Dawes Point, Ives Steps Wharf

Ives Steps Wharf is located beside Pier One at Dawes Point, looking out on Sydney Harbour. The infamous Billy Blue operated a regular passenger boat service from Dawes Point across the harbour to Blues Point from 1830. The boat dock was approximately where the Ives Steps Wharf is now, but at that time it was called Waterman's Steps. They were renamed after Alderman Isaac Ellis Ives around 1896.

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Hyde Park, Sandringham Gardens, gates

These decorative gates are part of Sandringham Gardens in  Hyde Park North. Sandringham Gardens were developed to commemorate the intended visit of King George VI in 1952, which was cancelled due to his sudden death. In 1953, it was decided to dedicate the gardens as a joint memorial to the late King George V and the late King George VI. The memorial gates were unlocked on 5 February 1954 by the late King George VI's daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.

Birchgrove, marina

A private marina under a sunny sky, viewed from Ballast Point Park in the inner west suburb of Birchgrove.

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Circular Quay, Moore Stairs, Vivid Sydney

The historic Moore Stairs link Macquarie Street with the Circular Quay foreshore, between two blocks of Bennelong Apartments. “Hopscotch” by Germany’s Fiona Venn and Reinhard Germar was an interactive installation for the Vivid Sydney festival. People were able to hop up and down the stairs and create a rainbow at night that displayed the full colour spectrum of light from violet blue to deep red. Precise switching and the latest sensor technology saved energy by providing light only where it was needed but also proved a challenge to photograph as many colours as possible.

Surry Hills, stack

This chimney stack rises above a former industrial building in the inner city suburb of Surry Hills. It dominates the skyline behind Shannon Reserve and is much taller than the chimney stacks on the residential terrace houses beside it. Surry Hills is a suburb that once contained a lot of heavy industry and manufacturing but has gone through gentrificaton, with many of the old buildings redeveloped. This stack is redundant now since the building is used for residential and commercial purposes.

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Sydney Opera House, steps

The steps of the Sydney Opera House, viewed from the Tarpeian Way Gate steps, which lead up to the Royal Botanic Gardens. It has been dubbed the 'Oprah House' this week, since American chat show host Oprah Winfrey is recording a couple of shows on the steps here tomorrow.

Dawes Point, stairs

This steel staircase links the rows of old and new terrace houses high on the hill at Dawes Point to the Walsh Bay wharves on the harbour. The exposed sandstone and sandstone retaining walls give this area some great character and you don't see many of these sorts of steel staircases around the city in public areas. It is located opposite Pottinger Park and the Three Sisters artwork that I featured yesterday.
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Dawes Point, Three Sisters

Three Sisters is a sculpture that sits in Pottinger Park in inner city suburb of Dawes Point. This sort of artwork in three pieces is known as a triptych. It was created in 1970 by Gordon Andrews, who also designed Australia's first decimal currency banknotes implemented in 1966. It is part of the Walsh Bay Sculpture Walk. This small park is on a hill behind the Walsh Bay wharves, with a backdrop of sandstone and terrace houses (left) and the Sydney Harbour Bridge (right).

Barangaroo, art

This giant spider and web are located in an abandoned stairway in the sandstone wall at Barangaroo. This part of Hickson Road is now officially named The Hungry Mile, recognising its nickname during the Great Depression. It came from harbourside workers lined up along the road opposite the wharves as foremen chose the casual labourers for the day and those without work were often left hungry. I had trouble finding information about this artwork and then noticed a sign in the corner for Guerrilla Gardeners, which was a short-lived reality television, gardening makeover show. The gardeners would spruce up certain parts of the city that they feel had been neglected and created controversy with local councils because they did the work without permission and the show highlighted the council’s neglect. Strangely, this doesn't appear in the website's list of episodes but the show was axed, so maybe the work on this project never screened. Without regular maintenance, some of the plants on the stairway look rather neglected, just like another of their installations at Moore Park.

Pyrmont (Theme Day: Passageway)

This passageway in the sandstone wall connects Pyrmont Point Park with Giba Park at the top of the cliff, in the inner west suburb of Pyrmont.

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