Old Owl's photos

HFF, everyone. Enjoy your day and your weekend. Life is good. Titanic Mill, Linthwaite, Yorkshire. Dark & Satanic.

The Skeleton Jetty, adjacent to Busselton Jetty in WA. The "skelly" was constructed next to the Busselton Jetty in the early 1900s to carry rail freight to the jetty from the town so that it could be loaded onto ships. It survived Cyclone Alby in 1978 when a large part of the main jetty was destroyed. The authorities removed much of it for safety reasons. Thus there is not a lot of the "skelly" left. It is gently rotting but provides nesting for seabirds which can be observed as people walk along the jetty out to sea. The jetty was eventually saved but then almost destroyed again in 1999 when it caught fire. That it still exists is a testament to the people of Busselton who refused to countenance its loss and who campaigned tirelessly for the funds to rebuild it as it is today: the longest timber-piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere (1.841 km). (Press Z for a bigger view, please.)

After Eggleston.

Happy Fence Friday to everyone everywhere. I hope you enjoy a fine and pleasant weekend. It is the start of spring here in WA. Actually, according to the indigenous Nyoongar people of the region it is Djilba or First Spring, the season of conception which encompasses August and September and when many of the 12,000 different species of wild flowers which explode throughout WA begin to bloom. Many of these species are not found anywhere else in the world. We look forward to seeing them over the next two months. This is one of the traffic bridges over the Avon River in Northam, WA. The picture was taken by my wife and is used with her permission. Thanks, hon.

Shelter Brewery, Busselton, WA. (Big is brighter.Please press Z to try it out.)

Busselton Jetty

Busselton Jetty, WA (Press Z to see it shine.)

For World Photography Day 2022. It was miserable outdoors so I spent the day looking for inspiration inside for my photograph for the day. I've never really used my phone camera or learnt how to use it properly. Today was an opportunity to learn and practise.

The slender and delicate bell tower seen on the left once stood in splendid isolation in Barrack Square by the Swan River in Perth. The development of Elizabeth Quay now stands next to its spire. These hotels and appartments on the right now loom over it like bullies in a playground, dwarfing and intimidating it. Such is the price of progress, where money not only talks but swears loudly, proclaiming its power and daring us to want anything different. (I've rung in this tower, a wonderful and quite exhilarating experience.)

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Murray Street, Perth, WA. (Better big and on black. Please press Z.)

Happy Fence Friday, everyone. I hope your weekend is safe, enjoyable and all you hope for. This is Perth railway station. The fence is, I suppose, technically a balustrade. It borders the Horseshoe Bridge, a traffic bridge carrying the road across the station and associated railway lines from the city CBD to Northbridge, where the cultural centre, restaurants, bars and music venues are. It is an iconic structure in Perth but is also responsible for cutting the city off from its most vibrant areas. (There is an alternative route for foot traffic through the station and from which this picture was taken.) The Horseshoe Bridge also cuts the station and passengers off from the newly created Yagan Square and has thus helped in that project's demise. (I wonder whether planners and developers ever revisit the spaces they plan and develop to see the havoc they sometimes wreak? Doubt it somehow. Sorry for the rant, but if there is a hell I hope that developers are consigned to the hottest part of it.) Anyway, enjoy the fence. Big it up by pressing Z.

Art Gallery of WA (AGWA) Cafe, Perth

Happy Fence Friday, everyone. Let us hope all goes well with each of us and that we can enjoy our weekend. This is typical of the design of many pubs and hotels in country Australia, especially those built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when the pastoral lands were being cultivated and the grain crops were being established. When we stayed there in July there was a dinner and meeting for (I think) the Rotary Club, which probably included many of the town's residents. It sounded as though a good time was being had. We, on the other hand, ate a nice pub meal in the bar with maybe fifteen people there; old and young, single and couples. The hotel is currently for sale, again this is a reflection of the decline in population in Wheatbelt towns and the relative isolation of Wyalkatchem from the main highways. Press Z to see it bigger, please. It deserves to be admired for its perseverance if nothing else.

Forrest Chase, Perth, WA.

Disused station in Wyalkatchem in the Wheatbelt of WA. Grain trains still pass here during the harvest season on their way to the CBH silos nearby. The town is a small one, perhaps 500 people, and it is not a place one would visit casually, thus a railway station is considered low priority. HFF everyone. I hope your weekend is a fine and pleasant one. Please keep yourselves safe.