Easter Outing
Apr. 21st, 2014 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfinblazeYesterday, Easter Sunday, was another family outing, this time to Goat Island, one of the many small islands in Sydney Harbour.
Like many places in Sydney, it started off as a labour/prison facility for the early convicts. Later it was used by the water police and fire department. When the black plague hit Sydney in 1900, it was used as a quarantine facility. Most recently it was used for the filming of the TV Show Water Rats, and up until the 1990s it was used as a government site for the Maritime Services. Now it's abandoned, apart from the historic tours that stop by - such as ours - but it's an interesting place, with all the layers of that history visible: original sandstone walls from the 1700s next to modern buildings and filming props left behind on the island.
We heard stories of infamous convicts, such as Charles "Bony" Anderson, who was chained to a rock on the island at night, and would scream so long and loud that people on the mainland could hear him. And we saw the prison carts, where convicts were chained together overnight, six per cart, so they could hardly move, and only the "luxury" carts contained a toilet. We saw the peep holes in the defence wall that soldiers could shoot through, but hardly see through. And the carved graffiti left behind by bored soldiers and employees from 1788 to the 1990s, still visible in the old wall.
The island also has ghost tours for people to meet some of the tortured spirits that live there. Our guide told us that most of the ghosts hang around the old morgue, but recently a heavy iron door in the showers, one that shouldn't even be able to move, swung back and forth as her tour group watched. She said half her group left in a hurry after that, but she spoke of the spirits like they were old friends, just keeping the place company.
It was a beautiful day in Sydney, perfect for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to visit Taronga Zoo, making it very, very busy around the city with all the people wanting to get to the zoo to see them. Our tour announcer on the ferry wasn't impressed: "Why they chose Easter Sunday to visit Taronga Zoo, I have no idea." It got a chuckle from the whole ferry.
As for why the island is called Goat Island? "It doesn't even look like a goat! Not even if you turn it sideways! Does anyone see a goat here?" - Our tour guide, showing us a map of the island.
When you land on the island, right on the dock, there's an old warehouse. A part of it was converted into a bar when Water Rats was filming. On the show it was apparently called Cutter's Bar, where the characters hung out. The fridges, bar, and some props are still there, not working anymore obviously, but you can see where it was all filmed.
Further up the island...
There's the oldest part of the island. The sandstone wall (made of stone cut from the island itself) was built to defend the stores of gunpowder that were kept there. The building behind the wall is the old morgue, the most haunted place on the island. We didn't go inside on our tour so you only get to see the outside.
The defensive wall continues all the way up on the ridge.
The building in front of it was probably used as a kitchen at some point. Inside, the walls are lime washed to make them white, which maximises the natural light coming into the building. I remember this because I made a mental note to use it one day in one of my stories.
On the very left of the picture, behind the building, you can see an enclosed wooden cart. That's one of the prison carts that convicts were chained up in at night, five or six men per cart. They had wheels so they could be moved, but you can imagine how cramped the conditions were.
People have treated prisoners really badly through history, and it was so clear listening to the stories our guide told us.
Other than that, the whole place looks like it was just abandoned: a lawnmower standing on a porch, a piano that still plays left in an open shed, aging chairs, rusty tools, things just left behind, not even dismantled or taken away. The lawns are mowed, hedges trimmed, and the weeds kept at bay, but that's really all the National Parks caretakers do, so it leaves the impression of a ghost town (no pun intended) that people just left behind one day and never came back.
My beautiful city. You can see Centrepoint Tower just right of centre.
The area you can see in this picture is what we call the Central Business District (CBD) of Sydney. There's a saying that Melbourne chews up people and spits out culture, while Sydney chews up people and spits out money. A full 30% of all that business is done in this small area of the city.
This is the view of the city from Goat Island.
Now for some more personal photos...
Little child under big tree, AKA, my niece digging in the dirt.
And inspecting said dirt, before attempting to eat it...
A second after I took the picture she had dirt in her mouth.
All up, it was a good day out. Not something we do often, but worth the experience.
Like many places in Sydney, it started off as a labour/prison facility for the early convicts. Later it was used by the water police and fire department. When the black plague hit Sydney in 1900, it was used as a quarantine facility. Most recently it was used for the filming of the TV Show Water Rats, and up until the 1990s it was used as a government site for the Maritime Services. Now it's abandoned, apart from the historic tours that stop by - such as ours - but it's an interesting place, with all the layers of that history visible: original sandstone walls from the 1700s next to modern buildings and filming props left behind on the island.
We heard stories of infamous convicts, such as Charles "Bony" Anderson, who was chained to a rock on the island at night, and would scream so long and loud that people on the mainland could hear him. And we saw the prison carts, where convicts were chained together overnight, six per cart, so they could hardly move, and only the "luxury" carts contained a toilet. We saw the peep holes in the defence wall that soldiers could shoot through, but hardly see through. And the carved graffiti left behind by bored soldiers and employees from 1788 to the 1990s, still visible in the old wall.
The island also has ghost tours for people to meet some of the tortured spirits that live there. Our guide told us that most of the ghosts hang around the old morgue, but recently a heavy iron door in the showers, one that shouldn't even be able to move, swung back and forth as her tour group watched. She said half her group left in a hurry after that, but she spoke of the spirits like they were old friends, just keeping the place company.
It was a beautiful day in Sydney, perfect for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to visit Taronga Zoo, making it very, very busy around the city with all the people wanting to get to the zoo to see them. Our tour announcer on the ferry wasn't impressed: "Why they chose Easter Sunday to visit Taronga Zoo, I have no idea." It got a chuckle from the whole ferry.
As for why the island is called Goat Island? "It doesn't even look like a goat! Not even if you turn it sideways! Does anyone see a goat here?" - Our tour guide, showing us a map of the island.
When you land on the island, right on the dock, there's an old warehouse. A part of it was converted into a bar when Water Rats was filming. On the show it was apparently called Cutter's Bar, where the characters hung out. The fridges, bar, and some props are still there, not working anymore obviously, but you can see where it was all filmed.
Further up the island...
There's the oldest part of the island. The sandstone wall (made of stone cut from the island itself) was built to defend the stores of gunpowder that were kept there. The building behind the wall is the old morgue, the most haunted place on the island. We didn't go inside on our tour so you only get to see the outside.
The defensive wall continues all the way up on the ridge.
The building in front of it was probably used as a kitchen at some point. Inside, the walls are lime washed to make them white, which maximises the natural light coming into the building. I remember this because I made a mental note to use it one day in one of my stories.
On the very left of the picture, behind the building, you can see an enclosed wooden cart. That's one of the prison carts that convicts were chained up in at night, five or six men per cart. They had wheels so they could be moved, but you can imagine how cramped the conditions were.
People have treated prisoners really badly through history, and it was so clear listening to the stories our guide told us.
Other than that, the whole place looks like it was just abandoned: a lawnmower standing on a porch, a piano that still plays left in an open shed, aging chairs, rusty tools, things just left behind, not even dismantled or taken away. The lawns are mowed, hedges trimmed, and the weeds kept at bay, but that's really all the National Parks caretakers do, so it leaves the impression of a ghost town (no pun intended) that people just left behind one day and never came back.
My beautiful city. You can see Centrepoint Tower just right of centre.
The area you can see in this picture is what we call the Central Business District (CBD) of Sydney. There's a saying that Melbourne chews up people and spits out culture, while Sydney chews up people and spits out money. A full 30% of all that business is done in this small area of the city.
This is the view of the city from Goat Island.
Now for some more personal photos...
Little child under big tree, AKA, my niece digging in the dirt.
And inspecting said dirt, before attempting to eat it...
A second after I took the picture she had dirt in her mouth.
All up, it was a good day out. Not something we do often, but worth the experience.
