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The church was dedicated to the Wisdom of God, the Logos, the second person of the Holy Trinity, its patronal feast taking place on 25 December, the commemoration of the birth of the incarnation of the Logos in Christ.[3] Although sometimes referred to as Sancta Sophia (as though it were named after Saint Sophia), sophia being the phonetic spelling in Latin of the Greek word for wisdom, its full name in Greek is Ναός τῆς Ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ Σοφίας, "Shrine of the Holy Wisdom of God".Famous in particular for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to have "changed the history of architecture". It remained the world's largest cathedral for nearly a thousand years, until Seville Cathedral was completed in 1520. The current building was originally constructed as a church between 532 and 537 on the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I and was the third Church of the Holy Wisdom to occupy the site, the previous two having both been destroyed by rioters. It was designed by the Greek scientists Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles
HISTORY:
The Windhill line was the original railway route between Shipley and Bradford. Opened in the mid 1870s, it carried passenger and goods services over a roughly clockwise 6.5 mile journey from Shipley Windhill station, to Laisterdyke ,where it joined with the LYR corridor into Bradford Exchange. The line left Windhill along a n inclined hillside embankment before turning south, through suburban stops at Thackley, Idle and Eccleshill . Several cuttings and a couple of short tunnels were included along the way in addition to the unrelenting 1 in 50 climb out of Shipley.
The line sadly didn't last as long as hoped. Shortfall in passenger use saw the intermediate stations close in 1931 and the line reduced to single track although Laisterdyke station which also serving trains between Leeds - Bradford & Manchester on the LYR route remained open until the 1950s.
Goods operations lasted for almost four decades further before the Windhill line was shut altogether in 1968 and eventually lifted. After Shipley Windhill shut, the line itself was connected to the town's central station on the Midland Railway Airedale route, serving Bradford Forster Square from Skipton and Ilkley.
The line today is used as an unofficial path route between Shipley and Thackley and cycleway /public path between Idle and Eccleshill. Remains of Thackley station still survive in a cutting alongside Leeds Rd, including the brick wall of the stairway to the Shipley bound platform. Shipley Windhill station building remains in use as a business office , with the remains of the connecting spur from the current Shipley line discernible.
The Buhl Building (c.1913) Pittsburgh, PA. This is one of my favorite buildings downtown. The facade is being restored, and a Depression-era first-floor alteration is being removed. The blue and cream terra cotta tiles are meant to evoke the popular Wedgewood Jasperware china patterns.
View Large to see the patterns better.
So i eventually bought myself a relatively cheap wide angle. Would have liked to have had more loose change for something better, however i'm really pleased with the first test outing for this lens. :-) (Hungarian parliament building)
building on the corner of Quai de Conti and Rue Dauphine.
Going along the River Seine, to the left is the Pont Neuf.
On the left is Selective Art, an Art Gallery. To the right is Edat de Siege and HSIN - Heritage Interieurs de Chine.
1909, Harde and Short.
Terracotta by the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company
style: Historicist Skyscraper (New York Architecture Images website)
More photos I've taken of this building: www.flickr.com/search/?q=alwyn+court&w=15969227%40N04...
www.nyc-architecture.com/MID/MID093.htm
"Its façade is considered the most ornate in the entire city... Gathering inspiration from the style of Francois I, a 16th Century French Renaissance mode of design that re-interpreted traditional French-Gothic forms using new Italian renaissance ornament..." - Mary K. Fons cooperator.com/articles/1217/1/Alwyn-Court/Page1.html
more info: www.cityrealty.com/nyc/manhattan/the-alwyn-court-180-west...
Syracuse is a historic city in Sicily, the capital of the province of Syracuse. The city is notable for its rich Greek history, culture, amphitheatres, architecture, and as the birthplace of the preeminent mathematician and engineer Archimedes.This 2,700-year-old city played a key role in ancient times, when it was one of the major powers of the Mediterranean world. Syracuse is located in the southeast corner of the island of Sicily, next to the Gulf of Syracuse beside the Ionian Sea.
The city was founded by Ancient Greek Corinthians and Teneans and became a very powerful city-state. Syracuse was allied with Sparta and Corinth and exerted influence over the entirety of Magna Graecia, of which it was the most important city. Described by Cicero as "the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all", it equaled Athens in size during the fifth century BC. It later became part of the Roman Republic and Byzantine Empire. After this Palermo overtook it in importance, as the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily. Eventually the kingdom would be united with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Two Sicilies until the Italian unification of 1860.
In the modern day, the city is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site along with the Necropolis of Pantalica. In the central area, the city itself has a population of around 125,000 people. The inhabitants are known as Siracusans. Syracuse is mentioned in the Bible in the Acts of the Apostles book at 28:12 as Paul stayed there. The patron saint of the city is Saint Lucy; she was born in Syracuse and her feast day, Saint Lucy's Day, is celebrated on 13 December.
Syracuse and its surrounding area have been inhabited since ancient times, as shown by the findings in the villages of Stentinello, Ognina, Plemmirio, Matrensa, Cozzo Pantano and Thapsos, which already had a relationship with Mycenaean Greece.
Syracuse was founded in 734 or 733 BC by Greek settlers from Corinth and Tenea, led by the oecist (colonizer) Archias. There are many attested variants of the name of the city including Συράκουσαι Syrakousai, Συράκοσαι Syrakosai and Συρακώ Syrako. A possible origin of the city's name was given by Vibius Sequester citing first Stephanus Byzantium] in that there was a Syracusian marsh (λίμνη) called Syrako and secondly Marcian's Periegesis wherein Archias gave the city the name of a nearby marsh; hence one gets Syrako (and thereby Syrakousai and other variants) for the name of Syracuse, a name also attested by Epicharmus. The settlement of Syracuse was a planned event, as a strong central leader, Arkhias the aristocrat, laid out how property would be divided up for the settlers, as well as plans for how the streets of the settlement should be arranged, and how wide they should be. The nucleus of the ancient city was the small island of Ortygia. The settlers found the land fertile and the native tribes to be reasonably well-disposed to their presence. The city grew and prospered, and for some time stood as the most powerful Greek city anywhere in the Mediterranean. Colonies were founded at Akrai (664 BC), Kasmenai (643 BC), Akrillai (7th century BC), Helorus (7th century BC) and Kamarina (598 BC).
The descendants of the first colonists, called Gamoroi, held power until they were expelled by the Killichiroi, the lower class of the city. The former, however, returned to power in 485 BC, thanks to the help of Gelo, ruler of Gela. Gelo himself became the despot of the city, and moved many inhabitants of Gela, Kamarina and Megera to Syracuse, building the new quarters of Tyche and Neapolis outside the walls. His program of new constructions included a new theatre, designed by Damocopos, which gave the city a flourishing cultural life: this in turn attracted personalities as Aeschylus, Ario of Methymna, Eumelos of Corinth and Sappho, who had been exiled here from Mytilene. The enlarged power of Syracuse made unavoidable the clash against the Carthaginians, who ruled western Sicily. In the Battle of Himera, Gelo, who had allied with Theron of Agrigento, decisively defeated the African force led by Hamilcar. A temple dedicated to Athena (on the site of today's Cathedral), was erected in the city to commemorate the event.
Syracuse grew considerably during this time. Its walls encircled 120 hectares (300 acres) in the fifth century, but as early as the 470's BC the inhabitants started building outside the walls. The complete population of its territory approximately numbered 250,000 in 415 BC and the population size of the city itself was probably similar to Athens.
Gelo was succeeded by his brother Hiero, who fought against the Etruscans at Cumae in 474 BC. His rule was eulogized by poets like Simonides of Ceos, Bacchylides and Pindar, who visited his court. A democratic regime was introduced by Thrasybulos (467 BC).[13] The city continued to expand in Sicily, fighting against the rebellious Siculi, and on the Tyrrhenian Sea, making expeditions up to Corsica and Elba. In the late 5th century BC, Syracuse found itself at war with Athens, which sought more resources to fight the Peloponnesian War. The Syracusans enlisted the aid of a general from Sparta, Athens' foe in the war, to defeat the Athenians, destroy their ships, and leave them to starve on the island (see Sicilian Expedition). In 401 BC, Syracuse contributed a force of 3,000 hoplites and a general to Cyrus the Younger's Army of the Ten Thousand.
Then in the early 4th century BC, the tyrant Dionysius the Elder was again at war against Carthage and, although losing Gela and Camarina, kept that power from capturing the whole of Sicily. After the end of the conflict Dionysius built a massive fortress on Ortygia and 22 km-long walls around all of Syracuse. Another period of expansion saw the destruction of Naxos, Catania and Lentini; then Syracuse entered again in war against Carthage (397 BC). After various changes of fortune, the Carthaginians managed to besiege Syracuse itself, but were eventually pushed back by a pestilence. A treaty in 392 BC allowed Syracuse to enlarge further its possessions, founding the cities of Adranon, Tyndarion and Tauromenos, and conquering Rhegion on the continent. In the Adriatic, to facilitate trade, Dionysius the Elder founded Ancona, Adria and Issa. Apart from his battle deeds, Dionysius was famous as a patron of art, and Plato himself visited Syracuse several times.
His successor was Dionysius the Younger, who was however expelled by Dion in 356 BC. But the latter's despotic rule led in turn to his expulsion, and Dionysius reclaimed his throne in 347 BC. Dionysius was besieged in Syracuse by the Syracusan general Hicetas in 344 BC. The following year the Corinthian Timoleon installed a democratic regime in the city after he exiled Dionysius and defeated Hicetas. The long series of internal struggles had weakened Syracuse's power on the island, and Timoleon tried to remedy this, defeating the Carthaginians in the Battle of the Crimissus (339 BC).
After Timoleon's death the struggle among the city's parties restarted and ended with the rise of another tyrant, Agathocles, who seized power with a coup in 317 BC. He resumed the war against Carthage, with alternate fortunes. He was besieged in Syracuse by the Carthaginians in 311 BC, but he escaped from the city with a small fleet. He scored a moral success, bringing the war to the Carthaginians' native African soil, inflicting heavy losses to the enemy. The defenders of Syracuse destroyed the Carthaginian army which besieged them. However, Agathocles was eventually defeated in Africa as well. The war ended with another treaty of peace which did not prevent the Carthaginians from interfering in the politics of Syracuse after the death of Agathocles (289 BC). They laid siege to Syracuse for the fourth and last time in 278 BC. They retreated at the arrival of king Pyrrhus of Epirus, whom Syracuse had asked for help. After a brief period under the rule of Epirus, Hiero II seized power in 275 BC.
Hiero inaugurated a period of 50 years of peace and prosperity, in which Syracuse became one of the most renowned capitals of Antiquity. He issued the so-called Lex Hieronica, which was later adopted by the Romans for their administration of Sicily; he also had the theatre enlarged and a new immense altar, the "Hiero's Ara", built. Under his rule lived the most famous Syracusan, the mathematician and natural philosopher Archimedes. Among his many inventions were various military engines including the claw of Archimedes, later used to resist the Roman siege of 214 BC–212 BC. Literary figures included Theocritus and others.
Hiero's successor, the young Hieronymus (ruled from 215 BC), broke the alliance with the Romans after their defeat at the Battle of Cannae and accepted Carthage's support. The Romans, led by consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus, besieged the city in 214 BC. The city held out for three years, but fell in 212 BC. The successes of the Syracusians in repelling the Roman siege had made them overconfident. In 212 BC, the Romans received information that the city's inhabitants were to participate in the annual festival to their goddess Artemis. A small party of Roman soldiers approached the city under the cover of night and managed to scale the walls to get into the outer city and with reinforcements soon took control, killing Archimedes in the process, but the main fortress remained firm. After an eight-month siege and with parleys in progress, an Iberian captain named Moeriscus is believed to have let the Romans in near the Fountains of Arethusa. On the agreed signal, during a diversionary attack, he opened the gate. After setting guards on the houses of the pro-Roman faction, Marcellus gave Syracuse to plunder.
Imperial Roman and Byzantine period include
The Roman amphitheatre
The Temple of Apollo
Piazza Duomo
The Cathedral
Though declining slowly through the years, Syracuse maintained the status of capital of the Roman government of Sicily and seat of the praetor. It remained an important port for trade between the Eastern and the Western parts of the Empire. Christianity spread in the city through the efforts of Paul of Tarsus and Saint Marziano, the first bishop of the city, who made it one of the main centres of proselytism in the West. In the age of persecutions by Christians massive catacombs were carved, whose size is second only to those of Rome.
After a period of Vandal rule, Syracuse and the island was recovered by Belisarius for the Byzantine Empire (31 December 535). From 663 to 668 Syracuse was the seat of Emperor Constans II, as well as metropolis of the whole Sicilian Church.
Emirate of Sicily.
The city was besieged by the Aghlabids for almost a year in 827–828, but Byzantine reinforcements prevented its fall. It remained the center of Byzantine resistance to the gradual Muslim conquest of Sicily until it fell to the Aghlabids after another siege on 20/21 May 878. During the two centuries of Muslim rule, the capital of the Emirate of Sicily was moved from Syracuse to Palermo. The Cathedral was converted into a mosque and the quarter on the Ortygia island was gradually rebuilt along Islamic styles. The city, nevertheless, maintained important trade relationships, and housed a relatively flourishing cultural and artistic life: several Arab poets, including Ibn Hamdis, the most important Sicilian Arab poet of the 12th century, flourished in the city.
In 1038, the Byzantine general George Maniakes reconquered the city, sending the relics of St. Lucy to Constantinople. The eponymous castle on the cape of Ortygia bears his name, although it was built under the Hohenstaufen rule. In 1085 the Normans entered Syracuse, one of the last Arab strongholds, after a summer-long siege by Roger I of Sicily and his son Jordan of Hauteville, who was given the city as count. New quarters were built, and the cathedral was restored, as well as other churches.
In 1194, Emperor Henry VI occupied the Sicilian kingdom, including Syracuse. After a short period of Genoese rule (1205–1220) under the notorious admiral and pirate Alamanno da Costa, which favoured a rise of trades, royal authority was re-asserted in the city by Frederick II. He began the construction of the Castello Maniace, the Bishops' Palace and the Bellomo Palace. Frederick's death brought a period of unrest and feudal anarchy. In the War of the Sicilian Vespers between the Angevin and Aragonese dynasties for control of Sicily, Syracuse sided with the Aragonese and expelled the Angevins in 1298, receiving from the Spanish sovereigns great privileges in reward. The preeminence of baronal families is also shown by the construction of the palaces of Abela, Chiaramonte, Nava, Montalto.
The city was struck by two ruinous earthquakes in 1542 and 1693, and a plague in 1729. The 17th century destruction changed the appearance of Syracuse forever, as well as the entire Val di Noto, whose cities were rebuilt along the typical lines of Sicilian Baroque, considered one of the most typical expressions of art of Southern Italy. The spread of cholera in 1837 led to a revolt against the Bourbon government. The punishment was the move of the province capital seat to Noto, but the unrest had not been totally choked, as the Siracusani took part in the Sicilian revolution of independence of 1848.
After the Unification of Italy of 1865, Syracuse regained its status of provincial capital. In 1870 the walls were demolished and a bridge connecting the mainland to Ortygia island was built. In the following year a railway link was constructed.
Heavy destruction was caused during World War II by both the Allied and German bombings in 1943. Operation Husky, the codename for the Allied invasion of Sicily, was launched on the night between 9–10 July 1943 with British forces attacking the west of the island. The British 5th Infantry Division, part of General Sir Bernard Montgomery's Eighth Army, captured Syracuse on the first day of the invasion almost unopposed. The port was then used as a base for the British Royal Navy. To the west of the city is a Commonwealth War Graves cemetery where about 1,000 men are buried. After the end of the war the northern quarters of Syracuse experienced a heavy, often chaotic, expansion, favoured by the quick process of industrialization.
Syracuse today has about 125,000 inhabitants and numerous attractions for the visitor interested in historical sites (such as the Ear of Dionysius). A process of recovering and restoring the historical centre has been ongoing since the 1990s. Nearby places of note include Catania, Noto, Modica and Ragusa.
Syracuse experiences a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa) with mild, wet winters and warm to hot, dry summers. Snow is infrequent but not rare at all; the last heavy snowfall in the city occurred in December but frosts are very rare, the last one happening in December
In 2016, there were 122,051[1] people residing in Syracuse, located in the province of Syracuse, Sicily, of whom 48.7% were male and 51.3% were female. Minors (children ages 18 and younger) totalled 18.87 percent of the population compared to pensioners who number 16.87 percent. This compares with the Italian average of 18.06 percent (minors) and 19.94 percent (pensioners). The average age of Syracuse resident is 40 compared to the Italian average of 42. In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the population of Syracuse declined by 0.49 percent, while Italy as a whole grew by 3.56 percent. The reason for decline is a population flight to the suburbs, and northern Italy.[18][19] The current birth rate of Syracuse is 9.75 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.45 births.
As of 2006, 97.9% of the population was of Italian descent. The largest immigrant group came from other European nations (particularly those from Poland, and the United Kingdom): 0.61%, North Africa (mostly Tunisian): 0.51%, and South Asia: 0.37%.
Since 2005, the entire city of Syracuse, along with the Necropolis of Pantalica which falls within the province of Syracuse, were listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. This programme aims to catalogue, name and conserve sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity. The deciding committee which evaluates potential candidates described their reasons for choosing Syracuse because "monuments and archeological sites situated in Syracuse are the finest example of outstanding architectural creation spanning several cultural aspects; Greek, Roman and Baroque", following on that Ancient Syracuse was "directly linked to events, ideas and literary works of outstanding universal significance".
Buildings of the Greek period include,
The Temple of Apollo, at Piazza Emanuele Pancali, adapted to a church in Byzantine times and to a mosque under Arab rule.
The Fountain of Arethusa, on the Ortygia island. According to a legend, the nymph Arethusa, hunted by Alpheus, took shelter here.
The Greek Theatre, whose cavea is one of the largest ever built by the ancient Greeks: it has 67 rows, divided into nine sections with eight aisles. Only traces of the scene and the orchestra remain. The edifice (still used today) was modified by the Romans, who adapted it to their different style of spectacles, including also circus games. Near the theatre are the latomìe, stone quarries, also used as prisons in ancient times. The most famous latomìa is the Orecchio di Dionisio ("Ear of Dionysius").
The Roman amphitheatre. It was partly carved out from the rock. In the centre of the area is a rectangular space which was used for the scenic machinery.
The Tomb of Archimede, in the Grotticelli Nechropolis. Decorated with two Doric columns.
The Temple of Olympian Zeus, about 3 kilometres (2 miles) outside the city, built around 6th century BC.
The Cathedral of Syracuse (Italian: Duomo) was built by bishop Zosimo in the 7th century over the great Temple of Athena (5th century BC), on Ortygia island. This was a Doric edifice with six columns on the short sides and 14 on the long sides: these can still be seen incorporated in the walls of the current church. The base of the temple had three steps. The interior of the church has a nave and two aisles. The roof of the nave is from Norman times, as well as the mosaics in the apses. The façade was rebuilt by Andrea Palma in 1725–1753, with a double order of Corinthian columns, and statues by Ignazio Marabitti. The most interesting pieces of the interior are a font with marble basin (12th–13th century), a silver statue of St. Lucy by Pietro Rizzo (1599), a ciborium by Luigi Vanvitelli, and a statue of the Madonna della Neve ("Madonna of the Snow", 1512) by Antonello Gagini.
Basilica of Santa Lucia extra Moenia, a Byzantine church built, according to tradition, in the same place of the martyrdom of the saint in 303 AD. The current appearance is from the 15th-16th centuries. The most ancient parts still preserved include the portal, the three half-circular apses and the first two orders of the belfry. Under the church are the Catacombs of St. Lucy. For this church Caravaggio painted the Burial of St. Lucy, now housed in the Church of Santa Lucìa alla Badìa.
Our Lady of Tears Shrine (20th century).
Church of San Paolo (18th century).
Church of San Cristoforo (14th century, rebuilt in the 18th century).
Church of Santa Lucìa alla Badìa, a Baroque edifice built after the 1693 earthquake. It houses the Burial of St. Lucy by Caravaggio
Church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli (13th century).
Church of the Spirito Santo (18th century).
Church of the Jesuit College, a majestic, Baroque building.
Church of St. Benedict (16th century, restored after 1693). It houses a painting of the Death of Saint Benedict by the Caravaggisti Mario Minniti.
Chiesa della Concezione (14th century, rebuilt in the 18th century), with the annexed Benedictine convent.
Church of San Francesco all'Immacolata, with a convex façade intermingled by columns and pilaster strips. It housed and ancient celebration, the Svelata ("Revelation"), in which an image of the Madonna was unveiled at dawn of 29 November.
Basilica of St. John the Evangelist, built by the Normans and destroyed in 1693. Only partially restored, it was erected over an ancient crypt of the martyr San Marciano, later destroyed by the Arabs. The main altar is Byzantine. It includes the Catacombs of San Giovanni, featuring a maze of tunnels and passages, with thousands of tombs and several frescoes.
Castello Maniace, constructed between 1232 and 1240, is an example of the military architecture of Frederick II's reign. It is a square structure with circular towers at each of the four corners. The most striking feature is the pointed portal, decorated with polychrome marbles.
The important Archaeological Museum, with collections including findings from the mid-Bronze Age to 5th century BC.
Palazzo Lanza Buccheri (16th century).
Palazzo Bellomo (12th century), which contains an art museum that houses Antonello da Messina's Annunciation (1474).
Palazzo Montalto (14th century), which conserves the old façade from the 14th century, with a pointed portal.
The Archbishop's Palace (17th century, modified in the following century). It houses the Alagonian Library, founded in the late 18th century.
The Palazzo Vermexio, the current Town Hall, which includes fragments of an Ionic temple of the 5th century BC.
Palazzo Francica Nava, with parts of the original 16th century building surviving.
Palazzo Beneventano del Bosco, originally built in the Middle Ages but extensively modified between 1779 and 1788. It has a pleasant internal court.
Palazzo Migliaccio (15th century), with notable lava inlay decorations.
The Senate Palace, housing in the court an 18th-century coach.
The Castle of Euryalos, built 9 kilometres (6 miles) outside the city by Dionysius the Elder and which was one of the most powerful fortresses of ancient times. It had three moats with a series of underground galleries which allowed the defenders to remove the materials the attackers could use to fill them.
The Mikveh: a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism, built during the Byzantine era. It is situated in the Giudecca: the ancient Jewish Ghetto of Syracuse.
It seems like the neatest things in Cleveland, TN have the Cragmiles name on it, and so it is with this house along Ocoee St., not far from the center of town. Today the house is used as the History and Archives branch of the county Library system, which contains significant records about the Civil War and Reconstruction years in Bradley County and East Tennessee.
The home was built in 1866, when business leader P. M. Craigmiles announced the beginning of post-Civil War recovery in Cleveland with the construction of this impressive Italianate-style brick home. Today, the building is on the National Registry of Historic Places
I was at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday singing with approx 15,000 members of Rock Choir. It was such an amazing experience to have that number of people all singing in harmony. I couldn't resist taking a few shots of the buildings around the O2 site before we went in.
Karoonda Pioneer Park.
It is located in what was once the encircling parklands of Karoonda. These parklands, however we resurveyed for building blocks in 1928 but did not sell. It was reinstituted as parklands in 1982 and the Pioneer Park was started. The museum/park concentrates on pioneer farming techniques from 1910 to 1950 and the era when the railway was paramount in the Mallee. Old buildings in the Park include the Wynarka Methodist Church (1913), Bolt’s Bush Shed and Stables (1944), Westover’s Horse Shaft chaff cutter (1920s), Kunlara Post Office (about 1914), the first Hood family farmhouse (1913), and Brown’s blacksmith works (1914.) Structures from the railway era are quite prolific and include: railcar stock- sheep wagons, goods van, louvred van, Y truck for mallee roots, a 75 class railcar; Yurgo Railway Station; a railway siding; Mindarie Railway Pump House (1917); a pull trike; and an American made Brill(Barwell Bull) Railcar from Philadelphia which entered service in 1924. The Philadelphia Company provided chassis and the Islington Railway workshops built the body of the carriage. An improved version entered the service of South Australian Railways in 1927. The petrol running Brill cars were retired from service in 1971 after serving on almost all SAR country rail lines for nearly 50 years. (Henry Barwell was Premier of South Australia from 1920-1924 when the Brill cars first entered service and he was the man who authorised the erection of the current Adelaide Railway station. He also appointed William Webb from Colorado as the Chief Commissioner of the Railways in 1923. It was Webb who modernised SAR, expanded railway operations in Murray Bridge and Tailem Bend and introduced large, faster and heavier railway engines which necessitated rebuilding much of the railway line from Adelaide to Mount Lofty and elsewhere in SA. Webb returned to the USA in 1930 leaving SAR in debt but with good infrastructure which proved to be invaluable with troop and equipment movement during World War Two.
Karoonda.
Karoonda is the government town for the Hundred of Marmon-Jabuk which like the Hundred of Hooper was opened for sale in 1911.The town itself is right on the edge of the hundred because of the Brown’s Well railway line alignment which veered to this point because of a deep government well (220 feet) located here. Steam trains always needed good water supplies and so wells and bores were sunk across the Murray Mallee. There are excellent quality water supplies across the region which is why Lameroo and Pinnaroo have become major irrigation areas for vegetables. Beyond Karoonda the next deep government bore for water for steam trains was located at Alawoona. Regular passenger and freight trains started arriving at Karoonda from early 1913 but by then the government had already released plans for more railways in the Murray Mallee to Peebinga( the so-called railway to nowhere) and to Waikerie on the upper Murray.
Thus Karoonda was destined to be a major railway junction point from its inception with railway engines and cars and railway employees based in the future town. In fact the refreshment rooms were erected in 1914 as trains stopped in Karoonda for 10 minutes. Major work was done on the railway station in 1916 and from its inception the rail yards always had piles of mallee roots destined for the winter fires of Adelaide. Roots were obtained for the process of clearing the dense mallee and provided farmers with an additional source of income. Karoonda was the base for rail cars used on services to Peebinga, Waikerie, Barmera and Loxton. The rail services were a boon for Karoonda businessmen as Karoonda bakery sent items to stations most of the way to Loxton ; the blacksmith sent metal parts and repairs to sidings etc.
But most of the Mallee lines radiating out from Karoonda were closed during the 1980s but the Tookayerta Railway was converted to standard gauge in 1998. It allows standard gauge trains to operate between Tailem Bend and the Viterra Grain Terminal just outside of Loxton. It has grain stops at Karoonda, Mindarie, Wanbi, Alawoona and Loxton (Tookayerta). The only other rail line in the Mallee converted to standard gauge was the Pinnaroo line which also has grain trains in season. It also branches out from Tailem Bend. The railway lines north from Karoonda to Waikerie and east to Peebinga were closed in 1990 and Karoonda is no longer a rail junction.
Karoonda grew quickly despite the misgivings some had about the viability of farming in the Mallee. The town was
proclaimed in December 1913 and town lots were sold in January 1914. All the 103 allotments were purchased with prices for blocks opposite the railway line fetching the highest prices. One allotment was set aside by the government for an institute and in September 1914 a fine stone Institute hall had opened. This hall was crucial to the early settlers in Karoonda as the town school started in the hall in January 1915 and the first Anglican, Catholic and Methodist church services were held in this building. (The school was opened in 1917 and added to in 1928.) The first purchasers of town lots included a solicitor, blacksmith, butcher, greengrocer, storekeeper, hotelkeeper, fruiterer, carpenter, saddler, baker etc. Most of the first buildings were galvanised iron or timber framed and one example was the Bank of Adelaide which opened in 1914. The Karoonda Hotel opened in 1914 as the licensee of the hotel in Parrakie near Lameroo transferred his licensee to Karoonda. By the end of 1914 Karoonda had a police station, hotel, institute, four stores, a bakery, blacksmith, saddler, boarding house and some dwellings. Many of the early stone buildings were erected in 1915. Around 1918 Male Brothers from Murray Bridge opened their carriage and blacksmith works. By 1920 it had 40 employees.
In the 1920s Karoonda continued to grow and expand. New town subdivisions (1925 and 1928) were created south of the railway line and to the west of the existing town. The stone Post Office was completed in 1925; the Karoonda Hotel was extended in 1927 and 1930 (and again in 1961); the Institute had a movie projection box added to the front; the Masonic Lodge although formed in 1925 had their Temple open in 1930; the first Council Chambers were finished in 1927( before then a wooden prefab room was used); the Methodist church opened in 1925; All Hallows Anglican Church opened in July 1926; and St. Finian of Clonard Catholic Church opened in February 1930 and St. Johns Lutheran Church was completed in 1927. Then the Great Depression hit the town and drought years exacerbated its effects. The main structure built in the thirties was a new Police Station in 1938. Since the thirties a new besser block front has been added to the old Institute building (1962), new Council Chambers opened in 1981, and a new hospital was added to the town in 1970. As mentioned before Karoonda Area School was formed in 1940 with its official opening in January 1941. Its creation meant the closing of five surrounding small schools in 1940 and a further four school closures in 1941. Karoonda Area was the first in the state. New classrooms were built for it in 1963 and 1970. Karoonda is now surviving well as higher prices for wool and lamb and a more diversified range of cereal and legume crops adapted to low winter rainfall avoids low crop yields except in severe drought years.
Karoonda has a claim to fame that no other SA town can match. On 30th November 1930 a ball of fire was seen in the sky near Karoonda. A search by Professor Kerr Grant of the University of Adelaide located the meteorite that had landed near Karoonda two weeks after the sightings. It shattered on landing and 92 fragments of the meteorite were gathered. Professor Douglas Mawson the Professor of Geology analysed and described the meteorite for a 1934 scientific publication. It was an unusual meteorite type known as chondritic asiderite.It mainly consisted of olivine with minor amounts of a range of unusual minerals. A small fragment is kept in the Council Chambers. Its chemical composition was re-analysed in America in the 1950s. The town has a small plaque about the meteorite.
Built in 1889, for the purpose of helping girls in this working class district to improve their education.
Stanley Road,Kirkdale,Liverpool
On the 15th November 2018 I decided to take a walk through the centre of the city of Glasgow. There are so many points of interest that it can be difficult to settle on what it is you want to capture from a walking style photoshoot. On this one, I decided I wanted to capture a typical day in Glasgow as seen by the many people who pass through it but maybe never have the time nor inclination to stop for a moment and actually take in the surroundings.
This small series of images show a very interesting building which looks like it has long since gone out of use in the Charing Cross / Dowanhill area featuring a large bust at the front of the roof, reflections from the window of a coffee shop on Ingram Street, The Gallery of Modern Art, The Cameron Memorial Fountain which has a great story to it, and the long since closed and out of use Charing Cross Victorian Toilets, so you may find yourself feeling needy while seeking another loo somewhere.