Sydneytecture

The photographer Cazneaux shot this Margaret Street view in 1908. I think he must have done some post-production to his images, as they have a lovely artistic effect to them which isn't present in some of his raw images. And the same spot now -  Not quite the same magic, though life is a hell of a lot easier.

This post ended up turning into a neat little circle. Behold a potted mini history of right turns. 1890, a horse-drawn bus turning right from a narrow William into Boomerang Street. 1900, and the tram tracks have been put through. This congests the street, so to widen it the entire southern side will be resumed and demolished by 1918 . The resulting smaller land parcels are sold at public auction. 1930, William's been widened, but the public complain that the tram tracks still haven't been shifted to the centre of the new width, even after a decade, which causes congestion on the outbound side. In this photo we can see the tracks have begun to be shifted. 1961, still turning right from William, but trams have been removed from service in Sydney, though the tracks here remain, yet to be dug up. 2017, and William has been narrowed again to restrict traffic flow, due to the Cross-City Tunnel that now runs beneath. Alas, there's no more right turn into Boomera...

This is the most extraordinary photo of Sydney I've ever seen. Though there are many contemporary watercolours of it, this is the only actual photo of the Tank Stream itself I've been able to find over many years. I assumed that none existed as it must have been built over before photography came to Sydney. But here is 1856, and the Tank Stream appears to be being prepared for eventual infilling and covering over. Pitt Street has been realigned to its present width, and the steep bank is made of fill.  The stream still runs in a subterranean brick tunnel.