The End of the Wharf as we know it

The Empty Wharf

Starting a new large canvas- 8am on a cloudy windy day on the site of recently demolished Wharf 8 at South Barangaroo 

I have prepared a canvas suitable for the threatening clouds by priming it  with several coats of black acrylic paint. Canvases intended for either landscapes or seascapes I prime with either black or cerulean blue. This preparatory coat of coloured paint is known as the 'imprimatura', and I like to use it especially when painting outdoors rather than face the glare of a white canvas reflecting the sunlight back into my face. 
A black primed canvas is useful for storm clouds or interiors, while the blue canvases have the basic sky colour already laid in, so it is easier to add clouds, haze or mist at the horizon.

 8.30am

9.30am

9.30am

Note the scar of dark, new laid asphalt delineating the space where Wharf 8 used to be.

Gone with the Wind

10am

This canvas is fairly large for a plein air painting- 91 x 122cm. I intended it to be a continuation of the series of canvases from similar vantage points on this wharf of the same size which you can see on the right hand side of this blog, one painted when the 'Hungry Mile' was still a working port and the other a year later when the ships, trucks, containers, forklifts and wharfies had left. There are also other paintings of this size and format showing the demolition of the previous wharf buildings. I must say that the earlier paintings might have been more complex to paint, but this one is more physically difficult to manage, because now that most of the buildings have been demolished, there is no shelter from the wind on this wharf. 
That sounds like a minor gripe, but I have almost as much canvas up to catch the breeze as though I were windsurfing. The Philip's head screws on the struts of my french box easel, never a strong point of its design, are fighting a losing battle. I tighten them, but their little notches are almost worn smooth. The top of the easel with its canvas snaps back and forward unless I hold it steady with my left hand. It's tiring to paint like this and I dare not leave it long enough to eat my lunch, never mind about leaving it for a much needed toilet break. I'd be chasing my stuff all over the wharf. I try a useful trick with big canvases in a brisk wind - I change the angle so the canvas is side on to the wind, not catching it head on, and lower the angle so that the canvas is almost horizontal like a table top. A little like sailing, I should imagine, although I am by no means a sailor.
Last year I lost a much loved Akubra hat which blew off my head as I was packing up my things on my very last visit to paint the ferries the Balmain shipyard. I was so upset that I seriously thought about jumping into the Harbour and swimming after it, but I didn't want to be scuttled by the 'Lady Hopetoun'. I suppose some lucky New Zealander is wearing my lost Akubra  now. A good Akubra with a wide brim, not one of those silly pork pie jobs that don't keep the sun or rain off, is hard to find now. It will set you back about $150, and that doesn't include the toggles, which are almost impossible to buy. The shops only sell  Akubras for tourists these days and were amazed to hear of someone who actually needed to wear one for work. 'Did I also ride a horse at work' the assistants asked, wide-eyed with wonder. I had to disappoint them there. 

The wind is getting much worse. A good rule of thumb is that over 25 knots and the canvas starts to beat like a drum; the brushstrokes are timed to coincide. Annoying, but not insurmountable. Over 35 knots and a fully loaded french box easel starts to skitter around. Over 40 knots, and it will lift up and whack you on the nose if you don't tie it down. I have to move my car and cower behind it, using it as a wind break.

Painting clouds- 11am

Beware- Artist at work- 11.30am

If it weren't for the hard hat perched on top of it, the little black hat would look quite glam. It's no Akubra, though.
The smear of black paint on the cheek  really completes the look. 

Behind the canvas

I had to scavenge for this big concrete block to weight down my easel so I wouldn't have to chase it all over the wharf. The bricks are preventing the easel struts from being blown out of position and giving me a faceful of wet canvas. It only partly worked. I found out later the wind that day was over 45 knots. But despite the threatening clouds it didn't actually rain and I got a lot of painting done.

The Archaeologists at Barangaroo

A new trench

'Digger (The Trench)'  2010 oil on canvas 30 x 15 cm

The site archaeologists of South Barangaroo are Casey & Lowe. Here they have briefly stopped work to consult as the excavators have unearthed a pipe. Possibly Barangaroo isn't one of the most fascinating archaeological sites as it is mostly fill, and fill dating probably no earlier than the 1960's. But breaking the surface to dig a new hole is always exciting, even if there is no prospect of buried treasure or even broken bottles or blue and white pottery fragments at the end of it!

Dig it!

'Dig it' 2010 oil on canvas 20 x 20 cm

The archaeologists have discovered some timber, possibly from a 19th century Fingerwharf, and some paving stones. Some paving stones can be seen in the right foreground; fragments of timber are in the centre foreground, in the midground in front of the shovels, and to the far left.

Dig it, Pump it, Grab it, Munch it !

Dig it !

'Excavator with Macquarie Bank' 2010  2010 oil on canvas 31 x 41 cm

The excavator is the Sumitomo 800, the biggest on site. This heavy duty warhorse was bought specially for the first round of demolition, back in early 2008, when the wharves at the northern end were demolished prior to the World Youth Day celebrations.

This excavator has been sitting idle for a week or so, waiting for the next round of demolition, which will be the Sydney Ports Maintenance Depot and the Amenities blocks lining Hickson Road. It is wearing the attachment called the 'Ripper". Next to it is a reverse view of one of the "Munchers".

Pump it! (The Watertank)

'Pump it '( the Watertank) 2010 oil on canvas 15 x 30cm 

The Veronese green of the Cardinal watertank is a welcome sight on a windy day. It hoses down the demolition dust. Here it is draining the little lake in the middle of the site so that it can later twirl around the compound in ever decreasing circles spraying the water onto the site of the recently demolished wharf. However much water it sprays is never enough. When the wind is from the south/ south -west I make sure that I wear a dust mask & keep as far to the west as I can so that I don't end up with a mouthful of dirt.

Grab it!

'Grabber' 2010 oil on canvas 20 x 20 cm

Munch it!

'Muncher' 2010 oil on canvas 20 x 20 cm 

This attachment, called poetically a "Muncher" used to have a fluoro pink painted patch that looked like a mad pink eye that made it look both startled and hungry.

The Art of Painting in PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)

Gone in 60 seconds
Yesterday they started to pulverize the power poles. I can't sit where I have been for the last week and finish my diptych, which was going to be a panorama of the whole site. When they have finished I can return to the spot, however the blocks which were to have been the whole key of the composition will be gone.

On the other hand, Andrew, the site foreman, has assured me that the big red statue of the number "8", to which I have taken quite a fancy, won't be demolished for at least a week.
 Hear no evil (or anything else)

I had to use hearing protection to cope with the noise. The hearing protection on this site is a rather snazzy set of fluoro orange earbuds attached to a headset rather than the usual rolled up bits of pink and  orange foam. However the headset is way too big for the back of my head and I got it in a dreadful tangle with my hard hat balanced precariously on top of my cap with its sun-veil at the back, my scarf and safety glasses and my Bovis LendLease lanyard with my site passport. As usual the photo on my ID gives me the expression of an escaped lunatic who has just been shot in the back with a poisoned arrow. So does everyone else's; I'm glad mine doesn't stand out. Would the headset be less uncomfortable up over my hard hat or flapping down around my shoulders? Neither of these positions worked so I finally clamped it over my sunveil; not the most hygienic solution but at least it stopped drilling painfully into my ears. Today I gave up on these ear-drillers and brought my enormous old ear muffs out of retirement. They certainly dull the noise but wearing them is like having a pair of buckets stuck either side of my head. When someone speaks to me I have to clamp them to the top of my hard hat, in a way that reminds me slightly of Mickey Mouse ears. With all this heavy duty ear protection, I don't know why my ears still stick out at right angles like Tony Abbot's, they should be squashed so flat by now that I'm wearing them internally.

My cap does prevent most of my face and ears from getting sunburnt, and has a useful little gap at the back for my ponytail  but unfortunately it has the words "Frontline" written in bold yellow capitals at the front. This is not as you might think in honour of the famous dog and cat flea killing powder- this word is also the motto of Australian Customs and Quarantine; this cap was a souvenir of painting a commission for someone who worked for them when Barangaroo was still a working port.

I am still clumsy when attaching or removing my flashing orange beacon to or from the car. I keep forgetting it's there and open the car door suddenly, or drive off site with it still flashing merrily away.
In the afternoon it gets very dusty as the wind direction changes from westerly to a nor-easter. They hose down the dust as much as possible, but I am now wearing a face mask as an extra precaution. It's not specifically required, but I think that it would be sensible. However I feel so trussed up that I can barely move and resemble a badly decorated Xmas tree.

Fast work

I have completed 2 small canvases yesterday and another 2 today. Not bad going! Yesterday, the first was of the pulverizing of the power poles. I was told not to bother as there would only be 2 hours or so before I would have to move, as the excavator would soon start on the second block. I had just enough time to paint a 15 x 30 cm canvas. The second was a small square painting of a "Grabber", one of the attachments for the excavators. Today I painted a "Muncher" to match the "Grabber" on the same format canvas, and the green waterpump draining the giant pool of water caused by the hosing down of the dust.

Eight (ate)

Barangaroo : Demolition of Wharf 8

"Eight (ate)" 2010 unfinsihed oil painting on canvas 31 x 25 cm

The Wharf building is now demolished. All that remains is a pile of twisted metal, and the giant red numeral.
The forked sign painted at the foot of the 8 is actually really there, but to me it symbolizes the whole dilemma of Barangaroo, of Sydney and possibly of Australia itself. Caught between two possible directions (remember the election anybody?) equally poised between looking back and moving forward. Progress and change are needed, but in which direction?
Update on eight (ate)

'Eight (ate)' 2010  oil painting on canvas 31 x 25 cm

The finished painting.

Geophysics

The Drill Rig at South Barangaroo

"The Drill rig" 2010 oil painting on canvas 30 x 40cm

A core sample is being taken on South Barangaroo, to make sure that there are no nasty little surprises when construction starts.

Incidentally, all of Barangaroo is landfill.
When I painted on the K.E.N.S. Site (the "Kent, Erskine, Napoleon and Sussex street block " which is now the new Westpac headquarters) next to Moreton's pub (known as the 'Big House' by the wharfies) I saw steps that were unearthed that once belonged to an early 19th century Fingerwharf, and must have roughly coincided with the original shoreline. They were halfway between Kent and Sussex Street - so anything west of Sussex Street is fill.

Don't forget your toothpaste! (A little amateur archaeology)

A couple of the men from Coffey and Macquarie Drilling have worked at the same sites that I have painted at! These include the former A.G.L. Site at Mortlake, developed by Rosecorp (which is now known as 'Breakfast Point') and the Carleton United Brewery site at Chippendale, which is still underway. One wet and miserable day at the Carleton United Brewery site, I was offered some of the old bottles and jars to paint by the archaeologists, instead of struggling through the mud laden with an easel to paint the chimney in the pouring rain. A few weeks later, the archaeologists generously made their spare finds available for the construction workers to souvenir. I suppose that an old brewery site wouldn't suffer from a lack of bottles! I took a small selection of 19th century ceramic and glass bottles, including perfume jars, ink bottles and a big brown 'Geneva' bottle (mother's ruin or gin), but one of the men on the drill rig team had a real prize - a small ceramic jar with lacy craquelure that once contained an early 19th century version of toothpaste! When we realized that we both were proud owners of these relics, I brought my paintings of the CUB finds and the bottles to Barangaroo and he brought in his toothpaste jar for me to paint.

My Carleton United Brewery still life can be seen on my 'Urban Landscape' page on my other blog, 'Industrial Revelation'.

This is their 2nd last hole before the drill rig team pack up and leave Barangaroo.

Barangaroo : Terminal- Demolition

The demolition of Wharf 8

'Collapse' oil painting on canvas 36 x 46 cm

There isn't much left of the main building now, and this morning the last gantry was demolished about 10am.
Ironically it was taken down by the very same man who built the other gantry, (the orange one that stood closest to King Street Wharf) only 8 years ago.
I've been torn between wanting to paint the spectacular collapse of the main Arrivals Hall to the south, from the vantage point of the giant statue of the number '8' and the pulling down of the gantries about 300 metres walk from this.
Previously, I could leave my easel in a corner of one of Cardinal's sheds, but today they have started to move all their tables,chairs and equipment out in preparation for the move to the sheds being completed at the north-western end of the compound. So it looks like several long walks back to my car dragging lots of heavy equipment.

The first cut is the deepest

Barangaroo :  Demolition starts of former Cruise ship Terminal at Darling Harbour Wharf 8

'The '800' demolishing the Gantries' 2010 oil painting on canvas 36 x 46 cm

The Gantries

'The Gantries' Unfinished oil painting on canvas 36 x 46cm

Breakfast in the ruins

Gantry

'Gantry (keep)' Almost finished oil painting on canvas 46 x 36 cm

I had wondered if the gantries were to be kept intact & possibly recycled for use at the new cruise ship terminal soon to be built at White Bay.
They are instead about to be demolished by the very same man who built the orange gantry only 8 years ago.
The MUA has just linked an article about my paintings of the Hungry Mile & Barangaroo on their website to my other blog, "Industrial Revelation".

Barangaroo : Terminal - Facade

A last look at Wharf 8, the former Cruise Ship Terminal

'Wharf 8- facade with red door' 2010 Unfinished oil on canvas 31 x 61 cm.

'The Red Door closes' unfinished oil painting on canvas 25 x 51 cm

Barangaroo : Terminal -The Artist's Studio

My Studio at Barangaroo : Works in progress


Painting inside the the former Cruise ship Terminal at Darling Harbour 8 painted in July-August 2010. 

"Red Square"

A race against time

I make the big move out of the terminal

"Grabber,Muncher, Ripper,"

"Grabber, ripper,muncher" 2010 oil painting on canvas 31 x 31cm

Yes, they actually are the proper names of the attachments to the excavators! I'm not making them up. Truly.

The "Grabber" is in the centre, the "Ripper" is the wicked looking blade on the right, while the "Muncher" is the monster with the fluoro pink "eye" & the toothy jaws in front of the red door to the left. The workmen promised me that there is also a "Pulverizer" that will arrive later. This I have to see!

A good day at the office

The very last day that I was able to leave my easels and canvases inside the terminal. I've now moved my stuff into a room in the loading dock of the old Sydney Ports Corporation Maintenance building that has been recently used to display the designs for Barangaroo. Not for long, apparently - Bovis LendLease has already moved the entrance twice and I've noticed construction of new site offices starting in the north-west corner. This building will obviously be the next to go after the DH8 terminal. Exactly when is anyone's guess.

Barangaroo : 'Grabber, Ripper, Muncher'

Barangaroo : 'Grabber, Ripper, Muncher'

'Grabber, Ripper, Muncher'  2010 oil painting on canvas 31 x 31 cm

As well as "Grabber", "Muncher" and "Ripper" I have learnt some more evocative & descriptive terms for the attachments to excavators. "What are those bucket-like things on the end of them?" I tentatively asked. "Buckets" was the reply. I must be getting the hang of it now. The buckets with teeth are called "toothed buckets" and the blunt ones are called "mud buckets". Sheer poetry.

Barangaroo : Terminal- 'Out of Time'

Inside the former cruise ship terminal at Wharf 8, Barangaroo

The completed painting "Out of time " unfinished oil painting on canvas 31 x 31 cm

A poignant little genre painting. Stopped clocks; a security sign; an abandoned storeroom. Industrial memento mori. I found a plaque commemorating the opening of this building - 1999. Not all that long ago, but already it seems like an eon has passed.
Sydney Ports Corporation has just arrived to take possession of this sign. I found it's inscription hilarious - it was about how passengers with cardiac pacemakers were not to go through the X ray machines, but had to be bodily searched by the security guards! if they didn't have heart problems to start with they would when they finished; all the excitement might prove too much!

Barangaroo: I saw the number '8' in red...

Barangaroo : Terminal -Arrivals Hall

This is an unfinished oil painting on canvas of the interior of the deserted former cruise ship terminal at Darling Harbour Wharf 8, Barangaroo.

My first day of painting this canvas:

'I saw the number '8' in red... '  oil painting on canvas 56 x 76cm
SOLD
Enquiries about similar paintings :
janecooperbennett@gmail.com 

The title is my homage to the 1928 Charles Demuth painting "I saw the number 5 in gold..", an icon of American Modernism. Like Demuth, I never let go of reality.

The 2nd day of this painting :

'I saw the number '8' in red... '  oil painting on canvas 56 x 76cm
SOLD
Enquiries about similar paintings :
janecooperbennett@gmail.com 

The 2nd day of this painting- nearly finished, but needs glazing to emphasize the reflections & the dramatic shafts of light from the doorways.

The completed painting:'I saw the number '8' in red... '  oil painting on canvas 56 x 76cm
SOLD
Enquiries about similar paintings :
janecooperbennett@gmail.com 

Starting my 2nd painting of the interior of the Arrivals Hall:
Setting out a rough idea of the composition:

"I saw the number '8' in red" 2010 unfinished oil painting on canvas  61 x 183cm

Starting work on a large panoramic interior of the Arrivals Hall. This is a Saturday, and apart from the bored security guards on the gate I have the whole place more or less to myself so it is eerily silent.

For a change I have managed to get here early. I've been battling a killer bout of flu for over a month and I've had to push myself to keep working. My throat has been so sore that I can only eat jelly and chicken soup for the last week. I've taken in a thermos of icecubes to numb my throat and they seem to help. Whinge, whinge. This is totally self inflicted- I've been painting outdoors in the middle of winter on a freezing cold wharf in a howling gale & to misquote Alice in Wonderland it is bound to disagree with you sooner or later. However I wouldn't swap what I do for anything; it keeps me endlessly fascinated. I only wish that I wouldn't get ill just at this crucial point in the history of Sydney Harbour - this is the last wharf on the historic Hungry Mile, which has been the fountainhead of Australia's maritime industry since settlement over 200 years ago, and it will be demolished in less than a fortnight! No other artist in Australia seems to have an MSIC or a greencard; so I am the only person permitted to paint any of this.

Half way through my 1st day of painting :

"I saw the number '8' in red" 2010 unfinished oil painting on canvas  61 x 183cm
SOLD
Enquiries about similar paintings :
janecooperbennett@gmail.com  

At the end of the first day:

"I saw the number '8' in red" 2010 unfinished oil painting on canvas  61 x 183cm
SOLD
Enquiries about similar paintings :
janecooperbennett@gmail.com  

I have used 'terminal' as part of the title of paintings in this series as a play on words. The following nuances of meaning I found particularly apt :

1.situated at or forming the end or extremity of something...

2. occuring at or forming the end of a series, succession, or the like; closing; concluding

7.pertaining to or placed at a boundary, as a landmark.

8. occuring at or causing the end of life: a terminal disease.

9.(Informal) utterly beyond hope, rescue or saving...

10. a terminal part of a structure; end or extremity.

13. a station on the line of a public carrier,as in a city centre ... where passengers embark or disembark...

(Courtesy of Dictionary.com)

Take your pick!


Related Posts

• Barangaroo : 'Maersk Gateshead' -The Last Container Ship (barangarooartist.blogspot.com)
• Barangaroo : Terminal- 'Out of Time' (barangarooartist.blogspot.com)
• Terminal, End or Extremity (janebennettartist.blogspot.com)
• Cruising (janebennettartist.blogspot.com)
• My Studio at Barangaroo (janebennettartist.blogspot.com)

Barangaroo : Red Square

Barangaroo: Painting inside the former cruise ship terminal

"Red Square" unfinished oil painting on canvas 41 x 91cm

A work in progress, still on the easel.

 'Red Square' oil painting on canvas 41 x 91cm

This canvas is still a little unfinished, but you can get the general idea of what I'm attempting to do here. It's an interior versus exterior painting, playing with light, transparency and reflections. Unlike the other doors in the loading dock, which are solid slabs of brilliant scarlet, these are translucent fluted sheets that both reveal and conceal the view. 

The "Red square" to the left was the bright scarlet entrance to the passenger walkways allowing access to the cruise ship.
In 20th century art history a famous quote about early abstract art was "The red square is haunting painting", about an oil painting by Kasimir Malevich, one of the originators of the Russian Suprematism movement in abstract painting. The red square has certainly haunted this building! It reminds me how quickly the 'new' and 'modern' passes into history. It is ironic how "Modernism" is now a historic term referring to the art of 50-80 years ago, and the architect of this former wharf has either deliberately or unknowingly raided its vocabulary!

In the background are the two drill rigs of the geophysics team, Coffey and Macquarie Drilling.

For an update on what happened to this canvas, see my post at this blog:'Brilliantly renovated and cut in half'

Barangaroo : May close without warning

Barangaroo : Paintings of the former cruise ship terminal at Wharf 8 

Unfinished oil paintings on canvas, all are 61 x 91 cm
Subject : the interior of the loading dock of the deserted former cruise ship terminal at Darling Harbour Wharf 8.

Poignant reminders of the site's previous function create ironic, even surrealist undertones. This building will be demolished in late August 2010. It had only been opened in July 1999, for the expected influx of cruise ships for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. I remember it being built - in fact I remember its predecessor being built to replace another wharf!

This painting shows the entrance to the loading dock, normally off limits to the public. The door is open to the view north towards the Sydney Harbour Control Tower on the right and the new temporary cruise ship facilities in the marquee to the left.

"Inside the loading dock of the former Cruise ship Terminal at Darling Harbour 8" unfinished oil painting on canvas 61 x 91cm

After 2nd day of painting- only needs finishing touches on masonry and shadows.

I'll have to take this home to do the final flourishes as Cardinal has just parked 3 large excavators right in front of me just as I was about to complete this! I musn't get dust on it when I'm putting on layers of glazes or I'll spend the next fortnight plucking the bits of gravel, pigeon feathers etc off the surface with a pair of tweezers!
Painted from a similar viewpoint as "May close without warning..."

The completed painting: "Inside the loading dock of the former Cruise ship Terminal at Darling Harbour 8" oil painting on canvas 61 x 91cm

"MAY CLOSE WITHOUT WARNING " unfinished oil painting on canvas 61 x 91cm

Day 1 of this painting

The completed painting "MAY CLOSE WITHOUT WARNING "
oil painting on canvas 61 x 91cm

I found the office chair sitting in the middle of the deserted loading dock.

The title "May close without warning" refers to the warnings found on the portal of the fire doors framing the central image.

While I was painting, the electricity and the water was yet to be turned off, and every half hour or so the automatic fire door would grumble a bit and roll forward and back several inches. It was eerie as the building was mostly empty and all the workmen were outside- talk about the 'Ghost in the machine'!
Through the doorway is the Sydney Harbour Control Tower and the marquee used for the temporary cruise ship facilities by Sydney Ports Corporation. The title of this painting could double as my motto! "May close without warning" says it all.
I never need to make jokes - the truth is quite adequately hilarious.

Barangaroo : 'Maersk Gateshead' -The Last Container Ship

Painting the 'Maersk Gateshead'  from the wharf at Barangaroo
Enquiries about this painting
janecooperbennett@gmail.com

Barangaroo : Painting the Last Container Ship June 2010

This was the last container ship ever to enter Sydney Harbour. I was permitted to paint this ship, not only from the wharf, but from the bridge of the ship, courtesy of the Captain, Mark Carter.

On my easel is the completed oil painting of the 'Maersk Gateshead' which I sold to the Captain.

Enquiries about similar paintings

janecooperbennett@gmail.com

Painting the 'Maersk Gateshead'  from the wharf at Barangaroo

Enquiries about this painting
janecooperbennett@gmail.com

 DH255 'Early morning, the Maersk Gateshead at Barangaroo'
2010 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm

$2,000
Enquiries about this painting

janecooperbennett@gmail.com

DH257 'The Maersk Gateshead, preparing to depart Barangaroo'
 2010 oil on canvas 40 x 120cm

$5,000
Enquiries about this painting
janecooperbennett@gmail.com

Painting the 'Maersk Gateshead'  from the bridge of the ship at Barangaroo. 
An unfinished oil painting of the panorama stretching from Pyrmont and White Bay to Balmain 25 x 152cm

Enquiries about this painting
janecooperbennett@gmail.com

Painting the 'Maersk Gateshead'  from the bridge of the ship at  Barangaroo. A central view of the prow of the ship featuring its rows of containers. The Sydney CBD and the heritage terrace houses of  Miller's Point are in the background.
Unfinished Oil painting on canvas 38 x 76cm

Enquiries about this painting
janecooperbennett@gmail.com

I spent 4 days painting from different vantage points on the ship, knowing that I was witness to the end of an era.

 DH256 'The 'Pacific Jewel at wharf 7 from the bridge of the Maersk Gateshead'
2010 oil on canvas 38 x 76cm

$3,300
Enquiries about this painting
janecooperbennett@gmail.com

An unplanned visit

The 'Maersk Gateshead' only made her unplanned visit to Sydney Harbour because her engines became disabled. Rather than return to Port Botany or sail further into Sydney Harbour to dock at Glebe Island, as originally planned, the Captain decided to make use of the recently vacated wharf at Barangaroo.
The 'Maersk Gateshead' was not originally intended to enter Sydney Harbour at all. It had been near Botany, when it was discovered that the engines were disabled, and after some discussion, it was decided at first to send it to Glebe Island. I was painting the ex-Hmas Adelaide and the OES Barge which were both then docked at Glebe. On the 7th June the OES Barge was waiting for the weather conditions to permit it to go to Botany, where it was to start the trials for laying cables. There was quite a big swell at Botany, which is a wide windy shallow bay at the best of times. Suddenly the OES people were told to move the barge from Glebe to neighbouring White Bay, to accomodate the disabled ship. But the expected ship did not arrive at Glebe - the captain had decided to instead move his ship the 'Maersk Gateshead' to the vacant lot at the former DH5.

The ship was not unloaded at the wharf, but waited for repairs and finally left at 3pm Monday 14th June. I understood the historical significance and made sure that I took advantage of the situation. As well as painting from the dockside, after a bit of negotiation I was permitted to paint from the bridge of the ship itself. 

"Night, 'Pacific Jewel'  from the bridge of the Maersk Gateshead" 2010 
oil painting on canvas 61 x 91 cm
 $6,600 
Enquiries about this painting
janecooperbennett@gmail.com

From the bridge of the "Maersk Gateshead"at night. The "Pacific Jewel" Cruise ship is turning in the background, ready to depart Sydney Harbour.This was a historic moment - the last time that a cruise ship would dock at the old cruise ship terminal at Darling Harbour Wharf 8.

It is highly unlikely that any other container ship will ever be allowed to dock at Barangaroo again. If the recent article by Paul Keating in the Sydney Morning Herald is any indication, the cruise ships will be evicted to White Bay as soon as possible.

Related articles

View article about the 'Maersk Gateshead's' stay at Barangaroo

Maersk Alabama entered pirate infested waters

Maersk vessel attacked by pirates 

• ---

• Painting the International Fleet Review at Barangaroo
• Painting the International Fleet Review at Barangaroo Part 2
• Painting the Icebreaker "Polar Star"
• 'From the Hungry Mile to Barangaroo'

• Barangaroo : A big white ship at a big white tent (barangarooartist.blogspot.com)
• Art exhibition : Recent Paintings by Jane Bennett (barangarooartist.blogspot.com)