2023
2023
15 December
ART GALLERY of NEW SOUTH WALES – various public exhibitions. In particular wanted to see this large sculpture
14 December
DAVID JONES, SYDNEY Christmas Windows
KOREAN CULTURAL CENTRE - KAAF ART PRIZE 2023
STATE LIBRARY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
NIKON-WALKLEY PRESS PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION
Action! Film & War – An exhibition about the power of moving images to record and shape our history.
This exhibition captured my attention, firstly, with the personal stories of Australians documenting, reporting and sharing their experiences as they recorded military history and witnessed conflict with their cameras.
Then with objects and images drawn mainly from the Australian War Memorial collection as well as feature films as they recreate events from our military history.
26 November
STRATHFIELD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
An afternoon performance of the Strathfield Symphony Orchestra performing at the newly renovated Strathfield Town Hall which included the amazing encore of Tchaikovsky’s Suite from Swan Lake, Op.20.
Programme theme The Birds: Vaughan Williams – Lark Ascending, Haydn – Symphony No. 83, Beethoven – Symphony No. 6.
5 October
The Rocks sits on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation.
Have recently been enjoying my continued exploration of The Rocks area, Sydney.
Captain Arthur Phillip anchored his ships of the First Fleet in Sydney Cove and unladed his cargo. The Rocks was the first place convicts and ex-convicts made their own becoming a small district of Sydney with higgledy-piggledy streets and narrow laneways. Men convicted of stealing fruit received the death penalty and flogging was a common form of punishment for even the mildest of misdemeanours.
The Suez Canal is a narrow laneway between Harrington Street and Lower George Street gaining its nickname in the day when residents used it to empty their slops, which would then run down into the harbour becoming a hazard for passers-by liable to be dragged into it and robbed.
Kendall Lane is where you will find The Rocks Discovery Museum and three historic buildings built between 1844 and 1854, namely Samson’s Cottage, Raphael’s Store and Mackellar’s Store.
Heading to Dawes Point overlooking Walsh Bay, at the northern tip of The Rocks and the other side of the bridge is Ferry Lane, a flagstone laneway which once led to the waterfront. The history of the area is told in the plaques and signs in the lane and in the reserve below, called The Paddock. Downshire Street which is the backyard of the Lower Fort Street residents ending between Ferry Land and The Paddock.
Jack Mundey Place was named in recognition of the achievements of Jack Mundey as an early advocate that led to a successful campaign to protect the built and natural environment of Sydney from excessive and inappropriate development. Mundey chaired the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales from 1995 to 2001.
Gallows Hill at the corner of Harrington and Essex Streets was a stone gaol until 1841 replacing the earlier log prison when it burnt down. There is a plaque marking the place of the first execution of a convict on February 27, 1788.
Continuing along Harrington Street which is part of the network of streets, steps and laneways that form the heartland of old residential Sydney. The four murals have been painted on the underpass of the Cahill Expressway where it crosses Harrington Street, at The Rocks. The award winning murals were created by Geoff Williams in 2011, depicting the city as it was in the past.
Also in Harrington Street is the sculpture ”Child of the Rocks’’ by Leonie Rhodes, paying homage to the many children from the vast array of cultures that once played in this area and called The Rocks home.
Atherton Place is Sydney’s smallest street, where part of the rock face has been worn smooth over the years by the ladies of The Rocks, who used it to sharpen their carving knives for Sunday’s baked dinners.
Laneway Cinema at The Rocks from October to March
Cambridge Street is one of the earliest European streets with family washing strung across the narrow alleyways. Continuing to walk along the alleyways the Cumberland Place steps are a series of rock-hewn steps leading into Gloucester Street.
Susannah Place, the little houses and the corner shop on the corner of Gloucester and Cambridge Street dates from 1840s. This is now a museum, including outhouses and basement kitchens, allowing you to imagine typical mid-19th century working class life.
The Australian Hotel on the corner of Gloucester and Cumberland Streets is a typical early 20th century hotel, built in 1914 the hotel retains its original pressed metal ceilings and etched glass fittings.
Following along Cumberland Street towards the harbour there is the Sirius Project. The Rocks Sirius building for social housing was sold by the NSW Government to developers in 2019.
George Street was originally a rough track worn by carriers bringing water from the Tank Stream to the hospital and the military, known then as Spring Row.
Some of the old buildings along George Street include the George Street North Police Station which is one of the remaining 19th century lock-ups standing on the site of the European settlement’s first hospital. The Fortune of War is Sydney’s oldest pub dating from 1828.
The first hospital in Australia was located in the block bounded by Globe, George, Harrington and Argyle streets. A plaque on the former police station at 127 George Street commemorates the hospital’s location and the laneway that runs between George and Harrington streets was renamed ‘Nurses Walk’ in the 1970s as a tribute.
4 October
29 September
Opening of the Drummoyne Art Society 2023 Members Art Awards Exhibition
23 September
Strathfield Symphony Orchestra
Program:
Williams – Phantom Menace Suite & Hymn to the Fallen
Silvestri – Back to the Future
Zimmer – The Lion King Suite
Chase (arr) – The Muppets Medley
Brubaker – World of Warcraft
Powell – Zelda
20 September
Out and about exploring parts of Chippendale and Redfern for the first time since covid.
10 September
Somewhere in Between: Marina Mavritsky
Insects are the blueprint of our natural environment, so it seems apt to celebrate the humble bug using cyanotype printing. It is reliant on the power of sunlight, water and time; the conjunction of these elements produces the deep Prussian blue of the cyanotype print.
Marina invites the viewer to reflect on bugs as an inspiration for artmaking as well the roles that insects serve in nature.
2 September
Candlelight: Hans Zimmer’s Best Works
Programme
- Time from Inception
- This Land from The Lion King
- Nothing I’ve Ever Known from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
- Zooster’s Breakout from Madagascar
- Honor from The Pacific
- Tennessee from Pearl Harbor
- A Dark Knight from The Dark Knight
- Man of Steel Suite
- Wonder Woman Suite
- Gladiator Suite
- Cornfield Chase from Interstellar
- Discombobulate from Sherlock Holmes
- Pirates of the Caribbean Suite
Performers
16 August
Women’s World Cup Semi-final: Australia v England 1 – 3
15 – 19 July
Townsville, North Queensland, Australia
25 June
South Sydney Rabbitohs v North Queensland Cowboys 6 – 31
22 – 25 May
WESTERN SYDNEY PARKLANDS
A short distance from the concealed wastelands of industrial estates, furious urban development and road networks is the 5280-hectare green space. Created in 2006 the Western Sydney Parklands is pockets of natural beauty, urban farms and tranquility emerged from the hustle and bustle of industry.
SUGARLOAF RIDGE and MOONRISE LOOKOUT
PROSPECT RESERVOIR and GEORGE MAUNDER LOOKOUT and MAP
Completed in 1888
Symbolic gesture of the friendship between Blacktown and Liaocheng, China.
Includes an aquarium along with lions, elephants, merrkats, tigers, chimpanzees, red panda, african painted dog, came and some Australian native species.
18 April
NET CALLS NET, WEAVE CALLS WEAVE – Ironbark Gallery, Strathfield Library
Karl and Marta present a series of works that bind the near with the far to build a starburst world of net-forms, waveforms, and weave-forms. Exploring ecology as both a psychic and physical territory, their work maps a vibrant generosity circulating between social, material, and natural worlds. With a focus on repetitive motifs, abstract impressions, rhythmic metamorphosis, and alchemic process — their exhibition offers an immersive and nomadic tableau, combining tapestries and works on paper that entangle a mix of spinning, weaving, stitching, natural dying, painting, installation, and live-art.
13 April
ART EXPRESS – Armory, Sydney Olympic Park. Another wonderful collection of work created by students for the 2022 New South Wales Higher School Certificate. The bodies of work represent a broad range of subject matter, approaches, styles and media that reflect the high quality of Visual Arts education in New South Wales.
MURAMA HEALING SPACE
12 April
IRONBARK GALLERY – Strathfield Library
Painting on Mondays: Catriona Grant & Megan Winch
Catriona and Megan have been friends for many years, for more than 15 years, they meet on a weekly basis to catch up over lunch and paint. These two friends taking the opportunity to journey together through life’s ups and downs, parenting, faith, and their artistic practice. Catriona and Megan have explored art making in many forms, together and apart, endeavouring to capture the beauty around them, both natural and created.
Left Image: Megan Winch, Kangaroo Valley, river rocks, 2021, acrylic on canvas
Right Image: Catriona Grant, Still life with fruit and vases, 2022, oil on linen
1 April
STRATHFIELD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Program:
Miriam Hyde – Kelso Overture
Bizet – Selections from Carmen Suites 1&2
Brahms – Symphony No. 1
31 March
The Ocean Visuals Exhibition on the Western Broadwalk of the Sydney Opera House is a visual journey into the connections between climate change and oceans. The collection of 93 images provides visual stories of climate change causes, impacts, solutions, resilience and justice.
A team of social scientists and communication specialists are working to widen and deepen public engagement from Australia to the Pacific Islands, to India, Norway, Mexico, and more. The images tell the stories of human lives, cultures, and experiences, about the critical interconnectedness of ocean health and climate change.
24 March
WALK AROUND MRS MACQUARIES ROAD
On request from his wife, Elizabeth Macquarie, the Governor directed convict teams to build a road for her recreation and enjoyment. This new road started at the original Government House (now the Museum of Sydney) to the point now known as Mrs Macquarie’s Point. The road followed the Macquarie Wall which was built to divide the government domain from the town. The wall still exists in part today. The only part of the road left is the convict bridge over the Macquarie Culvert.
ART GALLERY OF NSW – NORTH BUILDING
9 March
CITY WALK
- Domain Lodge and Gateway, one of the oldest gatekeeper’s residences to survive
- Woolloomooloo Gates, wrought iron entry gates to the Botanic Gardens erected in 1873
- Art Gallery of New South Wales – South Building: Art Express is a selection of outstanding student artworks developed for the art-making component of the HSC examination in Visual Arts.
Art Gallery of New South Wales – North Building: Dreamhome Stories of Art and Shelter, Adrián Villar Rojas The End of Imagination
8 March
A WALK AROUND THE ROCKS visiting some National Trust Buildings
- George Street Business Precinct: a small-scale shops, hotels and commercial buildings from Cahill Expressway north to Argyle Street including the Russell Hotel, formerly the Port Jackson Hotel, Victorian bank building (1886 and a 19th Century police station and the Orient Hotel
- Argyle Arts Centre, formerly Argyle Bond Stores
- Cadman’s Cottage, built in 1815-1816, it now houses the National Parks and Wildlife Foundation
- The Marionette Theatre 106-108 George Street, formerly the Sailors’ Home
- The Craft Centre formerly the Rawson Institute for Seamen at 100 George Street
- Metcalf Bond Stores, behind is the Campbell’s Warehouse
- Dawes Point Reserve gun battery with views of the Opera House and Royal Botanic Gardens, Luna Park and under the Harbour Bridge
- Lower Fort Street Terraces late Georgian townhouses, large scale Victorian terraces and Regency style townhouses
- Pier One, the first of the historic fingerwharves jutting into WalshBay.
- The Wharf Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company
- Hero of Waterloo has altered little still possessing the Colonial Georgian hallmarks of 12-paned sash windows and four- and six-panelled doors
- Garrison Church, 1840-1878 was the first official military church in the colony
- Argyle Place Park the only surviving urban park space in the city from the Macquarie era laid out at the command of Governor Macquarie named by him after his home in Scotland. The drinking fountain was erected in 1869 by Walter Rennie
- Terraces and Townhouses, Argyle Place including Late Victorian, Late Georgian
- The Lord Nelson Hotel, 1834 believed to be Sydney’s oldest continually licensed public hotel
- Agar Steps
- Kent Street with recent restoration and renovated historic terraces to Sydney Observatory on Observatory Hill originally called Flagstaff Hill and Governor Phillip had a look-out stationed here.
- National Trust Centre was built by Governor Macquarie as a Military Hospital.
KOREAN CULTURAL CENTRE Sydney
COME FIND ME: 10 YEARS OF THE KAAF – Come Find Me: 10 years of the KAAF is a special exhibition celebrating the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Korea-Australia Arts Foundation (KAAF).
Artist: Anna Russell, Anthea Boesenberg, Beoung Yeoun Choi, Beric Henderson, Chris Gleisner, Claire Hoon Pallardy, Dana Dion, Haetak Choi, Hoim Lee, Hyun-Hee Lee, Hyunjin Lee, Hyunju Lee, Iklae Jeong, Jaedon Shin, Javier Baez Bonorat, Jennica Seo, K.Sujin Bae, Kathrin Longhurst, Kwirak Choung, Maree Azzopardi, Min-Woo Bang, Misim Song, Namsoon Lee, Nat Ward, Okhee Choi, Phoebe Kim, Regina Law, Robert Bennetts, Rone Waugh, Sam Holt, Simone Piccioni, Sooka Kim, Sophie Pulvers, Sung Hyun Sohn, Taerim Claire Jeon, Tae Won Lee, Won-Seok Kim, Yiwon Park
2023 KOREAN LITERATURE WEEK
Celebrating Korean Literature Week, Hanok the Korean Cultural Centre Australia turns to the Book Cafe. Come and join us where you can unwind at Hanok by reading Korean books, enjoying music with vinyl with a cup of tea and make it a peaceful and enjoyable weekdays afternoon.
Participants can read Korean books while enjoying music and tea. There are about 30 Korean books, turntable and a few vinyls available, and you can also bring your own books & vinyl and share with others. There is no specific timed program for this 2 hours, so you can enjoy this Book Cafe in your own way.
27 February
KU-RING-GAI WILDFLOWER GARDEN
Recently I discovered the Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden which is set across 123 hectares of pristine untouched bushland within the Garigal National Park, St Ives, a northern suburb of Sydney.
There is free entry all year round and I’m looking forward to returning in the spring for the peak season of Australia’s wildflowers and exploring more of the walking tracks.
26 February
VAN GOUGH EXHIBITION
26 January
AUSTRALIA DAY LIVE Sydney Opera House concert
Sydney Harbour was transformed into a stage with a star-studded concert at the Sydney Opera House forecourt that brought our national day to a close in spectacular style.
Some of the country’s top performers including Casey Donovan, Dami Im, Christine Anu and her daughter Zipporah, William Barton, Isaiah Firebrace, Anthony Callea, Tim Campbell, James Morrison, Emma Pask, Mirusia, Emma Kavanagh and Darren Percival took part in this uplifting show that celebrated the Australian spirit.
The singers were backed up by the world-class Koomurri Aboriginal Dance Troupe and music maestro John Foreman’s Aussie Pops Orchestra.
Accompanying the musical performances was an incredible land and water show on Circular Quay featuring projections on the Sydney Opera House, lit-up boats, jet-skiers, parachutists, fly-boarders and a spectacular fireworks display.
MUSEUM of CONTEMPORARY ART AUSTRALIA
South Korean artist Do Ho Suh is known for his large-scale sculptures and architectural installations, which address the often complex relationships between the body, memory and space.
Spanning three decades, from the 1990s to now, the artist’s first solo exhibition in the Southern Hemisphere will present emblematic works across a wide range of media that include large-scale installations, sculptures, drawings, printmaking, and video works.
Do Ho Suh’s extensive body of work is characterised by an ongoing meditation on notions of belonging, identity and home. Encompassing portraiture and architectural references, Suh’s works have a distinctive biographical dimension evoking the various spaces he has lived and worked in, including Seoul, New York, Berlin, and London.
Scale is central to Suh’s artworks, which vary from small, singular household objects – door handles, plugs and switches, light bulbs – through to full scale replicas of the domestic spaces and studios he has inhabited over the course of his life. Realised in diverse materials, from steel military ‘dog tags’ to fabric, these intimate and evocative artworks can be walked around, through and within.
The Sydney-exclusive exhibition is curated by guest curator Rachel Kent, Chief Executive Officer, Bundanon Trust NSW, with MCA Associate Curator Megan Robson.
PRIMAVERA 2022 The Young Australian Artists annual exhibition drawing on mediums from choreography. Moving images to refocus our attention on the what, how, who and why of our present moment.
YIRRKALA PRINTS produced at the Yirrkala Print Space at the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre in north-east Arnhem Land using materials collected on Country such as sand, leaves and rags.
PERSPECTIVES on PLACE include works from the MCA collection relating to land, mapping and environmental change.
13 January
The Korea-Australia Arts Foundation (KAAF) Art Prize bringing artists together from diverse ethnicities at the Korean Cultural Centre Australia Gallery.
Winner Sonia Martignon, The Charred Mosaic of an Ancient Landscape.
Therese O'Leary 
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