be seen in the background, with La Perouse on the north head to the left and Kurnell on the south head to the right.

Campbells Cove, Vivid Sydney, Fire Water

Fire Water was a performance at Campbells Cove at The Rocks which was part of the Vivid Sydney festival. There were three shows a night over four nights of the long weekend, 11th-14th June. This year, the show was based on the voyage of the tall ship Sydney Cove, which was sent from Calcutta to Sydney in 1797 by merchant Robert Campbell. It included Aboriginal performers, Bollywood inspired dancing, glowing light installations and fire sculptures. The show ended with a glowing tall ship entering the cove, sailors descending down on aerialist tissus, cranes unloading glowing barrels into the harbour and billows of colourful smoke bursting from it in the style of the Indian Holi festival.

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Redfern, The Redfern Bower

This sculpture is located on the corner of Regent Street and Redfern Street in the inner city suburb of Redfern. 'The Redfern Bower' was designed by Susan Mine and Greg Stonehouse in 2008. The plaque reads: This artwork transforms the mysterious courtship ritual of the bower bird into a contemporary sculpture, using items from the Redfern community to reflect and celebrate the heritage of the area.

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Fairfield, International Monument

The International Monument sits it Crescent Park, in the western suburb of Fairfield. The Fairfield National Society, which created the monument, was formed in 1968 by migrants from 16 nations. The group which later became the Fairfield Multicultural Society, were committed to a harmonious and coherent society, proud to be Australian yet enthusiastic to share and embrace cultural difference. Today is Harmony Day, part of the Diverse Australia Program that celebrates the cohesive and inclusive nature of Australia and promotes the benefits of cultural diversity. It is celebrated annually on the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Greenacre, private school

The Malek Fahd Islamic School is a private school in the western suburb of Greenacre. The mosque (top) features an impressive minaret and dome. The modern school buildings (bottom) also feature some distinctly Middle Eastern architectural designs. Established in 1989, Malek Fahd is now the largest islamic school in Australia with over 1700 students attending its primary school and high school. I'm continuing my series of photos for Harmony Day, which is coming up this Sunday.

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Redfern, Gadigal Information Service

The Gadigal Information Service and Koori Radio are located in this office building in the inner city suburb of Redfern. The Gadigal Information Service was established in 1993 and became an incorporated Aboriginal association to provide a community based media, arts and information service for the Indigenous community in Sydney. Koori Radio 2LND 93.7FM is Sydney's only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander full-time community radio station. The indigenous art design on the louvred exterior is based on the 1968 play The Cherry Pickers by indigenous playwright Kevin Gilbert. This was originally the site of the Black Theatre, the first Aboriginal theatre in Sydney.

Haymarket, Golden Water Mouth

Golden Water Mouth is a sculpture and fountain located at the entrance of Chinatown, in the inner city suburb of Haymarket. The artwork was created by Lin Li in 1999. The Australian and Chinese cultures are signified by the combination of materials creating a Yin-Yang harmony.

The five natural elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth have been incorporated in the design, to encourage positive energy and good fortune. The artist found this dead two centuries old Yellow Box Eucalyptus in Condoblin, New South Wales, near the Lachlan River. This is where many Chinese went during the Gold Rush and later settled alongside the river and grew vegetables for trade.

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South Hurstville, Community Wall

This Community Wall is located beside King Georges Road in the southern suburb of South Hurstville. The project was a partnership between Kogarah City Council and Woniora Road School to encourage people to embrace diversity, tolerance and difference. Students from the school designed a mural that celebrates Australia's multicultural society, using a collection of flags which acknowledge the culturally diverse composition of the St George area. Harmony Day is celebrated on 21st March each year in Australia, on the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It is part of the Diverse Australia Program and celebrates the cohesive and inclusive nature of Australia and promotes the benefits of cultural diversity. I'll be featuring some more muticultural subjects this week, leading up to Harmony Day.

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Customs House Square, Chinese New Year

These 'Giant Digital Origami Tigers' celebrate Chinese New Year in Customs House Square, in front of Customs House at Circular Quay. This art installation was commissioned to raise awareness about the endangered status of tigers, in the Year of the Tiger. The installation is inspired by traditional Chinese lantern-making methods and zhezhi, the art of paper folding, more popularly known by the Japanese name origami. They are made from an aluminium wire frame with a stretched barrisol membrane and are illuminated at night by pulsating lights. The tigers were designed by LAVA (Laboratory for Visionary Architecture) an international design firm that also designed 'Void' during the Vivid Sydney festival last year. The designers also added some humour with the tigers playing soccer, to kick off the FIFA world cup starting later this year.

Summer Hill temple

This temple is located on the corner of Kensington Road and Liverpool Road, in a building that was a Masonic temple in the 1920s. The building was converted to house the Taoist deity of Wong Tai Sin on the lower floor and the Buddhist Bodhisattva of Kwan Yin on the upper floor.

Tempe sports centre

The Robyn Webster Sports Centre located in the suburb of Tempe features outdoor netball courts and indoor netball, volleyball and soccer courts. The Aboriginal mural painted on the outside of the building is called 'Gift Given' and features fish, lizards, snakes, men and women in diamond formations. It is the largest mural in the Southern hemisphere and the detailed walls and roof are a landmark for planes landing at nearby Sydney Airport. I chose to feature this Aboriginal artwork today because this week in Australia is NAIDOC week, which is a time to celebrate the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and recognise the contributions of Indigenous Australians.

Burwood, St Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church

St Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church is located in the inner west suburb of Burwood. This heritage listed church on Railway Parade was formerly a Methodist Church. I chose this photo today because it's Good Friday for Orthodox christians.

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Lidcombe, Russian Orthodox Church

I've featured a number of churches, mosques and temples over the last few days and there were a couple more interesting ones around Sydney that I wanted to show like the Holy Annunciation - Assumption Russian Orthodox Church which is located in the western suburb of Lidcombe.

Eveleigh, CarriageWorks

CarriageWorks is a multi-venue arts centre dedicated to the development and presentation of contemporary arts. CarriageWorks is housed in the old Eveleigh railway yards (top) and features theatre spaces, gallery and exhibition spaces, rehearsal rooms, a scenery workshop and office space. The inner city suburbs of Redfern, Eveleigh and Darlington have a high indigenous population and Yaama Dhinawan (left) is a training, community and function centre located on the Carriage Works site. According to the 2006 Census, 2.4% of the Australian population reported having Aboriginal or Indigenous ancestry. I didn't have many photos with an indigenous theme that I could use for my Harmony Day theme this week, so I need to rectify that soon.

Wiley Park, Cao Dai temple

The Vietnamese Cao Dai Temple is an impressive structure on King Georges Road at Wiley Park. Cao Dai literally means 'high place' and figuratively means 'the highest place where God reigns'. According to the 2006 Census, the top five countries of birth of residents not born in Australia were United Kingdom 23.5%, New Zealand 8.8%, China 4.7%, Italy 4.5% and Vietnam 3.6%. Harmony Day is celebrated on 21st March each year, on the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It is part of the Diverse Australia Program and celebrates the cohesive and inclusive nature of Australia and promotes the benefits of cultural diversity. The key message of Harmony Day is 'Everyone Belongs' and it's all about community participation, inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. Harmony Day events began in Australia in 1999, involving schools and community groups and have been growing bigger each year with many events held across Australia.

Auburn, Gallipoli Mosque

The Auburn Gallipoli Mosque dominates the skyline in the western suburb of Auburn. The project was initiated and largely funded by the Turkish community and construction took 13 years between 1986 and 1999. The Gallipoli name of the mosque reflects the shared legacy of the Australian society and the Turkish community behind the construction of it. The name "Gallipoli" is derived from the Greek "Kallipolis" meaning "Beautiful City". Australia has many people with Middle Eastern heritage, both Muslim and Christian, with the majority from Lebanon. According to the 2006 Census, 1.7% of the population in Australia has a religious affiliation with Islam, compared to 63.9% Christian, 18.7% no religion and 2.1% Buddhist. I thought this was an apprpriate photo for both the Skywatch theme today and my Harmony Day theme that I have featured this week. Harmony Day, which is celebrated tomorrow and every year on the 21st of March, celebrates cultural diversity and the cohesive and inclusive nature of Australia.

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