G'Day,
Today I went for a dawdle around the arts precinct here in Canberra. My husband Pete was working night duty and needed to sleep so I stayed out of the house.
This is some of what I discovered to share here in my blog.
O.K. the first pic above is of a superb fairy wren. I love these little guys, they are so tiny and delicate and are quite common around this area. The one in the pic is a male in his breeding colors, you might need to enlarge the pic to view him better (click on the pic). I have had quite a few tries at photographing them before but with my cameras in the past I have been unable to get close enough or take the picture quick enough before they flitted away. He was in the gardens outside the National Gallery.
The next pic is of a sculpture that is outside the front of the National Library of Australia. It has the sounds of reeds in the wind and water playing, and is by an aboriginal lady,an artist, whose name escapes me just at this moment.
These are also in the area between The National Gallery and The National Library of Australia. The area is known as Reconciliation Place. An area dedicated to reconciliation of the Aboriginal people of Australia and displays some indigenous artwork and stories of their journey since white settlement of this country. A sad and horrible story as is the story of many indigenous cultures worldwide. This sculpture is of a male and female yam. A staple food . It is by an indigenous artist named Thancoupie, also known as Gloria Fletcher. I have written about her before in here. She is a special favorite of mine and a ceramic artist whose work I love.
The pic above is at the front of the National Library of Australia and shows a wider view of the sculpture in the earlier photo. The front bit where you can see the water ripples is really cool. It sprays a foggy mist onto the air, the ripples are made from metal of some sort.
I went into the library to have a look at the treasure's gallery. I had worked in there during the renovations, cleaning, that were finished last November and wanted to see what it looked like finished and fitted. I looked around at everything and thought, Haha. I have been inside that display case, I polished that glass, I swept, washed and polished that parquetry.
There is a major exhibition in one part of the gallery there at the moment. It runs until March 2012.
"Handwritten , Ten centuries of manuscript treasures from Berlin."
There were hand written manuscripts by Erasmus, Bach, Galileo, Napoleon, Newton, Mozart, Curie, Goethe, Dickens, Einstein, Machiavelli, Nightingale, Beethoven, Dante, Luther, Darwin and Michelangelo. Amazing stuff. Though the galleries were a bit crowded to look at many of them. My favorite thing there were the old books. Perfectly hand written and beautifully decorated manuscripts from the days long before printing presses were invented. The oldest book that I saw was made in the 600's A.D. Amazing!
And yes! Hahaha, I copied that off the post card otherwise I wouldn't have remembered the details to share with you.
This is a view of the stone artworks and area in the center of Reconciliation Place. The building at the side that you can see is the Portrait Gallery. It is a fairly new place less than 2 yrs old (from memory) I had my lunch in there today.
Closer looks at the rock sculptures from the above picture in reconciliation place.
This is a passage way that leads to the edge of Lake Burley Griffin that defines the center of the city. It shows the war memorial at the other end of the passage way, across the other side of the lake. Also through this passage are flags along the edge of the lake from all countries around the world. I thought it looked good the way it all lined up.
These are some of words carved into the other side of the rock sculptures in the pics above. I liked the wise words. They were quotes re; reconciliation.
This one is a little harder to read but well worth the effort. You may be able to see it better enlarged.
I parked my baby car in the area at the east of the National Gallery and walked through the sculpture garden there. I hadn't noticed this particular piece before today. Strangely fascinating isn't it? The restaurant overlooks this lake.
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The rest of the photos were taken on the trip I took a few days ago to visit my cousins and Aunties and Uncle in Griffith, Ne South Wales. It was a 5 hour drive each way and I got home yesterday evening.
I visited the Griffith cemetery. My grandfather Joseph Trenerry was the only undertaker in town for many years. So he is directly responsible for much of the stonework and burials in Griffith. My uncles, Bill and Wally continued the business and it was then passed on to my Uncle Bill's daughter, Carol and her husband, who still operate the business today.
Justin Potter was my cousin Ruth's son. He died of leukemia, a cruel disease he fought for many years....... too young.
Oh O.K. so these are out of order now. I didn't post them that way.
Oh Well!
This is another of the sculptured stones in Reconciliation Place Canberra.
Sorry about that folks. Lol.
The plaque above is my Uncle Joe. He was my Mum's eldest brother. He died from pancreatic cancer. He was a father of 2, a small business owner and wind instrument player in the family band. How do you sum up a person's life into such a few words. Of course you can't.
These people were my maternal grand mother's parents. They died before I was born. They immigrated from Scotland and settled first in South Australia where my grandmother was born in Mt Gambier, later moved on to Broken Hill, then settled in Griffith N.S.W. They were very thrifty people (scots) and short of stature. Miner's I think, in those early years.
John and Jane Trenerry were my maternal great grandparents. Jane's maiden name as Pearson. they were English and Welsh as far as I know. Both gone before I was born.
Essie and Joseph Trennery are my mother's parents.I picked the posy from my Aunty Joan Hearn's garden. My grandmother Esther had the same christian name as my Mother. She was mother to 6 children and one adopted, though related son. She was a child prodigy and played piano concerts in the Opera house at Broken Hill when she was very very young. She was also a music teacher and played the piano at the local picture theatre in the days of silent movies in Griffith. She had a family band named the Gloom chasers, I think they had another name at one time and were called the rhythm aces. They traveled around the riverina area. My Uncle Joe played the trombone. My grandfather Joe played sousaphone, my uncle Wally played drums, my Mum sang. Can't remember what all the others did but they were all involved. My Grandfather was an undertaker. He owned a gypsum mine, he built cob and co coaches, he was a stone mason, head of the masonic lodge of Australia for quite a few years. Worked as a farmer, I think he worked as a plumber as well , quite the jack of all trades. I remember when I was tiny he would always tell me that he used to suck his fingers, (like I did) when he was a little boy and they fell right off. He had lost three of his fingers while he was up trying to repair a windmill and the cogs turned suddenly and cut them off, he only had his thumb and index finger left as a result. He did everything so well with that hand it amazed me as a child, he was known to pick a bone clean with a knife and fork and never use his fingers to do it, hahaha.
This is the plaque on my Uncle Jim's grave. I had a lot to do with him growing up. When my own father was away working, my sister and I used to call him Daddy Jim. He was a gentle giant with a sense of humor. A truckie and farm worker, most of his working life and father of my cousins, whom I visited. he died from pancreatic cancer also. Love you guys.
So today and my Griffith visit are strongly linked by my thoughts of family and it's continuity. My aboriginal heritage, no matter how small, tied in there as well.
I wrote this after my walk around today.
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I am a miniscule part of a long story
So I try to seek knowledge
To link fragments of my country's history
To myself
And I find parts that I identify
Though my words are too different
And you lose interest
I am lost
in my own history.
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I know that I could elaborate further here. Time ties my hands as does lack of skill in my writing. My story would run off on too many different tangents to be well done.
Bye
Love Linda.
