Industrial Revelation : WALSH BAY WHARVES

I have been an “Artist in residence” at the Fingerwharves of Sydney during their controversial redevelopment.

The Woolloomooloo Fingerwharf, opposite Garden Island, is now a glitzy complex of hotel suites, restaurants and luxury apartments.

The Walsh Bay Wharves, in the shadow of the western side of the Harbour Bridge, and Jones Bay Wharf, on the Pyrmont peninsula, have undergone a series of transformations over the last 20 years, and will be further transformed now that Barangaroo is open.


'Interior of Wharf 8-9' 2000 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm Available for sale

The ramshackle blue timber building seen through the wool bale elevator was used as a set in several 1980's and 1990's films and TV series.

Memorable inclusions were in "Blue Murder" (the scene where Neddy Smith and a group of corrupt police persuade a corrupt law clerk to step onto a boat, where he will later be tied to a gas cooker, which is thrown overboard.) and several episodes in "Wildside".


*"Towns Place" 1998* *oil on canvas 36 x 46 cm* Available for sale

I used to call this decrepit building the "Edward Hopper House" as it resembled an old railway shack in one of his paintings. This building has now been renovated and is a lot less lop-sided than when I painted these.