Category Archives: Spirit of Place

Get On Your Soap Box

Posted on December 13, 2016 by sagesomethymes

This summer, as you enjoy Christmas carols or the symphony in the Domain, see if you can also spot an old time orator on their soap box in Speaker’s Corner. The tradition of Speaker’s Corner comes to us from London’s Hyde Park, … Continue reading →

Posted in democracy, Spirit of Place, Time | Tagged 1932, 1975, communism, Debra Phillips, Egon Kisch, free speech, Gough Whitlam, Governor Game, Governor General Kerr, H.V.Evatt, High Court, Hitler, John Webster, Menzies, Moreton Bay figs, NAZIS, Premier Jack Lang, psychogeography, Reichstag fire, Reverend Bill Crews, Speaker's Corner, Sydney Botanic Gardens, The Domain, Viva Voce’ Soap-Box sculpture | Leave a comment

Songlines, Starmaps and Ubiquitous Suburban Roads

Posted on November 20, 2016 by sagesomethymes

A friend recently flew back into Sydney. It was after sunset and she had the window seat. As the plane banked lower and lower across the north west of the city she began to recognise some of the main roads that … Continue reading →

Posted in Habitat, Spirit of Place, Time | Tagged Aboriginal culture, Aboriginal dot painting, Aboriginal history, Aboriginal spirituality, Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth, Blue Mountains, Botany Road, D'harawal, Darug, dreaming tracks, First Peoples, Gamay, George Street, Great Westren Highway, Gundungurra, Indigenous belief system, old roads, original inhabitants, Parramatta road, Pitt Street, Shannon Foster, Songlines, Starmaps, suburban roads, War-ran, Wiradjuri | Leave a comment

Walking The Goods Line

Posted on October 19, 2016 by sagesomethymes

I like walking. Now. As an adult it has led me through lush woodland and native forest, along rugged cliff tops that overlook the wild blue ocean and into cosmopolitan quarters of our rich city that I didn’t even know existed. Walking takes … Continue reading →

Posted in Habitat, Spirit of Place, walking | Tagged Harris Street, history of Sydney, Powerhouse Museum, psychogeography, public space, Railway Square, Sydney walks, The Goods Line, urban walks, walking, walking Sydney | 1 Comment

Spirit of Place: The Lost City

Posted on August 19, 2016 by sagesomethymes

This time last week I was in a tropical paradise. A place where the sun sets over the aquamarine waters of the Arafura Sea, and where in the cool depths of Kakadu rock shelters, layer upon layer of gigantic fish jostle … Continue reading →

Posted in Spirit of Place, Time | Tagged Aboriginal rock art. barrumundi, at Anbangbang gallery, Bininj/Mungguy, Kakadu National Park, Kakdu, lightning man, Namarrgon, Nourlangie, Spirit of Place, Ubirr, x-ray style | 1 Comment

My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem

Posted on June 10, 2016 by sagesomethymes

The Revolution is not over. The Feminist Revolution that is. And the Democratic one too. In fact they’ve barely begun. “All my years of campaigning have given me one clear message: Voting isn’t the most we can do, but it is … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, climate change, Habitat, Spirit of Place | Tagged activism, Book Review, Cherokee, democracy, Democratic Conventions, Democratic Revolution, feminism, Feminist Revolution, Gloria Steinem, hope, joy, memoir, milpa, MS magazine, My life on te road, Native Indian agricutural methods, native mythology, Spider Woman, spirituality, the Trickster, vertical history | Leave a comment

Spirit of Place: Redfern Park

Posted on October 21, 2015 by sagesomethymes

There is a beautiful fountain in Redfern Park. It’s called Lotus Line and children run through it squealing with delight. Dogs, however, stand at its edge staring in puzzlement at the spot where the water shot out and smacked them on … Continue reading →

Posted in Spirit of Place, walking | Tagged 1967 Referendum, Aboriginal life expectancy, Aboriginal right to vote, Apology to Australia's Indigenous peoples, biami, Close The Gap, Fiona Foley, John Baptist, Kevin Rudd, land rights, Mabo, Paul Keating, Prime Minsiter, psychogeography, Recognition Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Australian Constitution., Redfern Oval, Redfern Park, Redfern speech, Redfern Town Hall, Redfern Walking, Sorry, Terra Nullius | 2 Comments

Some of My Favourite Things

Posted on August 29, 2015 by sagesomethymes

You are where you live. As you are all of the things that you do and love. For the last eight years I’ve been lucky enough to live in the village of Double Bay on the eastern shore of Sydney Harbour. … Continue reading →

Posted in Habitat, Spirit of Place, The Animal Kingdom | Tagged antechinus, commute, currawong, dolphins, Double Bay, Double Bay ferry, Double Bay geese, Eastern Suburbs, eel, fishing trawler, foxes, foxes in Double Bay, king rat, kookaburra, Manta ray, myna birds, Neilsen Park, nightingale, pelicans, possum, rat, Redleaf Pool, Rose Bay, sea gulls, sting rays, Sydney Harbour, The Golden Sheaf, Watsons Bay | Leave a comment

“They do not love us as much as we love them”

Posted on January 12, 2015 by sagesomethymes

Do animals make statues of us? Why do we make statues of them? Why do we make statues? Perhaps to represent, remember, immortalise, inspire? I guess humans make statues, like humans make art. But why statues of animals? Animals have … Continue reading →

Posted in Habitat, Spirit of Place, The Animal Kingdom | Tagged Animal statues, Art, Cafe Trim, Circular Quay, Dog statue, Herald Square, Il Porcellino, Islay, John Laws, Matthew Flinders, psychogeography, Queen Victoria Builsing, Queen Victoria's Dog, Quenn Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens statues, statues, Sydney architecture, Sydney heritage, Sydney Hospital pig, Sydney walking tour, Sydney walks, The Tank Steam, The Tank Stream Fountain, Trim the cat | 1 Comment

The Spirit of Place 2

Posted on February 2, 2014 by sagesomethymes

Here are five more places that make my city spirit soar. Some of them beautifully juxtapose time and place, others blood and survival; reminding us of the price of civilisation. In all of them, our souls connect to water, trees, … Continue reading →

Posted in Spirit of Place, Time | Tagged amphitheatre, Koori, Mckell Park, Moreton Bay figs, Museum of Sydney, Newport Beach, Northern Beaches, NSW Government House, oratory, philosophy, politics, psychogeography, red ladder, religion music festival, sculpture, soapbox, Sydney Harbour, The Domain, The Wharf Theatre | Leave a comment

The Spirit of Place

Posted on December 15, 2013 by sagesomethymes

I love the experience of being in a wild place: the sight of a vast ocean, the smell of a eucalyptus forest, or the feel of lichen under my hand as I sit on a warm boulder at the edge of an … Continue reading →

Posted in Spirit of Place | Tagged Canberra, enchanted places, Harbour swimming, Murray Rose Pool, Old Parliament House, psychogeography, Red Leaf Gardens, Red Leaf pool, Royal Botanic Gardens, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney University, The Herb Garden, The Mitchell Library, The Musem of Australian Democracy, The Quadrangle | 1 Comment