David Watson

Wulumay Close

There are shell middens
down on the casuarina-clad sandstone of Callan Point, and strange rock drawings of sailing ships and compasses. Across the six-lane snarl of Victoria Road lies the fresh beige cadaver of Balmain Shores – 500 aspirational apartments on the old power station site. New colours, new plantings, new gated values – freshly chlorinated urban consolidation.

Terror on Our Shores
Iron Cove Monster: Morning         Glory vs Chinese Hackberry
Balmain Shores
Callan Point
'Atelier' Rising
Swathe
'Atelier' Bay
Rigging the Future
Tender
Desert

10 Lambda Prints
behind 6 mm perspex
64 x 96 cm
Edition of five
$1150 each

Across the landscaped public shorefront lie designer plaques honouring captains of industry and sport, but beyond a few unexplained street names there is no acknowledgment of the peninsula’s original custodians. Wulumay Close is of one of the new cul-de-sacs (wulumai is Cadigal for snapper). 

See 'Chapter 5 Wulumay Close' in Precious Little: Traces of Australian Place and Belonging (2004)
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