The M5 is a mixed blessing. When the traffic is good, it’s great.
When the traffic is bad, it’s the bane of everyone’s existence, clogging up the main road and all other feeder roads. These photos were taken on a good day.
The other good thing due to its coming is that we have a bike/pedestrian track that runs alongside the M5 East for almost 10km, from Bexley North to Riverwood.
Next we’ll go for a walk along this track.
We’re pretty lucky as a suburb, as we have a train line through it, meaning quick commutes into the city. It used to be two tracks, but now has been widened to four to allow for quicker trains from Campbelltown and even out of town trains from the south west.
While having a train line is a definite advantage, having a motorway is a mixed blessing. The M5 passes straight through. It came just in time for the 2000 Olympics, so it’s about 15 years old. Before then there were just open fields on both sides of Kingsgrove Road.
Around the corner from the church are the Catholic schools – both of which I went to. The primary school, co-ed.
And girls high school. I walked this hill a thousand times to the front gate. Note the Catholic girl’s length on the skirt (kilt/picnic blanket) which we wore all-year-round.
It’s a short walk back home. And along the way I pass this oddity of a house. Click to view closely, and note the gnomes.
Around the corner from the shops is the local Catholic church, Our Lady of Fatima (there’s she is in the foreground). It’s also my ‘local’ since childhood, hence I’ve walked up that path thousands of times over the years.
Notice that the church has a modern design. It was built in the 70’s post Vatican II when the movement was to include the congregation in the services. Inside is also very interesting as seen in this article.
The original church, built in the 40’s, stands next door. It’s more conventional, and is now used at the meeting hall.
Our home is a very short walk from the shops.
You past the medical centres, now resident in some of the old houses.
Until you reach the 1940’s style shops. Sometimes there’s even a flood, if there isn’t a traffic jam. But I suppose Sydney is one giant traffic jam these days.
Changes are afoot in Kingsgrove. Beside the brown brick houses, the apartments have arrived.
I’m not completely against the development, as it provides the suburb with a supermarket, and now completing the weekly grocery run is just a walk away. It is however imposing compared to the low-key 1940s buildings that it towers over.
I was quite inspired by Joan’s posts around her home in the Blue Mountains, particularly how it’s changed in the last few years by the extensive roadworks. It reminds me that the area around my home in the Sydney suburb of Kingsgrove is quickly changing too, and that it’s a good time to document it before it changes completely. I also thought that it might be good to capture all this on film instead of digital, since the suburb is full of mid 20th century architecture.
Kingsgrove is a suburb in the south of Sydney that sprang up in the early days of World War II. During the war, they small (by 21st century standards) but solid homes, making use of what was available. Around here, it was from brick since the entire suburb is on clay and there were brick and pottery works abound. Our house is a prime example of that.
Walking down the surrounding streets, you could see that there are many homes of my vintage.
But changes are afoot.
I headed down Macquarie Street to the State Library. It had a few interesting exhibitions to see, but on the way out, I noticed a few interesting angles to capture.
Palm fronds through the chequered glass of the overhead walkway.
Busy crossing through the library sign.
It’s an autumn morning in Sydney CBD. This used to be my stamping ground. I’d walk down Macquarie Street, past the Hyde Park Barracks. The 200 year old sandstone buildings are pretty much as old as western civilisation gets in Australia.
Around the corner is Martin Place. The barristers seem like just another flock of pigeons to me.
Martin Place is full of commemorations to the wars and various military units.
But most workers don’t notice this on most days. Perhaps only on Anzac Day.
People are likely to take notice of this place these days, since the terrible events of last December. It’s nice to see that it’s full once again.
A brief glimpse of an autumn evening (pre-daylight-savings) in Surry Hills on film.
Outside of Central Station everyone was enjoying a warm evening out, probably one of the last before winter.
Scooters abound in the side streets – this one is distinctly Italian themed.
Static and Silence 