St Peters 3

“At the gates to St Peters’ railway line”

Sydney July – August 2015 (8 photos)

The Sydney suburb of St Peters is an older and largely industrial suburb, 7km south of the CBD. It was named by its association with St Peters Anglican Church, which was consecrated in 1838. It once was the home to a large brickworks and a garbage tip, which have since been redeveloped into parkland. I took a walk around there and the neighbouring suburb of Newtown recently. Much of the area is as I remember it from passing through the area regularly in the 70’s, except that the smell from the old garbage tip is no longer there.

St Peters 1

“Rush hour: The 1:57 to Central arrives”

Standing on the pedestrian overpass and looking down beneath my feet at St Peters train station.

St Peters 4

“Make yourself at home at Number 36”

St Peters 7

“Guard Dog up a tree”

St Peters 6

“No Gas”

There’s a campaign against the use and exploration for Coal Seam Gas here. The gas barbecue in the background is a nice irony.

St Peters 5

“Rejected”

The sticker on this recycling bin says, “This bin has not been collected because it contains contaminated material. Please remove these materials and place your bin out on your next collection.” Over here, most households get 3 bins, a red-top for general waste, a yellow-top for recyclable materials, and a green-top for garden waste. Some Councils inspect their residents’ bins for breaches. Other are talking about weighing residents’ bins. I’ve no problem with that provided they can stop strangers putting their rubbish in your bin at night.

…

“The morning was cold and lonely
City lights old and grey
The sun arose trying to smile
Gave it all away
The honky-tonk called a stranger
The stranger couldn’t pay the bill
Made a stand, raised his hand
Sang a song, no time to kill

I said, Hey, hey, hey, St. Peter
I’ve got a tale to tell
I’ve just been down in Sydney* town
It really feels like hell
It really feels like hell

…Flash and the Pan was an Australian new wave musical group initiated during the late 1970s by Harry Vanda and George Young, both former members of The Easybeats. “Hey St. Peter” reached number 5 in the Australian singles chart.

*substituted non-original lyric. Even though the song has no connection with this suburb, I can’t help but hear it whenever I speak of St Peters.

…

So why was I in St Peters? They told me I would find some interesting street art there.

St Peters 8

“Kid from New Caledonia”

St Peters 2

“Work in Progress”

They were right. This is another in my series of Sydney Street Art photography. More later …

…

Note: A couple of these photos are from outside the boundary of St Peters in the adjoining suburb of Newtown. I lost track of where I was.

Leica Etcetera, Photography Etcetera

Hey, St Peters

Image

67 thoughts on “Hey, St Peters”

  5. Interesting post as usual. I love how you pick out the unusual amongst the mundane. The street art looks good. A nice way to brighten up a dull neighbourhood as long as the graffiti yobbos aren’t tempted to spray all over it. I can’t keep saying ‘great photos’ so please take it as read that they are 🙂

    The recycling bins do my head in! Why people can’t follow clear instructions as to what to place in which bin I don’t know! Living in a flat we had communal bins and I was forever hauling out plastic bags full of bottles from the glass bin. How hard is it to tip the bottles in and then discard the bag? Even where I live now I have had to move cardboard (non-recyclable at the kerbside) from paper bins otherwise the bin men refuse to take any of it. And a lightbulb from the glass. And plastic bags from… OK you’ve got the message.

    Sorry… rant over. You just hit a raw nerve there and it is bin collection day tomorrow 😀

    Reply

    • Much of the street art here has been commissioned by the local government and/or local residents. There’s even a yearly event where the local government matches residents who want their walls painted with artists who have art they wish to paint. Then over a weekend, the public can see the art and meet the artists. Rather avant garde for Sydney, if I say so myself.

      Regarding the issue of garbage – I completely hear you. I think some people get lazy or just don’t care.

      Reply
  11. LaVagabonde says:

    Interesting discoveries, especially the New Caledonia kid. Industrial districts are often fascinating, mainly because the scenery tends to change very slowly. Looking forward to more Sydney street art.

    Reply
  14. Karen says:

    The outskirts of the city, just as I remember it. The street art is fantastic and your images show it wonderfully. Have a great day Mr Draco.

    Reply

  18. oh, gosh, my Internet right now is so lousy, it would not load your photos… I can only see the first one and it looks like a Bulgarian railway station 🙂 will come back to this post later, Lignum…
    once again, I’m so happy you are back…

    Reply

      • I finally can see all the photos in this post… true, drab railway stations are the same… you should come here too to photograph some : P
        love the Make yourself at home No.36 shot and the next one, quite cute and cozy I’d say 🙂 and the Work in progress shot is wonderful too… I’ve always wondered ho they pay all those murals on high walls in the street and what ladders they use 🙂

        Reply

        • Maybe I will one day. I hear the coffee is good in sofia. 🙂 It’s interesting what you’ll find on the streets without even trying. The dog in the tree was a great accidental discovery.
          They all use cranes over here, at least for the good ones.

  20. Wonderful photos! 😀 I love your way with black and white, not only in portraits but also for such scenes you handle it amazingly! Do you also manual focus for urban landscapes?

    Reply

    • The next collection may not be until the next week. I suspect they might be forced to put their rubbish in the public street bins or their neighbours’ bins. Thanks, Sam.

      Reply

  24. Pingback: Mundane Monday Challenge #20 | PhoTrablogger

  26. Love the sofa outside the window of the house – very comfy welcome! 😀 Just wondering how on earth they get to that front door? Good way to keep unwanted visitors away, make the front garden so cluttered no-one can get to the door!

    Strangely, I do find neighbourhoods like this so interesting. Lots of neat tidy rows of houses or flats I find boring – nothing boring about this area, I guess you never know what you’re going to find round the next corner.

    Is the man on that lift creating art or trying clean it off?

    I know what you mean about the garbage bins, we have similar problems in Britain too. It’s probably the same in most places round the world. They have been talking about weighing the bins in Britain too, I think they’ve tried it in some places and it went horribly wrong. I don’t think that idea will ever work. Someone will inevitably offload their rubbish into another bin – crazy idea, to make people pay for that.

    Love the teddies in the branches..haha…they are a great soft contrast to the rest of the area! 🙂

    Reply

    • I stood there wondering how to get into the house as well, and then I saw the side entrance. 🙂 I wonder if they ever come home to find people sitting on the sofa?

      The man on the crane was painting the mural. It’s interesting to see that an outline was drawn first and then he was filling it in. That entire lane was decorated that way.

      I don’t think you can stop people putting rubbish in your bins. A few times, I thought i would put the bin out the morning of collection, but then overslept and missed out. So I just put the bin out the night before and hope council rangers don’t come and inspect the bin for incorrect usage.

      Reply

  27. P.S. Going to come back either later tonight, or tomorrow to read the rest of your posts. Running out of time, these are so interesting, I don’t want to rush through them all. Will be back soon! 🙂

    Reply

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