Sign of the Palisade

The Hotel Palisade was closed in 2008, just after the World Youth day celebrations and spent seven years in hibernation.

MP7 Sign of the Palisade 2014
acrylic on canvas 10 x 10cm
Available for sale

During its long sleep, many locals worried that the Palisade would never reopen, and would end up as apartments like so many other historic buildings, but it reopened in 2015, appropriately just in time for its 100th birthday.

MP39 'Sign of the Palisade' 
2014 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm
Available for sale

The renovations added a rooftop cocktail bar boasting sweeping 360 degree views of the Harbour, Millers Point and Barangaroo, as well as a new main bar and boutique accommodation.

I'm not a personal fan of the blocky design of the new roof, which to me spoilt the line of the original roof-top design, but at least it's not too obtrusive from ground level.

I'm so used to seeing it from a bird's eye view from the top floor of the Harbour Control Tower, which has been my studio for well over a decade.

Although a waterfront pub, it wasn't the pub of choice for the smarter wharfies - at least not since 1972 when the Harbour Control Tower was built, anyway, for the good reason that being directly opposite the Harbour Tower, the HarbourMaster had an excellent view of the comings and goings of any stevedores that might have clocked off early for a long liquid lunch. Moreton's (aka 'The Big House') where Sussex Street becomes Hickson Road, was overshadowed by the escarpment below High Street, and there was an entrance to the Lord Nelson in Kent street that also wasn't able to be overlooked. The entrance of the Hero of Waterloo in Lower Fort Street also wasn't visible to any sticky beaks in the eye in the sky.

The Hotel Palisade is now a seven-storey masonry building banded with strips of sandstone. There is a basement, five storeys of rooms and the new roof-top enclosed bar and terrace.

MP39 'Sign of the Palisade' 

2014 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm

Available for sale

This small canvas, painted 'en plein air' just before the re-opening, features the iconic name plate which is attached to the parapet. I'm fascinated by the way that the "is" of the Palisade sign is enclosed inside a sandstone vignette, while the rest of the word is painted on the brick facade.

Related Posts

Millers Point from the top of the Harbour Control Tower

My page of Millers Point Paintings

The Last of the Hungry Mile

Banners, Millers Point

 "Dalgety Terrace Millers Point"
2014 oil on canvas 46 x 61cm 
Collection : Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW
Enquiries about similar paintings 

The Harbour Control Tower looms ominously over the row of ramshackle terraces on the sandstone block wall of Dalgety Road.

Some of the houses sport protest banners :"Millers Point not 4 sale" "Our community is worth more than money"

Fortunately some of the banners were still there long enough for me to paint them, however, a few weeks afterwards the Housing NSW Millers Point Relocation Team had torn them down.

Housing NSW's Relocation Officers and their security and "cleansing" teams have been removing banners and photos of residents throughout Millers Point. The banners on the Garrison Church Rectory and on St Brigid's Church were removed in January 2015.  

 "Dalgety Terrace Millers Point"
2014 oil on canvas 46 x 61cm 
Collection : Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW
Enquiries about similar paintings

Luckily I finished painting this canvas just before the roadwork started.
I was set up between 2 of the hideous new apartments built several years ago to replace a set of old Maritime Services Board warehouses.

 "Dalgety Terrace Millers Point"
2014 oil on canvas 46 x 61cm
Collection : Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW
Enquiries about similar paintings

To add insult to injury,there is now a serious attempt to remove even the name "Millers Point" from the suburb- see Don't erase Millers Point Facebook Page

This canvas, which I exhibited in my solo exhibition "Under the Hammer" Frances Keevil Gallery 2014, was recently acquired for the collection of the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW.

My canvases are banners that can never be torn down.

Related posts

'From the Hungry Mile to Barangaroo'

There goes the neighbourhood

Another one bites the dust

Starting a large panorama on Sunday 30th March about 10am

"Harbour Control Tower and Barangaroo

from High Street, Millers Point" 

2014 oil on canvas 61 x 183cm

Enquiries about this painting :

janecooperbennett@gmail.com

I have spent most of the past week painting a large panoramic canvas to show the Harbour Control Tower from High Street in Millers Point.

On the far left hand side is a view of the Barangaroo construction site, with giant chunks of recently excavated yellowblock sandstone forming a pseudo-naturalistic cove. 

On the far right hand side, the workers cottages of High Street stare down disapprovingly onto their brash new neighbour. 

In the centre of the picture is the last bastion of the Hungry Mile, the mushroom topped column of the Harbour Control Tower.

 Monday 31st March about 1pm

"Harbour Control Tower and Barangaroo

from High Street, Millers Point" 

2014 oil on canvas 61 x 183cm

Enquiries about this painting :

janecooperbennett@gmail.com

The Harbour Tower was also jokingly known as ''the Pill" because it "controlled all the berths" in the harbour. According to the National Trust, it should be conserved and reused as it symbolizes more than 200 years of shipping in Sydney.

However, this is an unlikely fate, as the Barangaroo Delivery Authority then bought the concrete, steel and glass structure from Sydney Ports for $2.6 million. 

Despite its unsurpassed 360 degree harbour views, the Harbour Control Tower quite obviously doesn't fit into their vision for Barangaroo, so its days are numbered.

Tuesday 1st April about 11am

"Harbour Control Tower and Barangaroo

from High Street, Millers Point"

2014 oil on canvas 61 x 183cm

Enquiries about this painting :

janecooperbennett@gmail.com

Sydney Ports once manned it 24/7, but it has not been operational since April 11th 2011, when vessel control services for Sydney Harbour finally moved to Port Botany.

 Wednesday 2nd April about 11am

"Harbour Control Tower and Barangaroo

from High Street, Millers Point"

2014 oil on canvas 61 x 183cm

Enquiries about this painting :

janecooperbennett@gmail.com

The tower opened in 1974 to give Harbour Control the best possible views of the harbour to ensure safe passage for thousands of ships each year. The architectural drawings and plans for its construction used to be hung in the foyer of the amenities level, just in front of the lift, until some light fingered wharfie pinched them.

'Evening Harbour Control Tower

from Moore's Wharf' 2013
oil on canvas 178 x 122cm

This is my huge canvas painted from my Moore's Wharf studio, showing the last time that the gorgeous sandstone escarpment was completely visible.

It has by now totally disappeared under a layer of scaffolding and the retaining wall for the North Barangaroo Headland Park.

The park will slope from its soi disant naturalistic 1788 coastline up to Clyne Reserve and Merriman street. Obviously the Tower will get short shrift. It is an emblem of another era and different values.

It looks as though Precision Demolition will be getting more work!

I last caught their act at Port Kembla, where they lived up to their name, neatly and precisely dropping the Port Kembla Copper Stack onto the grounds of Port Kembla Copper. Previously I had met them during the saga of the sinking of ex-HMAS Adelaide.

I am surprised, and more than a little concerned, that as the demolition of the Harbour Control Tower was virtually a foregone conclusion, that it wasn't demolished before construction of the headland was so far advanced. However neatly they drop it, it would make a bit of a dent in the painstakingly arranged faux natural headland. Unless they are planning to leave the pieces there as a giant water feature or a Brutalist concrete novelty sundial in the centre of the park. 

It would certainly be a conversation piece.

Or perhaps the charming terraces of Merriman Street are also superfluous to their requirements?

There's no accounting for taste.

'The Shipping News - Last  view of interior

of Harbour Control Tower '
 2011 oil on canvas 25 x 51cm

Enquiries about this painting :

janecooperbennett@gmail.com

I had been "Artist in Residence" in the Harbour Control Tower by Sydney Ports Corporation for nearly a decade.

This is the final view of the interior of the top floor. The whiteboard has a list of the very last shipping movements on April the last operational day of the Harbour Control Tower.

The clock has stopped at 10.44am, Tuesday 24th May, and has been left that way.

After the last operational use of the Tower, maintenance staff had to still have access to be able to remove furniture, cables and other equipment. If I arrived early enough, I would be allowed to tag along and do a bit more painting. 

My very last visit was just before its eventual demolition.

Related posts

Paintings of the Harbour Control Tower

Paintings from the Top of the Harbour Control Tower

Painting the Port Kembla Copper Stack

Painting ex-HMAS Adelaide

Another city landmark gets the brush-off 

March 31 2014 Sydney Morning Herald  Nicole Hasham

Beyond the Sea

Millers point paintings

Tie a yellow ribbon

The last of the Hungry Mile

May close without warning

'From the Hungry Mile to Barangaroo'

My solo exhibition 'From the Hungry Mile to Barangaroo' will be held at the Frances Keevil Gallery until 24th March 2013.

'Goat Island from Moore's Wharf'

2013 oil on canvas 122 x 183cm Sold

The 'Hungry Mile''
2007 oil on canvas 100 x 122cm
Enquiries about these paintings
This exhibition will be the major event for Art Month, and will opened by Elizabeth Fortescue, Visual Arts Writer for The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday 5th March 2013, 6 – 8pm.

'Wharf 6/7' 1999 oil on canvas 61 x 101cm
'Harbour Control Tower from Moore's Wharf ' 
2013 oil on canvas 51 x 25cm  Sold

'L3' Crane, with the 'Taiko'

2006 oil on canvas 51 x 25cm

'Barangaroo from Glebe Island' 2010

oil on canvas 31 x 61 cm  Sold

'The empty wharf from shed 6' 2008

oil on canvas 31 x 61cm

'Interior, Wharf 8-9' 2000

oil on canvas 31 x 61cm

'Night, from bridge of 'Maersk Gateshead'

2009 oil on canvas 61 x 91cm

'The 'Southern Cross'

2007 oil on canvas 31 x 92cm Sold

Enquiries about these paintings

'Yellow cranes from the cage'

2007 oil on canvas 153 x 61cm Sold

'Capitaine Tasman' + 'Caledonie Express' night

2007 oil on canvas 31x103cm

'The last call of the 'Tampa'

2007 oil on canvas 31x103cm

'Forklifts in the fog panorama'

2007 oil on canvas 31x103cm

'The Pacific Dawn with demolition of Shed 6'

2008 oil on canvas 31x103cm

Enquiries about these paintings

The gallery was still hanging the exhibition when these photos were taken.

'The Last of the Hungry Mile' 2007 oil on canvas 180 x 122cm
FINALIST : 2008 SULMAN PRIZE, ART GALLERY OF NSW
'Walsh Bay Wharves, Moore's Wharf and the Hungry Mile'
2002 oil on canvas 122 x 152cm
'Relics from the 'Dead House' 2007 oil on canvas 122 x 100cm
Enquiries about these paintings

The paintings show the transition of the former wharf, East Darling Harbour, known as the "Hungry Mile", to the construction site, Barangaroo.

'Sydney Harbour Panorama from the Stamford on Kent'
2007 oil on canvas 25 x 153cm Sold

'Moore's Wharf from the bridge of 'Scholarship'

2007 oil on canvas 25 x 51cm Sold

Moore's Wharf, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Walsh Bay Wharves'

2007 oil on canvas 25 x 51cm Sold

'Wharf Skeleton' 2008 oil on canvas 75 x 100cm

'The wharves and High St from the Stamford on Kent'

2007 oil on canvas 75 x 100cm"

'The Last of the Hungry Mile' 2007 oil on canvas 180 x 122cm
FINALIST : 2008 SULMAN PRIZE, ART GALLERY OF NSW
Enquiries about these paintings

I've had a ring-side seat to paint this fascinating area, courtesy of many businesses and private individuals, who had to put up with having a self-appointed "Artist in Residence" paint from their offices, shops, cafes or homes.

'Harbour Control Tower from Moore's Wharf '

2013 oil on canvas 51 x 25cm Sold

'L3' Crane, with 'Taiko' 2006

oil on canvas 51 x 25cm

'The 'Charlotte ' passing Goat Island 2011

oil on canvas 15 x 18cm Sold 

'Goat Island from Moore's Wharf' 2010

oil on canvas 45 x 91 cm

'High Street from the wharf' 2007

oil on canvas 31 x 41cm

'Forklifts in the fog' 2007

oil on canvas 31 x 41cm

Enquiries about these paintings

I've been able to create large-scale plein air canvases in the middle of the Barangaroo demolition site, from the top of the Harbour Control Tower and in Moore's Wharf, the headquarters of the Sydney Ports Corporation Emergency Response Tugs and Pilot Boats.

'Sydney Harbour Panorama from the Stamford on Kent'
2007 oil on canvas 25 x 153cm Sold
Moore's Wharf from the bridge of the 'Scholarship'
2007 oil on canvas 25 x 51cm Sold
Moore's Wharf, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Walsh Bay Wharves'
2007 oil on canvas 25 x 51cm Sold
'Wharf Skeleton' 2008 oil on canvas 75 x 100cm

'The wharves and High St from Stamford on Kent'

2007 oil on canvas 75 x 100cm

Enquiries about these paintings
These are the last outposts of maritime and industrial activity, once so familiar around Sydney Harbour.

'Wharf Skeleton' 2008 oil on canvas 75 x 100cm

'The wharves and High St from the Stamford on Kent'

2007 oil on canvas 75 x 100cm

Enquiries about these paintings
 
See also my previous solo exhibition in 2011 at the Frances Keevil Gallery : "May Close without warning"

Related posts

The Mother Art is Architecture

Eaten by Robots

The Last of the Hungry Mile

Painting the Shirley Smith at Moores Wharf

Although I’d been Artist in Residence’ at the East Darling Harbour Wharves, and even in the Harbour Control Tower for almost a decade, it wasn’t until July 2011 that I was invited to become Artist in Residence’ at Moore’s Wharf, the Sydney HQ of Sydney Ports Corporation.

MW 1'Cleaning the boom in front of the 'Shirley Smith'
2011 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm
Available for sale
The East Darling Harbour Wharves finally closed in October 2007.
I managed to keep access to the wharves during the demolition of the wharves & even during the early stages of the construction on Barangaroo.
I even retained occasional access to the Harbour Control Tower after April 2011 when it ceased to be used for maritime operations by Sydney Ports Corporation.

MW 1'Cleaning the boom in front of the 'Shirley Smith'
2011 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm
Available for sale
Moore’s Wharf is a handsome 3 storey sandstone warehouse that was originally built in the 1830s by convict labour.
There are still some convict marks, such as arrows on some of the sandstone blocks which were quarried locally.
The surrounding suburb, Millers Point, is built on a ridge of yellowblock sandstone that is of high quality, although not quite up to the standard of the famous Pyrmont yellowblock.
Bizarrely, the entire building was moved stone by stone, a few hundred metres to its existing position, when the adjoining wharves were extended and redeveloped for containerization.

MW 1'Cleaning the boom in front of the 'Shirley Smith'
2011 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm
Available for sale
In front of Moore’s Wharf, Sydney Ports Corporation has two highly visible, verging on garish, bright scarlet and yellow firefighting tugs, the ‘Shirley Smith’, and the ‘Ted Noffs’. They are part of a fleet of emergency response vessels and specialised equipment used for fire-fighting, oil spill response, salvage and providing assistance to stricken vessels.
The marine operations teams work closely with Fire and Rescue NSW to prepare for fighting fires which may not be accessible to the fire teams by land.


MW 1'Cleaning the boom in front of the 'Shirley Smith'
2011 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm

Available for sale
You can see the crew in the background next to the Shirley Smith.
The weird crumpled red and black object, that looks slightly like a giant version of the sort of caterpillars found on citrus trees is a boom to enclose oil spills and similar hazards. Booms are kept near the boat, so they can be rapidly deployed. My first painting as ‘Artist in Residence’ at Moores Wharf was of a classic everyday task - the marine operations team cleaning one of the recently deployed booms.

MW 1'Cleaning the boom in front of the 'Shirley Smith'
2011 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm
Available for sale

Shirley Smith was built in 1987 and normally based in Port Jackson, whereas the ‘Ted Noffs’ is usually stationed at Port Botany, although occasionally both are there when I've been painting. They are manned 24/7, 365 days a year. They each have a capacity for delivering 16,000 litres of water per minute. As well as emergency response to fires, this water spray is also used for spectacular displays during celebrations such as New Year’s Eve, and to welcome the ‘maiden call’ of a ship into Port Jackson.
The tug was named in honour of Shirley Smith (Mum Shirl), an Aboriginal woman who dedicated her life to welfare services.


Related Posts

Boat at Goat

Lashed to the Mast

Painting the 'Poolya' at Glebe Island