A couple More

Here is a couple more statues I snapped at Waverly Cemetery in Bronte, Sydney NSW where we looked for some relatives. None found, the real estate was too expensive for working class Irish catholics :-)

What about this for an inscription:

Since it falls unto my lot, that you should rise and I should not,
fill to me the parting glass, gently rise and softly call,
Goodbye and joy be to you all.

Crook as Rookwood

I was looking for a grave of Annie Elizabeth Tollis (Nee Wright) with my mum, its her grandmother and she was supposed to be buried at Rookwood Cemetery.

Rookwood Cemetery has been putting people in the ground since 1867, over 600,000 are down there, and it's one of the largest cemeteries in Australia.

Rookwood Cemetery is located in Sydney’s West, and covers more than 300 hectares, it contains a war memorial and memorial gardens.

We went to the visitors centre in the Anglican / church of England section (can't help it if my mums side is not proud Irish catholics like my dads) anyway they were extremely helpful.

In less than five minutes based on the name only the very helpful staff looked up the database and found the plot, and plots owned by the deceased and quickly researched any obvious linked burials.

We had a headstone, map to its location and details of all those buried in the plots before we knew it. We found it in the old Anglican section in a grave with two plots and a headstone marked Fredrick William Tollis.

In most cultures people expect to be remembered through headstones that include their names, dates of birth and death, special designs, and other relevant information.

Usually smaller grave headstones are most commonly used to mark individual graves these days, but to mark a group of graves or an entire family can take the form of elaborately designed statues that celebrate a specific theme, this is one of the oldest forms of funerary art.

Originally, a tombstone was the stone lid of a stone coffin, or the coffin itself, and a gravestone was the stone slab that was laid over a grave. Now all three terms are also used for markers placed at the head of the grave. Originally graves in the 1700's also contained footstones to demarcate the foot end of the grave.

Since gravestones and a plot in a cemetery can cost significant amounts of money, they are also a symbol of wealth or prominence in a community. (source: Wikipedia)

A spooky inscription:

Remember me as you pass by,

As you are now, so once was I,

As I am now, so you will be,

Prepare for death and follow me.

Creepy huh?

Hello from QLD

Its August and typical 22 - 25 degree days, sunny and still. Mount Tamborine is very busy as all states school holidays have finished and everyone else can now venture out without being over run by screaming kids. The Tamborine plateau is about 8 kilometers long and about 5 kilometers across at its widest part and is about 600 metres above sea level. From the escarpment you look directly down on the Gold Coast.

Geologically it is very old formed by the volcano directly to the south the remains of which is a huge crater that can be clearly seen from the air.

Mount Warning is the volcanic plug near the centre of the crater. While taking a look at the sunset a short distance from our house we noticed a new addition to the mountains scenery.

Antone Bruinsma created "Visiting Earth Angel" at the Beaudesert International Sculpture Symposium in 2008. Sculpturs have now been placed at locations throughout the Scenic Rim area. The Sculpture, is located at the Hang Gliding Lookout at the top of the Mountain along Main Western Road with the valley of the Scenic Rim as a stunning backdrop. Meanwhile back at home I snapped this picture in the back yard while watching the creek being remodeled by a backhoe. This is a Mulberry tree and is just starting to shoot leaves after being bare all winter (6 weeks is a long time)

Vivid Festival Take III

More photographs of Vivid Sydney see next posts as well . . .

The Light Walk - Is a self guided walk where you can use your mobile phone to access information on the Light Walk sculptures via a internet site for smart phones and 8 Blue Zones through bluetooth.

There are also a number of performers wandering around the walk all with a 'light' theme.

The Museum of Contemporary Art (the MCA) showcases these beautiful and dynamic light art displays in Sydney’s iconic harbour front precinct.







Lighting the Sails - Luminous - this is a light projection of artwork by Brian Eno, on the Sydney Opera House sails. Like a freeform painting it is continuously changing configurations of colour.