There is an out of place artwork found in the most inhospitable spot hiding from plain sight. Like an ancient spirit glaring through jungle, it is patiently waiting to be recognised in its neglected environment. With its colour slowly fading away, this huge wall mural was completed only in 2019, and is a modern take on Aboriginal art which traditionally would have been found in amongst rocks and in caves.
Created by four different artists, Tim Phibs, P.J. Simon, Kevin May and Jo Cassady, the artwork is part of Gadigal Wangal Wayfinding project in the Inner West and is all about featuring Aboriginal history though visual means. Unfortunately, this mural found in Gadigal Reserve is closed to the public and in waiting for the commencement of the Greenway in-corridor works, anticipated to start sometime later this year.
Part of the plan for this section is giving access to walkers and cyclists, following the natural water course pathway, to a tunnel leading under Longport Street and out through to Lewisham West.
In contrast, just in front of this mural and spanning over what was once known as Long Cove Creek, is a piece of rare engineering history also unnoticed to many passers-by.
Originally three pairs of iron Whipple Trusses were erected in 1886 to replace the original stone arch via duct, over what is now the upper reaches of the concrete stormwater drain of Hawthorne Canal. This leftover heritage section of railway bridge shows the technology of yesteryear in its use of pin-jointed trusses, developed in America by Squire Whipple.
Incredibly these railway bridges were in service for 107 years before they were replaced in 1993 by the now welded, plate web girders. Under the railway bridges in an area belonging to the State Rail Authority, there is a sense of a lost world behind locked gates. The mural and the neighbouring heritage bridge are mostly obscured by unmanaged vegetation and very uninviting to sightseers.
It is hoping that after years of delay, this unique urban area would be transformed thanks to the GreenWay Masterplan linking Iron Cove to the Cooks River as an active recreational corridor.
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