Saturday, July 29, 2006
An Early morning photo shoot
It was tempting to stay under the warm doona, but we headed off to Birchgrove to get some photos...
These two below are of Cockatoo Island. If you are a regular visitor to this blog you have seen photos of Cockatoo Island when we were on it! (see the archives for Feb.2006)
These two below are of Cockatoo Island. If you are a regular visitor to this blog you have seen photos of Cockatoo Island when we were on it! (see the archives for Feb.2006)
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
So what was this holiday about then?
Well those of you who have paid close attention ( & thank you to those who have given me generous feedback), will have noticed that we visited a number of Engineering museums & sites. You would also know that Michael studies tool making, welding and watchmaking, so many of the museums reflected his interests. In a way, one of the themes that emerged was that of following in the footsteps of Marc Brunel , father of the better known Isambard Kingdom Brunel. If you have seen the TV series "Seven Wonders of the Industrial World", these names would be familiar to you.
Another website worth looking at is here.
When we were leaving Montreal by Greyhound to travel to Schuylerville , we travelled alongside the Champlain canal, first surveyed by Marc Brunel. At the end of our holiday we visited the tunnel he designed and built at Rotherhithe in London. In between we visited the Springfield armory Museum, touted as the first site of manufacturing in the world. Yet Brunel had invented the manufacture of the Block & Tackle mill (we went to Portsmouth, remember?) years before. Nelson's victory at sea was attributed to this new technology. So Michael questions why it is that Marc Brunel has been so underrated by history?
But look again, another theme emerges. That of rivers. There is a story that when the owners of a new publishing house , who were located on either side of the Atlantic, wondered what to call this company, one said to the other, "what do you see when you lokk out the window?" "The river Thames"was the reply, "What do you see?". "The Hudson river". A great story even if it is not the whole truth. Thames & Hudson publishes beautiful Art & photograhic books.
And guess what? The Champlain Canal links the navigable water of the Hudson River and Lake Erie, to the Champlain lake, thereby linking the trade and industry parts of both North East America , as well as Canada, to the ports that would move goods around the continent and around the world. So Brunel was a visionary. And yet today, many of the manufacturing towns along the Hudson are industrial wastelands, victims of the move to cheaper labour in Asia, as we have experienced in Australia. And the tragedy is that the history is also forgotten. The very things that contributed to great nationhood in previous centuries have been allowed to moulder down to dust and crumbling buildings, what museums they have often miss vital parts of the story, or have a modern emphasis that disguises the truth.
The Pictures:
The first 2 are Kayaking on the Hudson, the next 2 are the Champlain canal in Montreal
a scene in Glens Falls on the Hudson, and the Thames .
For some more photos of the Canal/Hudson at Schuylerville, taken this 4 July by our beloved Sarah check her blog
Another website worth looking at is here.
When we were leaving Montreal by Greyhound to travel to Schuylerville , we travelled alongside the Champlain canal, first surveyed by Marc Brunel. At the end of our holiday we visited the tunnel he designed and built at Rotherhithe in London. In between we visited the Springfield armory Museum, touted as the first site of manufacturing in the world. Yet Brunel had invented the manufacture of the Block & Tackle mill (we went to Portsmouth, remember?) years before. Nelson's victory at sea was attributed to this new technology. So Michael questions why it is that Marc Brunel has been so underrated by history?
But look again, another theme emerges. That of rivers. There is a story that when the owners of a new publishing house , who were located on either side of the Atlantic, wondered what to call this company, one said to the other, "what do you see when you lokk out the window?" "The river Thames"was the reply, "What do you see?". "The Hudson river". A great story even if it is not the whole truth. Thames & Hudson publishes beautiful Art & photograhic books.
And guess what? The Champlain Canal links the navigable water of the Hudson River and Lake Erie, to the Champlain lake, thereby linking the trade and industry parts of both North East America , as well as Canada, to the ports that would move goods around the continent and around the world. So Brunel was a visionary. And yet today, many of the manufacturing towns along the Hudson are industrial wastelands, victims of the move to cheaper labour in Asia, as we have experienced in Australia. And the tragedy is that the history is also forgotten. The very things that contributed to great nationhood in previous centuries have been allowed to moulder down to dust and crumbling buildings, what museums they have often miss vital parts of the story, or have a modern emphasis that disguises the truth.
The Pictures:
The first 2 are Kayaking on the Hudson, the next 2 are the Champlain canal in Montreal
a scene in Glens Falls on the Hudson, and the Thames .
For some more photos of the Canal/Hudson at Schuylerville, taken this 4 July by our beloved Sarah check her blog
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
More photos from England
(L)Michael leaving the shop at the Greenwich Observatory, the meridian of Greenwich meantime is just to his left.(R) Image from the camera obscura at Greenwich
(top) standing on the deck of the pub 'the Mayflower" looking up the Thames. This was the location from whence the Mayflower set sail for America.
(L) the entrance to the tunnel under the Thames built by Marc Brunel, father of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. (R) the Pumphouse used by Brunel to remove the water whilst building the tunnel.
Home in Oz now
We arrived home on Sunday morning. It is cold and wet here. Had to find the Ugg boots and turn on the heaters. Michael slept for 48 hours, he is clever , I wish I could do that! These are some photos from our time in Portsmouth. Look a bottlebrush in a pot, in the Lodge garden at the Naval dockyard. Michael had a wonderful time looking at the Block Mill, machinery designed by Marc Brunel.
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