Early Birchgrove/Cockatoo Island Memories

This delicate sepia mural is painted onto the white wooden panelling that makes up the street side of a timber house in Birchgrove.

It measures 11 metres wide and 3 metres high and shows several olden day views of Sydney harbour. At each end of the wall is a large rectangular window. The windows’ wooden frames are painted dark blue and the internal blinds are down.

The centre of the mural shows a large and skeletal metal construction that reaches from the top to the bottom of the mural. The tower has five splayed legs and slopes up towards a platform then up again to a smaller platform with a central wheel on top – probably a remnant of the coal mine that used to be in Balmain. Through and beyond the metal tower Sydney Harbour can be seen with two old wooden sailing ships on the water between Birchgrove and Hunters Hill in the distance. On the shore to the right of the tower is a huddle of old buildings and then a very large black and white bird is painted sitting on a wooden pylon. The bird is looking left towards the tower. To the right of the bird stands a row of six men standing side by side and facing the front. The men are dressed in baggy overalls and all but one carries a long-handled sledgehammer held horizontally at waist height. A large white fluffy dog stands with the men.

To the left of the tower is painted a faint head and shoulders portrait of a young boy. He is wearing a striped shirt. The boy is facing to the right and looks beyond the tower towards the bird. To the left of the boy is painted a perfect replica of an old three masted sailing ship anchored in the harbour. Several smaller boats are moored nearby. Further to the left is a cluster of eleven young men dressed in open-necked shirts with the sleeves rolled up, and wearing trousers or dungarees. A couple of them carry mallets. They are all painted in a pale sepia colour like an old faded black and white photograph.

Indeed this whole mural is like a gentle snapshot of Birchgrove's historical past.