Guidebook for Five Dock

David
Guidebook for Five Dock

Sightseeing

For three weeks in spring, Sculpture by the Sea transforms the coastal walk into a temporary sculpture park, attracting artists like Ken Unsworth, Phillip King, and Chen Wenling, plus visitors from far and wide. The works change the way you look at the coast, and two or three are left in situ for a year. Migrating whales often spout between photos. Catch the sunrise from Marks Park, where several sculptures will light up across the South Bondi headland. Also, the exhibition is a great date—just ask Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary, who had one of their first dates at the show.
Caltex Bondi
51 Bondi Rd
For three weeks in spring, Sculpture by the Sea transforms the coastal walk into a temporary sculpture park, attracting artists like Ken Unsworth, Phillip King, and Chen Wenling, plus visitors from far and wide. The works change the way you look at the coast, and two or three are left in situ for a year. Migrating whales often spout between photos. Catch the sunrise from Marks Park, where several sculptures will light up across the South Bondi headland. Also, the exhibition is a great date—just ask Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary, who had one of their first dates at the show.
Duck down to the back of the gallery from Art Gallery Road to find Brett Whiteley’s whimsical sculpture, ‘Almost Once’, of two supersized matchsticks on an open lawn in front of a huge Moreton Bay fig tree. One match is burnt out, while the other is waiting to be lit for its moment of brilliance. It makes you focus on where your life is headed. While you’re here, don’t miss the fantastic piece ‘Suspended Stone Circle II’ by Sydney local Ken Unsworth inside the gallery. It’s a disk of stones suspended from just above the floor to the ceiling by black thread. The stones are reminiscent of a dried-up river bed. It’s a really wonderful sculpture.
387/427 Wattle St
427 Wattle Street
Duck down to the back of the gallery from Art Gallery Road to find Brett Whiteley’s whimsical sculpture, ‘Almost Once’, of two supersized matchsticks on an open lawn in front of a huge Moreton Bay fig tree. One match is burnt out, while the other is waiting to be lit for its moment of brilliance. It makes you focus on where your life is headed. While you’re here, don’t miss the fantastic piece ‘Suspended Stone Circle II’ by Sydney local Ken Unsworth inside the gallery. It’s a disk of stones suspended from just above the floor to the ceiling by black thread. The stones are reminiscent of a dried-up river bed. It’s a really wonderful sculpture.
Overlooking ‘the Heads’ that mark the entrance to Sydney Harbour, the sculptures in this park were brought together with other sculpture collections in 2016 to create the Sydney Harbour Sculpture Collections, which forms a trail around the harbour. Peter Lundberg’s metal ‘Ring’ and Stephen King’s timber ‘Fallout’ are at home among the grass and trees. Keep an eye out for Icelandic sculptor Steinunn Thorarinsdottir’s haunting work ‘Islands’—of an androgynous figure. Cast in aluminium without any defining features, it hovers in the bushland behind Frenchy’s Cafe.
19 locals recommend
bp
67 New South Head Rd
19 locals recommend
Overlooking ‘the Heads’ that mark the entrance to Sydney Harbour, the sculptures in this park were brought together with other sculpture collections in 2016 to create the Sydney Harbour Sculpture Collections, which forms a trail around the harbour. Peter Lundberg’s metal ‘Ring’ and Stephen King’s timber ‘Fallout’ are at home among the grass and trees. Keep an eye out for Icelandic sculptor Steinunn Thorarinsdottir’s haunting work ‘Islands’—of an androgynous figure. Cast in aluminium without any defining features, it hovers in the bushland behind Frenchy’s Cafe.
The 19-metre ‘Pyramid Tower’ by Bert Flugelman—also known as the ‘silver shish kebab’ for its series of octahedrons stacked on top of one another—has found its home. Originally commissioned for Martin Place, it was pulled down, disdained by a former Lord Mayor, and left in storage for years. Now the stainless-steel tower is reflecting CBD skyscrapers again. On the other side of Australia Square on George Street is a very good work, ‘Crossed Shears’, by American sculptor Alexander Calder. It’s a large steel sculpture that sits magnificently in front of the Australia Square tower like a sculptural spider.
Gas Lane
Gas Lane
The 19-metre ‘Pyramid Tower’ by Bert Flugelman—also known as the ‘silver shish kebab’ for its series of octahedrons stacked on top of one another—has found its home. Originally commissioned for Martin Place, it was pulled down, disdained by a former Lord Mayor, and left in storage for years. Now the stainless-steel tower is reflecting CBD skyscrapers again. On the other side of Australia Square on George Street is a very good work, ‘Crossed Shears’, by American sculptor Alexander Calder. It’s a large steel sculpture that sits magnificently in front of the Australia Square tower like a sculptural spider.

Arts & Culture

The Transfield sculpture collection in Walsh Bay adds a great dimension to this theatre district. The seven sculptures, including ‘Into the Trees II’ by Linda Bowden—columns of Corten steel that recall a forest—are part of the Sydney Harbour Sculpture Collections. Check it out before or after a Sydney Theatre Company or Sydney Dance Theatre show. Download the Walsh Bay Sculpture Walk app for an audio tour of the artworks. At numbered stops, you’ll learn such facts as how Jimmie Durham’s ‘Still Life with Stone and Car’ began as a performance for the 2004 Sydney Biennale—the stone was dropped on the car live in the Sydney Opera House forecourt.
11 locals recommend
Shell
867-869 S Dowling St
11 locals recommend
The Transfield sculpture collection in Walsh Bay adds a great dimension to this theatre district. The seven sculptures, including ‘Into the Trees II’ by Linda Bowden—columns of Corten steel that recall a forest—are part of the Sydney Harbour Sculpture Collections. Check it out before or after a Sydney Theatre Company or Sydney Dance Theatre show. Download the Walsh Bay Sculpture Walk app for an audio tour of the artworks. At numbered stops, you’ll learn such facts as how Jimmie Durham’s ‘Still Life with Stone and Car’ began as a performance for the 2004 Sydney Biennale—the stone was dropped on the car live in the Sydney Opera House forecourt.
Sydney is probably the only metropolis in the world with ancient rock art, and Aboriginal carvings are integral to the public art of the city. On a sandstone sea cliff on the North Bondi golf course are numerous carvings of marine creatures. These outline drawings were made using a hammer-and-chisel-like technique with a rock and a sharp stick. South of Bondi Beach—on a narrow sandstone rock ledge 150 metres south of the Marks Park lookout, on the ocean side—there’s another Aboriginal rock carving of a giant shark and a whale. To our eyes, it looks like there’s a fish or whale inside the shark figure, but it’s two carvings on top of each other.
16 locals recommend
BP
185 Bondi Rd
16 locals recommend
Sydney is probably the only metropolis in the world with ancient rock art, and Aboriginal carvings are integral to the public art of the city. On a sandstone sea cliff on the North Bondi golf course are numerous carvings of marine creatures. These outline drawings were made using a hammer-and-chisel-like technique with a rock and a sharp stick. South of Bondi Beach—on a narrow sandstone rock ledge 150 metres south of the Marks Park lookout, on the ocean side—there’s another Aboriginal rock carving of a giant shark and a whale. To our eyes, it looks like there’s a fish or whale inside the shark figure, but it’s two carvings on top of each other.

Parks & Nature

The remote Aboriginal rock carvings here are some of the best in Sydney. Park on West Head Road and take the Basin Track a few hundred metres from the car park, and you’ll see a wonderful collection of animal and human carvings on a flat bushy outcrop to the right of the trail. Rock carvings tend to be in spectacular locations, and this is no exception. For a longer bush walk, take the ferry from Palm Beach to the Basin campground and do the 6.5-km Basin Track in reverse. Straight off the ferry, you’ll find wallabies in their natural environment. Pack a picnic and enjoy the scenery—just stick to the paths and watch out for snakes.
86 locals recommend
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
West Head Road
86 locals recommend
The remote Aboriginal rock carvings here are some of the best in Sydney. Park on West Head Road and take the Basin Track a few hundred metres from the car park, and you’ll see a wonderful collection of animal and human carvings on a flat bushy outcrop to the right of the trail. Rock carvings tend to be in spectacular locations, and this is no exception. For a longer bush walk, take the ferry from Palm Beach to the Basin campground and do the 6.5-km Basin Track in reverse. Straight off the ferry, you’ll find wallabies in their natural environment. Pack a picnic and enjoy the scenery—just stick to the paths and watch out for snakes.
The recessed copper sculpture by Tom Bass, set into the old P&O Building at 55 Hunter Street between Elizabeth and Castlereagh, is a very cool early work with a long organic shape. In the 1960s, the ‘fountain’ was irreverently depicted as a urinal on the cover of Oz magazine, sparking an obscenity trial in which Tom Bass testified for the magazine. Two other works by Australian sculptor Tom Bass can be found in Circular Quay: ‘Research’, on the north wall of the Pullman Quay Grand hotel, and ‘Amicus Certus’ on Alfred Street’s AMP building. The Tom Bass Sculpture Studio School in Erskineville holds exhibitions of his art and that of his disciples.
19 locals recommend
bp
67 New South Head Rd
19 locals recommend
The recessed copper sculpture by Tom Bass, set into the old P&O Building at 55 Hunter Street between Elizabeth and Castlereagh, is a very cool early work with a long organic shape. In the 1960s, the ‘fountain’ was irreverently depicted as a urinal on the cover of Oz magazine, sparking an obscenity trial in which Tom Bass testified for the magazine. Two other works by Australian sculptor Tom Bass can be found in Circular Quay: ‘Research’, on the north wall of the Pullman Quay Grand hotel, and ‘Amicus Certus’ on Alfred Street’s AMP building. The Tom Bass Sculpture Studio School in Erskineville holds exhibitions of his art and that of his disciples.
This delightful garden on Sydney Harbour contains sculptures from historical statues to modern works by Bronwyn Oliver, Paul Selwood, and Denmark’s Keld Moseholm. Don’t miss the stunning ‘Time and Tide’ by May Barrie: a monolithic rock carved in such a natural way that many people think it’s just a rock. It’s one of my favourite stone sculptures in the world. It’s handy to park your car on Mrs Macquaries Road and then walk through the gardens. You’ll discover sculptures all the way from Mrs Macquarie’s Chair to that other great modern work of art: the Sydney Opera House.
985 locals recommend
Royal Botanic Garden Sydney
Mrs Macquaries Road
985 locals recommend
This delightful garden on Sydney Harbour contains sculptures from historical statues to modern works by Bronwyn Oliver, Paul Selwood, and Denmark’s Keld Moseholm. Don’t miss the stunning ‘Time and Tide’ by May Barrie: a monolithic rock carved in such a natural way that many people think it’s just a rock. It’s one of my favourite stone sculptures in the world. It’s handy to park your car on Mrs Macquaries Road and then walk through the gardens. You’ll discover sculptures all the way from Mrs Macquarie’s Chair to that other great modern work of art: the Sydney Opera House.