Rust bucket

The now derelict 'William Wallbank and Sons' was a foundry on the Parramatta Road, Auburn, dating from 1932.

One of their specialties had been making the components for brick making machines.

AWW1 'Watching the forge fires fade 1
 'William Wallbank + Sons' 187 Parramatta Road'
2016 oil on canvas 56 x 76cm
Available

In 2008 I exhibited a series of paintings that I had created of old brickworks at Eastwood, St Peters and Brookvale at the Museum of Sydney during the book launch of "The Brickmasters"  , a comprehensive history of brickmaking in Australia by Ron Ringer.

Several of my paintings of Brickworks at Brookvale. Eastwood and St Peters were included in this book. At the launch I met Frank Wallbank, who invited me to paint in the foundry, but unfortunately I delayed taking up his offer.
A friend alerted me to the foundry's closure and I was able to contact the new owner and arrange access to paint. I am kicking myself for not getting there while it was still working, but better late than never!

AWW2 'Watching the forge fires fade
('William Wallbank + Sons' )
2016 oil on canvas 61 x 91cm
Highly Commended 2016 Auburn Art Prize
Available

 In a foundry, metal is melted into liquid in a furnace.

To cast the metal into shapes, the molten liquid is then poured into a mould in the shape of the desired part.
Simple designs can be made in a single piece or solid pattern.

More complex designs are made in two parts, known as a split pattern, which has a top section, or "cope", and a bottom section, called a "drag".

Patterns can be made from wax, wood, plastic, or metal.

AWW2 'Watching the forge fires fade
('William Wallbank + Sons' )
2016 oil on canvas 61 x 91cm
Highly Commended 2016 Auburn Art Prize 
Available

Traditionally, moulds were poured by hand, using ladles. It must have been horrifically dangerous.
I was told that all the foundry workers were supposed to wear a special sort of protective covering over their boots, similar to old-fashioned "spats" to stop the molten metal droplets burning their skin, but these were unpopular as the metal would still find a way to trickle down the gap and into their boots. Instead of protecting, the boot covering seemed to cause even more damage.

AWW2 'Watching the forge fires fade
('William Wallbank + Sons' )
2016 oil on canvas 61 x 91cm
Highly Commended 2016 Auburn Art Prize 
Available

Now modern foundries use robots or automatic pouring machines to pour the molten metal.
As the metal cools it solidifies and then the mould (known as a 'casting') is removed.

AWW2 'Watching the forge fires fade
('William Wallbank + Sons' )
2016 oil on canvas 61 x 91cm
Highly Commended 2016 Auburn Art Prize
Available

My canvas of this set of 3 abandoned ladles was recently runner-up in the 2016 Auburn Art Prize, held in the Peacock Gallery opposite the Botanical Gardens.
The central ladle has a capacity of 7 tons, and is flanked by a "three tonner" on the left, and a "four tonner" on the right.

AWW3 'Watching the forge fires fade  3-
'William Wallbank + Sons' 187 Parramatta Road'
2016 oil on canvas 51 x 71cm
Available

All of these ladles would date from at least 70 years ago.

They could even date from the earliest years of the foundry, as they are all rivetted, so they must date from a time before welding had replaced rivetting. 

Only the largest ladles were fitted with brakes to help modulate the flow of pouring the molten metal.

AWW4 'Rust Bucket' 7 ton ladle,
William Wallbank + Sons foundry 
2017 oil on canvas 122 x 91cm
PRIVATE COLLECTION : SYDNEY

I'm only able to gain access to paint in my strange new "studio" when the gates are opened to remove machinery, and I need to ring up on the night before.

Sometimes potential new owners come to inspect the premises, but they rarely stay for long.

Related posts

Steady Rest

Scar Tissue

Wrong side of the tracks - Darling Island Bond and Free

All fired up

Eveleigh - Industrial heritage artist at work

Irons in the fire

White Bay Power Station - Inside Out

Power Base - Artist in Residence at the White Bay Power Station

Pretty vacant

The Terminus Hotel has been sold at last.
I've heard that the new owners intend to relaunch it as a boutique hotel, over 30 years after it last traded. The Pyrmont Point Hotel will finally have its old competition back.
The 'For Sale' sign is still perched on its awning, so I thought that I would paint a few canvases before the renovations start in earnest.

Starting a plein air oil painting of the Terminus Hotel,

corner of Harris and John streets, Pyrmont.

Available

I'll be curious to see how this poster-child for urban decay will look after renovation.

The vines covering most of the northern facade of the Terminus, which add to its 'Miss Havisham' air, will probably have to be removed.
The vines are actually Virginia creeper, not ivy, as is commonly stated.
The old late Victorian mansion behind the Harris street tennis courts, which used to belong to the CSR Refinery Manager, has a similar covering of Virginia creeper. The 'Rum Store' of the former CSR Refinery, and current Jacksons Landing development, used to also be completely covered in this spectacular vine.
I particularly love painting the Terminus Hotel in late autumn, as the Virginia creeper is changing colour from lime green to burgundy over the burnt orange Federation brickwork.
Burgundy, claret and wine colours seem appropriate to an old hotel.
This might be the last autumn to paint the vines.

Starting a plein air oil painting of the Terminus Hotel,

corner of Harris and John streets, Pyrmont.

Available
The legs of the Anzac Bridge straddle the end of John street. It is easier to see in autumn, as the plane trees are losing the leaves which obscured them.

Starting a plein air oil painting of the Terminus Hotel,

corner of Harris and John streets, Pyrmont.

Available

During the demolition decade of the 1990s many Pyrmont hotels stopped trading : the New York in Edward Street, the Pyrmont Arms at 42 Harris Street, the pub on the corner of Mount and John street. These are now, respectively, a medical centre; apartments above a bottle shop and yet more apartments.

Starting a plein air oil painting of the Terminus Hotel,

corner of Harris and John streets, Pyrmont.

Available

Other attractive heritage buildings and quirky industries disappeared without trace. Nobody really remembers much about what happened to them. The Terminus seemed to always have had an intangible charisma that set it apart from the rest. Why, out of all of these neglected and forgotten buildings did the Terminus alone become a legend?

Starting a plein air oil painting of the Terminus Hotel,

corner of Harris and John streets, Pyrmont.

Available

How any of the pubs except the Pyrmont Bridge Hotel survived the Pyrmont diaspora decade of the mid 1980s - late 1990s is possibly the greatest mystery of all.

One reason it was so hard to pin down when the Terminus was finally shut is that by the end of the 80s, Pyrmont in the daytime was nearly deserted.

Starting a plein air oil painting of the Terminus Hotel,

corner of Harris and John streets, Pyrmont.

Available

The industries that provided the customers for the traditional 'early opener' pubs were winding down and moving out. The last sugar ship left in 1991 or 1992; the CSR were winding down their operations and had only a skeleton staff; Pier 19, 20 21 had almost ceased to be a working wharf ; the cruise ships stopped coming to Pier 13 by 1992.

Starting a plein air nocturne oil painting of the Terminus Hotel,

corner of Harris and John streets, Pyrmont.

Available

The Royal Pacific was seriously down at heel and unless a few familiar faces were drinking there I would feel a bit ill at ease walking around there late at night as there was sometimes a fairly dodgy looking crowd there and some of the locals would say quite flatly that it used to be full of gangsters. The Terminus seemed to be mostly full of boxers & bikies, so, take your pick!

Starting a plein air oil painting of the Terminus Hotel,

corner of Harris and John streets, Pyrmont.

Available

By the early 1990s both places seemed very quiet, day or night, so it was hard to pin down exactly when the Terminus had shut.

Starting a plein air oil painting of the Terminus Hotel,

corner of Harris and John streets, Pyrmont.

Available

You can still see the 'ghost sign' saying 'Royal Pacific' on the eastern facade of the Pyrmont Point Hotel.

City's mysteries up for sale (smh.com.au)

For more information about the Terminus and Pyrmont Point Hotels see My Pyrmont page in this blog

Related Posts

Paintings of Pink Pubs

The Boiling Frog

My page of Pyrmont Paintings

A Tale of 2 Pyrmont Hotels - The Terminus and the Point

To the Point

Terminus Redux

In the pink- Former 'Pyrmont Arms Hotel'

Illuminated manuscripts and stained glass windows- Painting the Dunlop - Slazenger factory Part 2

The graffiti inside the abandoned Dunlop - Slazenger factory reminded me of something, but I couldn't quite remember what it was.

'Abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger factory
Soda panorama' 2015
oil on canvas 91 x 183cm 
Enquiries

The walls are rich in texture, vibrant in colour and elaborate in detail.

They are possibly full of hidden meanings, incomprehensible to the uninitiated, or it could be just random doodling.

'Abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger factory
Soda panorama' 2015
oil on canvas 91 x 183cm 
Enquiries

The calligraphy is cursive and the chunky letters are interlocked like links in a chain, making the words hard to read yet hypnotic to look at.

'Abandoned Dunlop - Slazenger factory -
'Soda' panorama'  2015 
oil on canvas 91 x 183cm  
Enquiries

There is a "horror vacui" - blank space isn't tolerated and won't last long.
Images are scattered throughout the factory, but the text dominates and has become imagery in its own right.

'Abandoned Dunlop - Slazenger factory -
'Soda' panorama'  2015 
oil on canvas 91 x 183cm  
Enquiries

The letters are outlined in black, often with highlights of white or red on the ascenders (the parts of letters such as "h" "b" or "d" that extend above the line)  or descenders (the parts of letters such as "g" "q" or "j" that extend below the line).

Occasionally backgrounds of gold or silver add a bit more bling and some are even adorned with star bursts.

'Abandoned Dunlop - Slazenger factory -
'Soda' panorama'  2015 
oil on canvas 91 x 183cm

Enquiries

John Paul, the demolisher who had given me the heads up about the site, finally nailed it.

The Book of Kells, he said. (John Paul is Irish!)

To be sure, to be sure!

 Detail of 'Abandoned Dunlop - Slazenger factory -
'Soda' panorama'  2015 
oil on canvas 91 x 183cm  
Enquiries

This is a close up of my painting of the graffiti on left hand wall, and you can see that John Paul really had a point.

In another context, I could easily imagine one of the letters as a historiated initial in a medieval illuminated manuscript.

A historiated initial is an enlarged letter at the beginning of a text, which contains a picture.

Detail of 'Abandoned Dunlop - Slazenger factory -
'Soda' panorama'  2015 
oil on canvas 91 x 183cm  
Enquiries

This is a closeup detail of my painting of the graffiti in one of the small rooms to the left hand side.

This font is dramatically serif (there is a large difference between thick and thin lines) and is extravagantly embellished with finials( tapered or curved ends), swashes (extended  decorative flourishes)and lachrymals (teardrop shapes).

 Detail of 'Abandoned Dunlop - Slazenger factory
'Soda' panorama'  2015  oil on canvas 91 x 183cm  
Enquiries 

Many different hands have been at work here, overlapping and adding marginalia, drolleries and the odd obscenity.

 "Soda" has been written in a more "slab serif" style, where there is less difference between thick and thin lines.

This tag stands out from its neighbours due to its cleaner font as well as its striking silver, black and pink colour scheme.

 Detail of windows in 'Abandoned Dunlop - Slazenger factory
- 'Soda' panorama'  2015 
oil on canvas 91 x 183cm  
Enquiries

And what could go better with illuminated manuscripts, than stained glass windows?

These windows are very stained indeed.

The graffiti is probably much older than on the walls, as they would have only been accessible when the building still had a roof, which was at least a couple of years ago.

There is no lead separating the colours, however, being a factory, the windows were made from glass strengthened by an internal diamond grid of wiremesh. Breaks in the glass add spiderweb patterns.

'Abandoned Dunlop - Slazenger factory -
 'Soda' panorama'   2015 
oil on canvas 91 x 183cm                                       
Enquiries  
At sunset the window colours are reflected on the ground in a series of rainbows, an effect I last experienced visiting Chartres cathedral.

Related posts

'Palimpsest - Painting Dunlop - Slazenger factory' Part 1