Just thought I'd post a recent photo of my me, Mitch and Kevin. This was taken at the Artillery Museum up on the North Head of Sydney Harbor. Kevin was here for the month of July and since Mitch's school was on Winter Break at the same time, I took some time off from work. We spent everyday doing something different and kept ourselves very busy. It went by far too quickly. Even though it's posed, I like this photo.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Mitch, Kevin and I
Just thought I'd post a recent photo of my me, Mitch and Kevin. This was taken at the Artillery Museum up on the North Head of Sydney Harbor. Kevin was here for the month of July and since Mitch's school was on Winter Break at the same time, I took some time off from work. We spent everyday doing something different and kept ourselves very busy. It went by far too quickly. Even though it's posed, I like this photo.
The Q-Station
Last month, my oldest son Kevin came to visit from Florida. He and I share a lot of interests... Historical stuff as well as ghosts, the supernatural, etc.
I'd heard of the Q-Station (The Quarantine Station) and wanted to visit - after all, its a historical site and supposed to be haunted. The Station was set up in 1835 to quarantine incoming ships and passengers for a minimum of 40 days. This was to prevent infectious diseases from being passed to the local population. What's interesting about the Station is that it was set up by class definition around 1873. First class passengers had really nice accommodations, facilities, food, recreation facilities and freedoms, whereas not much is said about second or third class. Guess they didn't have the "freedoms" money could buy.
It's also blatantly obvious the buildings were built by class. The first class buildings are now used as a hotel of sorts. You can rent them out for a few days if you want. On the other hand, the third class accommodations were open dormitory type buildings that had common eating areas. Surprisingly, these are not rented out as they could probably make a killing with the backpackers, etc. The shower blocks reminded me of my Jr. High School gym showers too. Sucks to be in steerage.
The buildings are spread out but separated by class as well. The first class buildings are closer to the dock and have nice views of the harbor, whereas the third class buildings are on the far end and require more walking. I'm sure the classes didn't mix while at the Station either, and I'll bet any boundaries or fences have long since been removed.
Here is one of the first class buildings...
This is just a hallway near the hospital building. We took lots of photos of odds things - windows, doorways, etc, trying to capture ghosts. With our focus on ghosts and where they might be lurking, we failed to get any really decent pictures of the buildings and architecture.
Here is a view from the hospital building looking toward Sydney. Off to the far right (out of sight) would be Manly and on the left (out of sight as well) is the harbor opening.
We really wanted to check out the cemetery because hey, lets face it, we wanted to see ghosts. But the cemetery is off limits and the only way you can gain access to it is by taking a paid guided tour with a group. Since we just sort of showed up that day and hadn't booked any sort of reservation, we just wandered around by ourselves. Nobody paid any attention to us - sucks to be treated like third class steerage.
Speaking of ghosts, what do you see in this photo? Look in the lower left pane of the window. Is that a face looking out toward the right? We think it is... This was taken at the post office building. I've shown this to several people and they've gotten creeped out by it. What do you think?
One of the coolest sights at the Q-Station (in my opinion) are the rock carvings. I'm not talking about ancient indigenous rock carvings - I'm talking about these:
Ships:
Forest Monarch - built in 1851. Click to see the passenger manifest - note the "35 Child Male Passenger Immigrants" & "46 Child Females Passenger Immigrants".
Annie Wilson -
Nineveh - If you look at this link, it has the complete passenger listing. Complete families are listed. I can't help but imagine what it must of been like for them traveling so long and far.
We all know what happened to this ship - In May of 1915, ten years later, it was sunk by a German U-Boat.
Carvings like this are all over the dock area...
Peerless - On this manifest, it notes "132 Single Males & 131 Single Females". Maybe this was the very first "Love Boat"? No mention of the quantity of rum consumed....
Overall, a very cool place to visit if you are ever here in Sydney. They have ghost tours late at night, so if you're into that stuff it'd be a great place to check out. Maybe I'll take a tour soon and let you know.
I'd heard of the Q-Station (The Quarantine Station) and wanted to visit - after all, its a historical site and supposed to be haunted. The Station was set up in 1835 to quarantine incoming ships and passengers for a minimum of 40 days. This was to prevent infectious diseases from being passed to the local population. What's interesting about the Station is that it was set up by class definition around 1873. First class passengers had really nice accommodations, facilities, food, recreation facilities and freedoms, whereas not much is said about second or third class. Guess they didn't have the "freedoms" money could buy.
It's also blatantly obvious the buildings were built by class. The first class buildings are now used as a hotel of sorts. You can rent them out for a few days if you want. On the other hand, the third class accommodations were open dormitory type buildings that had common eating areas. Surprisingly, these are not rented out as they could probably make a killing with the backpackers, etc. The shower blocks reminded me of my Jr. High School gym showers too. Sucks to be in steerage.
The buildings are spread out but separated by class as well. The first class buildings are closer to the dock and have nice views of the harbor, whereas the third class buildings are on the far end and require more walking. I'm sure the classes didn't mix while at the Station either, and I'll bet any boundaries or fences have long since been removed.
Here is one of the first class buildings...
(Click the photos for higher resolution)
This is just a hallway near the hospital building. We took lots of photos of odds things - windows, doorways, etc, trying to capture ghosts. With our focus on ghosts and where they might be lurking, we failed to get any really decent pictures of the buildings and architecture.
Here is a view from the hospital building looking toward Sydney. Off to the far right (out of sight) would be Manly and on the left (out of sight as well) is the harbor opening.
We really wanted to check out the cemetery because hey, lets face it, we wanted to see ghosts. But the cemetery is off limits and the only way you can gain access to it is by taking a paid guided tour with a group. Since we just sort of showed up that day and hadn't booked any sort of reservation, we just wandered around by ourselves. Nobody paid any attention to us - sucks to be treated like third class steerage.
Speaking of ghosts, what do you see in this photo? Look in the lower left pane of the window. Is that a face looking out toward the right? We think it is... This was taken at the post office building. I've shown this to several people and they've gotten creeped out by it. What do you think?
One of the coolest sights at the Q-Station (in my opinion) are the rock carvings. I'm not talking about ancient indigenous rock carvings - I'm talking about these:
Ships:
Forest Monarch - built in 1851. Click to see the passenger manifest - note the "35 Child Male Passenger Immigrants" & "46 Child Females Passenger Immigrants".
Annie Wilson -
Nineveh - If you look at this link, it has the complete passenger listing. Complete families are listed. I can't help but imagine what it must of been like for them traveling so long and far.
We all know what happened to this ship - In May of 1915, ten years later, it was sunk by a German U-Boat.
Carvings like this are all over the dock area...
Peerless - On this manifest, it notes "132 Single Males & 131 Single Females". Maybe this was the very first "Love Boat"? No mention of the quantity of rum consumed....
Overall, a very cool place to visit if you are ever here in Sydney. They have ghost tours late at night, so if you're into that stuff it'd be a great place to check out. Maybe I'll take a tour soon and let you know.
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