Travel: Historic Holroyd - the Boothtown Aqueduct

Our local studies librarian at the council library organised a free coach tour of the historic sites in our municipality - it was really strange sitting up high looking over all the familiar places that I normally buzz past in the car, a lot of the pedestrians stopped to look too, wondering what a tour coach was doing in their quiet little streets.

I'll run the tour over a couple of posts so not to bore the pants off you, this is the Boothtown Aqueduct:
(there are some early historic photos of the aqueduct on the council website here and if you are *really* interested, the information signage that is along the route can be read here





The Boothtown Aqueduct was completed in 1883 as part of the scheme to run water from the Nepean to Sydney, and was designed to link the canal either side of the gully.
It's 225 metres long with 22 arches.

Despite being a majestic landmark, it failed when in 1892 the parapet walls collapsed under the pressure of the water and crashed into the creek below. The walls were reconstructed and lined with concrete.

Further failings caused the aqueduct to be bypassed in 1907 by the Boothtown Inverted Syphon and the aqueduct was retained for standby use with large concrete plugs blocking the channel.



The syphon worked on the principal of water pressure, where the pressure of water on the Prospect dam side forced water to reach the same level on the Merrylands side and continue down the canal.

The castle like towers house the sluice gates which controlled the water flow and trash racks prevented the entry of debris.







The canal was decommissioned in 1995 and thanks to the efforts of the Canal Reserve Action Group, the area was taken over by Holroyd Council and converted into a walk/cycle way. (The canal land had been fenced off for over a hundred years, enabling the preservation of native vegetation and wildlife)

Here's our group strolling along the top of the aqueduct


If you are very energetic you can walk right to Prospect Dam but there are several entrances and exits along the way.



and all this just a short trolley throw from suburbia

Tuesday doll group

Some of my friends get together each second Tuesday to make dolls - I decided they were having far too much fun without me, so they kindly invited me to join them (well, I didn't really give them a choice!)
I haven't made a doll for about a year, but I did have some body parts lying around.
Ever since I made these journal covers after reading an article in Cloth, Paper, Scissors



I've been wondering how it would look on a figure, so I've been sewing braids and laces onto this body:



what a long, slow job it is!
and I'm not sure how to handle the head and face - I think I might have her holding a mask

Betty in needlefelt

Betty the bully, originally uploaded by gramarye.

I haven't touched my needlefelt for about a year, so when daughter wanted me to make a needlefelt portrait of her dog, Betty, I wasn't sure if I could do it. But it was just like riding a bike, (so they tell me, I never mastered bike riding).

I think I captured the hangdog expression.

She's very worried in this photo, it's a windy day and she doesn't like wind because the house creaks and doors bang on their own.

Our Bomb

Sion's comment on my HMAS Brisbane post reminded me that I also had bits and pieces my father had made from army shell casings, mostly cut down shells for containers and ashtrays, and he had made a few little things out of bullets, like this - it looks like a miniature shoe horn.



Most of the shells are stamped with a date in the 1950's - well after WW2 - so I don't know where he would have acquired the shells.

And then we have.....

THE BOMB



Back when my son was in primary school, he came home one afternoon and I asked the usual parental question " what did you do today darling "
and he gave the usual child answer " nothing "
then he thought a moment and added " we got evacuated while the bomb squad came "

It seems that the little boy down the street from us had taken his grandfathers WW2 hand grenade to school for show and tell - no one knew if it was live, so when it was plonked on the teachers desk, naturally she freaked out a little.

Next day my son wanted to know if he could take "our bomb" but we decided the school had probably had enough excitement for that week.

As you can see, our bomb is not live, the top unscrews.


And coming to the modern armament era, we were given these from a currently serving officer on an Australian navy ship (he swore us never to reveal the names under the official secrets act)....but someone tell me....how the hell do you get these off the ship in your kitbag!!

Compromised

I was browsing Flickr and came across a profile page written in Portugese, I used Babelfish to translate for me, I've mentioned here before that Babelfish, while useful, is very literal and doesn't pick up the nuances of language.
There is a bit at the bottom of the Flickr profile where you can state your gender and marital status,
Babelfish changed the "I'm female and taken" to "I am compromised woman"

HMAS Brisbane 1913

HMAS Brisbane 1913, originally uploaded by gramarye.

My grandfather made this, he was a foundryman on Cockatoo Island shipyards, Sydney.
The centre is a threepence with the head of King George V inlaid in a cut out halfpenny reading Commonwealth of Australia 1913, then that was inlaid in what looks to be a round disc (not sure which metal) and a brass star pattern.
The writing around the disc reads
"HMAS Brisbane, keel laid January 25th 1913"

Grandpa had his own little hobby foundry in our backyard and I have a lot of brass work that he made.

Back ... with blankets

I've been in a slump - don't know why, and I won't go into it, but it's nothing we haven't all been through - just ...things.... and, most thankfully, as my husband pointed out, nothing life threatening..

so let's get the show on the road again -

I've been clearing up a few UFO's that have sat around forever and as a result I have some nice throws for the lounge made from upholstery samples I picked up from Reverse Garbage




then I did a couple of slip covers for some very old Ikea chairs that had seen better days



and finished with a couple of cosy rugs made from scraps of wool fabric that I've had forever, they were nice to snuggle into for TV watching in the last weeks of winter



and looking at my stash, you wouldn't even notice where I took the fabric from...