8 Venues in 6 Hours

Date: 03 April 2005 04:31:18

Discovery After Dark was wonderful. It was great to see many places in Sydney I have not visited, either because I hadn't got around to them, I didn't know about them, or they are not generally open to the public. I managed to get to eight places, and here is a quick review of them:

Government House: WOW! I didn't realise we had a rather opulent building here in Sydney. I've been fascinated at castles and manors throughout the British Isles, Sweden and Germany, and while it is no castle, it is a beautiful building and very nicely furnished.
Conservatorium of Music: students perfromed on the piano and violin as we wandered throughout the building. There were also some interesting exhibits on everyday objects collected from excavations in the area.
Sydney Hospital & Sydney Eye Hospital: an interesting look at the history of the hospitals, and it was interesting to see the chapel dedictated to St Luke.
Lucy Osburn - Nightingale Musem: while the NSW Ambulance band played, I walked through the rooms set up as they were from the 1860s onwards. A room full of hearts, livers, feet, etc. in formaldehyde was rather interesting, if not successful in abating my hunger!
Sydney Jewish Museum: a very thought-provking and very extensive museum. The most moving moment for me was speaking to a guide about Concentration Camps, informing him that I'd visited one (Mauthausen), and then he telling me he was actually interned there. Hearing his stories of life there brought tears to my eyes. May those atrocities never happen again -- God help us!
Army Museum of NSW: an interesting look at various dress, medals and conditions throughout the history of the army in NSW and Australia.
St Mary's Cathedral : the largest cathedral in Australia and the largest sandstone building in Sydney. Words cannot do justice to the magnificence of this building. The crypt, which I had not seen before, was amazing. A huge celtic cross was symbolised on the floor in a terrazzo mosaic floor, depicting the story of the Creation. Several archbishops are also buried there.
ABC: time was running out, so I didn't see all that was on offer here. We saw two studios, the make-up area and the area behind the studios where sets are brought up from the lower levels.

A fantastic evening.