Fw: Thurs.29.9.22 daily digest archive
Roderick Smith
Tuesday, September 3, 2024 11:02 AM
----- Forwarded message -----
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday 3 September 2024 at 08:55:49 pm AEST
Subject: Thurs.29.9.22 daily digest archive part 1, text
Roderick
"220929Th-ABC-Canberra-a-foratn-ss.jpg"
"220929Th-ABC-Canberra-b-foratn-ss.jpg"
"220929Th-ABC-Canberra-c-foratn-ss.jpg"
"220929Th-ABC-Canberra-d-foratn-ss.jpg"
"220929Th-'BrisbaneTimes'-bus.loop-a-foratn-s.jpg"
"220929Th-Melbourne'Age'-DegravesSt-c-foratn-ss.jpg"
"220929Th-Melbourne'Age'-FlindersSt-a-foratn-ss.jpg"
"220929Th-Melbourne'Age'-FlindersSt-b-foratn-ss.jpg"
"220929Th-Melbourne'Age'-FlindersSt-c-foratn-ss.jpg"
"220929Th-Melbourne'Age'-FlindersSt-d-foratn-ss.jpg"
Thurs.29.9.22 Metro Twitter
Flinders St: still with a lane closed for tunnel works.
Because of tunnel works, Degraves St subway at Flinders St is closed until 2024. No platform transfer via Degraves St subway. Passengers should use Elizabeth & Swanston St entry/exits. Campbell Arcade remains closed to 2024. Platform interchange via that subway was available until mid 2022.
Bell: No lift access to platforms until Oct 2022, while works continue around the station precinct. A shuttle bus will run from Bell to Preston and Thornbury.
Heading to Royal Melbourne Show? We’re running more trains to the showgrounds to get you there and back, including amazing bands and acts after dark.
The 6.01 and 6.12 ex Pakenham have been cancelled (train faults).
15.31 Lilydale line: Major delays (police in the Ringwood East and Mooroolbark areas). Trains may operate at a reduced speed Ringwood - Lilydale.
- 16.01 clearing
18.39 Werribee/Williamstown lines: Major delays (police in the Yarraville area). Trains in the immediate area will remain at platforms. Stopping patterns may be changed.
- 18.47 Delays clearing. Trains may terminate/originate at intermediate stations.
- 18.53 Yarraville booms are stuck down.
- 18.55 With the stoppage of trains, there is a build up of trains in the area. The boom barriers at Yarraville remain lowered until all trains have cleared, and there is suitable gap between trains. Police 'requested' that all trains in the Yarraville area come to a stand while they conduct investigations within the live rail corridor. For the safety of their members, trains were brought to a stop to ensure their safety within the rail corridor.
19.19 Hurstbridge line: Major delays (an equipment fault in the Diamond Creek area). Trains may terminate/originate at Eltham. Consider alternative transport for local trips.
- 19.27 & 20.25 Buses replace trains Eltham - Hurstbridge. Buses ordered, ETA 60min. Consider alternative transport.
- 20.53 Trains have resumed, but buses continue.
15.7.21 We need the London Underground's Oyster card nationwide for £2,600 per year just like Netherlands
<www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/london-underground-oyster-card-uk-21064221>
Canberra commuters warned that light rail construction will disrupt Civic traffic for year. Markus Mannheim Thu 29 Sep 2022
A drawing of a light-rail vehicle turning on to a city street.
A depiction of the yet-to-be-built intersection of London Circuit and Commonwealth Avenue, just south of Civic. (Supplied: ACT government)
Public servants in Canberra may be asked to work at home or avoid the city centre, where a major construction project is tipped to disrupt traffic for years.
Key points:
The first stage of the Civic-to-Woden light rail route will take two years to build
City commuters have been urged to avoid peak-hour traffic
The government is using extra sensors, cameras and staff to help monitor traffic problems
The ACT government will begin extending the city's light rail network from the CBD, known as Civic, towards the southern town centre of Woden later this year.
It describes this 11-kilometre route as "the biggest infrastructure project in the history of our city", saying it will create thousands of jobs and, when finished, reduce future traffic gridlock.
The initial extension covers just 1.7 kilometres to Lake Burley Griffin, but this work — which will elevate London Circuit so it intersects with Commonwealth Avenue — will take about two years.
Car parks and some roads will close during the construction, and Transport Minister Chris Steel said "some disruption for everyone" was inevitable.
"But we're trying to mitigate that as much as possible," he said.
"We've been engaging with … large employers, like the federal public service departments, in the lead-up to this disruption period around providing their staff with opportunities to work from home and provide more flexible ways of working."
A drawing of a light rail vehicle turning a corner at a city intersection.
The light rail route will extend from Civic, where it currently ends, along London Circuit. (Supplied: ACT government)
Mr Steel said that might involve commuting "slightly later or slightly earlier to avoid the worst of the congestion".
ACT public servants had already been given "significant flexibility" to work from home, he said.
The minister encouraged other workers to use public transport if possible, travel outside peak periods, or walk or cycle.
But commuters would still be able to drive into the city if they needed to.
"We are closing parts of car parks across the city — 665 car [spaces] — but that's out of a total of 14,250 that are available across the city," Mr Steel said.
"There is ample parking around, but … it will mean that people have to change their habits."
15 min video Minister for Transport and City Services Chris Steel discusses the traffic disruption.
Road surveillance network expanded
The ACT's traffic light system already relies on electronic surveillance, which gathers data for an artificial intelligence model that minimises traffic jams.
However, the government is adding more sensors, cameras and staff to prepare for the disruptions to come.
Mr Steel said Transport Canberra was installing 40 extra Bluetooth sensors, to give the government more information about where and when road traffic was accumulating.
Thirty new cameras were also being installed, which would be monitored by staff to help them decide whether they needed to intervene.
Mr Steel said the government would use social media to keep Canberrans updated about traffic problems as they arose, and which transport alternatives were available.
"The data collected from the traffic network will be used to inform directions to motorists before and during travel on the best ways to move around the city during the construction period," he said.
"Better surveillance of our roads throughout the day will also mean we can respond more quickly to events, like accidents holding up traffic."
The government has also set up a "disruption taskforce" to manage the traffic changes.
The taskforce's latest update says a "park and ride" station has now opened at Mawson, to encourage commuters to travel to Civic by bus.
Meanwhile, the city's e-scooter hire schemes have been expanded to include the Woden and Gungahlin areas.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-29/canberra-traffic-delays-loom-amid-light-rail-construction/101485740
Rone’s ode to mid-century Melbourne transforms Flinders Street Station. Kerrie O'Brien September 29, 2022. 11 comments
Rone has long been fascinated by the urban legend of the ballroom at Flinders Street, often wondering if it even existed and whether he could create work there. “It has always been on my list,” he says.
That ambition is about to come true, as the 42-year-old Geelong-born artist opens his biggest work yet. With Time, he is about to take over not only the storied ballroom but the entire third level of the iconic Melbourne station.
Artist Rone in his architectural intervention upstairs at Flinders Street Station.
Artist Rone in his architectural intervention upstairs at Flinders Street Station.Credit:Jason South
Rone is the moniker of street artist Tyrone Wright, who describes the transformation as “an architectural intervention”. Much more than art on the walls, it is an imagined reality of a world gone by, a glimpse of what might have been.
“‘I’ll meet you under the clocks’, there’s a nod to that in everything,” he says. “There’s something about this building and time. The clock tower [at the station] was how all the train drivers would set their watches: they would go out to all the regions, this is the space that set time for all Victoria. It’s quite beautiful to know it rings out from here.”
Three years in the making, Time is a love letter to mid-century Melbourne. “One of the things I really work with is that whole thing of beauty and decay. If it looks fragile, you can appreciate it more because you know it’s not going to last, this heightened sense of beauty because it’s so delicate,” he says.
“There’s something about this building and time,” says artist Rone, upstairs at Flinders Street Station.Credit:Jason South
Wright hopes people experience a shift in time when they visit. Playing with morning and afternoon light, he says, one room might feel like a different time of the day to what it is outside, but it might also take a visitor back 50 years in time. “I like the idea that what I do is a response to the architecture. I make the building part of my artwork, you can’t tell where the building starts and my work finishes.”
The artist’s last major large-scale work was Empire, a derelict Art Deco mansion at Burnham Beeches made over in 2019; it attracted an estimated 25,000 visitors. While it told imagined stories of the upper classes, this latest shines a light on the working class of post-WWII Melbourne.
That timeframe was inspired by his grandmother, who used to work in the famous fashion strip Flinders Lane as a seamstress. “I started looking at that and other administration jobs, that influenced what would fit in this building,” he says, adding it is not meant to be historically correct. “I want it to be fantastical.”
“That’s one of the reasons I don’t paint celebrities: people can see what I’ve done wrong.”
Across the station’s third floor, themed rooms will be filled with original and recreated period objects, lighting and sound design. Spaces will include typing pools, machine rooms and public libraries of mid-1900s Melbourne, with Rone’s haunting signature female portraits hovering above each scene.
Rone aka Tyrone Wright had his first comprehensive survey show at Geelong Gallery last year.Credit:Eddie Jim
Teresa Oman, who the artist has worked with for years, is the model. “She’s almost like an emotional representation in these spaces,” Wright says. “She’s a bit of a classic beauty in a sense. I’m definitely going for something universal, I get a lot of comments saying ‘It looks like my sister, my grandmother’ ... If you met her in person would say I totally painted her wrong. She has this chameleon sense.″
Several longtime collaborators helped create the world Rone envisaged for Time. Set dresser Carly Spooner collected period pieces from op shops, garage sales and Gumtree to create the detail in the various rooms: the type of desk, typewriters and so on. Callum Preston led the team of set builders who crafted the many structures and replica furniture featured, while composer Nick Batterham works on the very complicated soundscape. “We learnt lessons from previous shows,” says Wright. “If you do a soundtrack across 10 rooms no one can hear it all at the same time but music does bleed from room to room.”
Access to the station has been limited, so much of the planning has been done digitally. Restrictions as a result of its heritage-listing proved challenging; anything over two metres long had to be created as modular units. Rone and his team have had access to the site since July, and about 120 people have worked on the installation, with a core team of between five and 10. The project was financed in part by the government’s Rise funding, through which Wright received $1.86 million.
A general view of the new exhibition by artist Rone upstairs at Flinders Street Station.Credit:Jason South
“It’s taking shape; all I can see is what isn’t done.”
“It’s 90 per cent planning, there’s so much planning that goes into everything ... This is my art practice now, I still do canvas commissions and bits and pieces but I have said no to almost everything in past years,” Wright says. “As a traditional painter it’s been really exciting to work in other dimensions, to realise I can be expressive by placing a sewing machine in a room, some trinkets on the floor.″
A chance meeting with then state planning minister Richard Wynne at Empire was a part catalyst to this work: Wright was asked where he’d like to work next and he said the station would be his ideal. “It was a total pipe dream. I kept hassling people, I roped in Visit Victoria, they got very excited about it, they roped in the Melbourne International Arts Festival ... it was meant to open before Patricia [Piccinini]’s show ...”
Then, of course, the pandemic hit: “It was one of those clusterf--- COVID things”.
About 50 visitors will be allowed in at a time. “I’m really excited to let people in and they will have their own stories when they come ... those stories are really beautiful to hear,” he says, adding that memories evoked or stories conjured in the space were one of the most wonderful aspects of Empire.
Flinders Street Station’s upper levels used to house sporting clubs, language classes, a rooftop running track and, of course, the ballroom.
Despite the fact he grew up in Geelong, Wright did not watch the grand final on the weekend. “Geelong will probably disown me for saying that!” he says, with a laugh. The main game for him is bringing to fruition a project his teenage self could only dream of, all those years ago when he wondered if the Flinders Street Ballroom really existed.
Time runs until January 29, 2023.
* Cringe art
Rone's artwork seems to be inspired by hair care and lipstick commercials.
Empire was terrific. I'll be going to this one, for sure!
Empire was better than terrific. I'll see you there.
Sounds good. I recall attending a Melbourne University Revolutionary Workers' Ball in the Flinders Street Station ballroom sometime in the 1970s. Even had a cloakroom attendant to take your coats.
https://www.theage.com.au/culture/art-and-design/rone-s-ode-to-mid-century-melbourne-transforms-flinders-street-station-20220920-p5bjmy.html
New free Brisbane bus loop rolls out as roadwork ramps up. Tony Moore September 29, 2022. 4 comments
A new free bus will from early 2023 run for 12 months through inner-city Brisbane to tempt people out of their cars as big construction projects ramp up.
The free bus will run a triangular “loop” at South Brisbane, along Vulture Street past Brisbane State High School as far as Tribune Street, around to Grey Street and back towards Kurilpa Point, then down Montague Road until it meets Vulture Street again.
A new free bus will run through the major arts, retail and residential areas of South Brisbane and West End from 2023 as a 12-month trial.Credit:Brisbane City Council
It will allow residents, students and workers to get to local primary and secondary schools, to the popular West End Markets, Queensland Museum, the State Library of Queensland, the Queensland Performing Arts Complex and South Bank Parklands.
The 10-minute loop also runs past West End’s main retail centre on Boundary Street.
The free bus service coincides with major work for the Brisbane Metro project around the Queensland Cultural Centre and extra traffic along Montague Road, a major thoroughfare between South Brisbane and West End.
Brisbane City Council transport committee chair Ryan Murphy said the free bus trial was introduced to ease traffic congestion as construction on big projects increased.
Brisbane City Council will introduce a free bus service around South Brisbane that will run through Grey Street, Montague Road and Vulture streets from 2023 as roadworks intensify. Credit:Tony Moore
“As construction on some big and exciting projects, including Brisbane Metro, ramp up, it’s important we continue to make it easy for people to get around,” Murphy said.
“In South Brisbane, there will be major Brisbane Metro works at the Cultural Centre Precinct along with ongoing work on other projects, including Cross River Rail and a number of residential and commercial buildings.
“We will be introducing a 12-month bus trial during the peak of construction works in this area that will service 15 stops across Tribune Street, Grey Street and Montague Road in South Brisbane.”
The free bus loop will use the existing bus stops along the route, while introducing five new bus stops.
The decision to continue the service beyond 12 months would depend on how well it was used and how resources from the council’s $671 million transport budget would be spent, Murphy said.
“This will be a 12-month trial during the major construction phase of the state-of-the-art Brisbane Metro project, after which its effectiveness will be assessed.”
Councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan said the decision was a “fabulous” result after 18 months of debate about bus stop locations.
“While many able-bodied residents probably don’t have a big issue walking or riding from West End to South Bank, those of us who are not quite as mobile, including older residents and parents with young kids, will benefit greatly from this,” Sriranganathan said.
“Crucially, for local businesses it will bring more visitors and tourists from the South Brisbane riverfront further into the Kurilpa peninsula.”
He said he would support the removal of street parking at pinch points, including the northern end of Montague Road, “to avoid the buses getting held up in general traffic”.
* Great work BCC. That access between West End and the Gabba near Mater has always been tricky for buses/bike transport but not cars. I doubt Gabba Councillor had anything to do with it though. just claiming some relevance where he can.
Hard luck if you're in the outer burbs
Should have extended further into Woolloongabba as despite there being 5 services currently running through 4101 there is nothing linking west end and Woolloongabba.
Even though I don’t live there, it’s a great idea and should spread to more areas.
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/new-free-brisbane-bus-loop-rolls-out-as-roadwork-ramps-up-20220929-p5blvt.html
<www.theage.com.au/national/queensland/new-free-brisbane-bus-loop-rolls-out-as-roadwork-ramps-up-20220929-p5blvt.html>
New traffic technology to ease Woden light rail construction disruption: ACT government. Soofia Tariq September 29 2022. 9 Comments
The ACT government is installing additional traffic motoring as construction for the Woden light rail is due to begin. Picture by Elesa Kurtz
Canberrans will be able to get live updates from Canberra's main roads with new traffic monitoring systems aiming to ease disruption caused by the construction of the Woden light rail and raising of London Circuit.
In an announcement on Thursday, Minister for Transport and City Services Chris Steel said the ACT government is installing intelligent transport monitoring technology on roads impacted by construction in Civic, which will provide live updates to travellers.
"To reduce traffic impacts associated with the delivery of light rail and other major public and private projects in the city centre, we've been investing in smart technology to better manage our traffic network during construction and beyond," Minister Steel said.
Data collected from the traffic network will be used to inform directions to motorists before and during travel on the best ways to move around the city during the construction period.
The government will also hire additional staff at the traffic management centre "to ensure we've got live coverage during the morning and afternoon peaks".
"This means motorists can expect more management of traffic lights and live updates to variable message signage as the construction program ramps up," Minister Steel said.
"While disruption from such major infrastructure is unavoidable we'll be asking Canberrans to adjust their routines and think about other ways to get around like travelling outside of peak periods, walking, cycling or taking public transport."
READ MORE: Around 40 additional Bluetooth sensors and 30 new cameras are being installed on roads to provide live updates to motorists and public transport users.
<www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7923124/new-traffic-technology-to-reduce-impact-of-light-rail-construction>
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday 3 September 2024 at 08:55:49 pm AEST
Subject: Thurs.29.9.22 daily digest archive part 1, text
Roderick
"220929Th-ABC-Canberra-a-foratn-ss.jpg"
"220929Th-ABC-Canberra-b-foratn-ss.jpg"
"220929Th-ABC-Canberra-c-foratn-ss.jpg"
"220929Th-ABC-Canberra-d-foratn-ss.jpg"
"220929Th-'BrisbaneTimes'-bus.loop-a-foratn-s.jpg"
"220929Th-Melbourne'Age'-DegravesSt-c-foratn-ss.jpg"
"220929Th-Melbourne'Age'-FlindersSt-a-foratn-ss.jpg"
"220929Th-Melbourne'Age'-FlindersSt-b-foratn-ss.jpg"
"220929Th-Melbourne'Age'-FlindersSt-c-foratn-ss.jpg"
"220929Th-Melbourne'Age'-FlindersSt-d-foratn-ss.jpg"
Thurs.29.9.22 Metro Twitter
Flinders St: still with a lane closed for tunnel works.
Because of tunnel works, Degraves St subway at Flinders St is closed until 2024. No platform transfer via Degraves St subway. Passengers should use Elizabeth & Swanston St entry/exits. Campbell Arcade remains closed to 2024. Platform interchange via that subway was available until mid 2022.
Bell: No lift access to platforms until Oct 2022, while works continue around the station precinct. A shuttle bus will run from Bell to Preston and Thornbury.
Heading to Royal Melbourne Show? We’re running more trains to the showgrounds to get you there and back, including amazing bands and acts after dark.
The 6.01 and 6.12 ex Pakenham have been cancelled (train faults).
15.31 Lilydale line: Major delays (police in the Ringwood East and Mooroolbark areas). Trains may operate at a reduced speed Ringwood - Lilydale.
- 16.01 clearing
18.39 Werribee/Williamstown lines: Major delays (police in the Yarraville area). Trains in the immediate area will remain at platforms. Stopping patterns may be changed.
- 18.47 Delays clearing. Trains may terminate/originate at intermediate stations.
- 18.53 Yarraville booms are stuck down.
- 18.55 With the stoppage of trains, there is a build up of trains in the area. The boom barriers at Yarraville remain lowered until all trains have cleared, and there is suitable gap between trains. Police 'requested' that all trains in the Yarraville area come to a stand while they conduct investigations within the live rail corridor. For the safety of their members, trains were brought to a stop to ensure their safety within the rail corridor.
19.19 Hurstbridge line: Major delays (an equipment fault in the Diamond Creek area). Trains may terminate/originate at Eltham. Consider alternative transport for local trips.
- 19.27 & 20.25 Buses replace trains Eltham - Hurstbridge. Buses ordered, ETA 60min. Consider alternative transport.
- 20.53 Trains have resumed, but buses continue.
15.7.21 We need the London Underground's Oyster card nationwide for £2,600 per year just like Netherlands
<www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/london-underground-oyster-card-uk-21064221>
Canberra commuters warned that light rail construction will disrupt Civic traffic for year. Markus Mannheim Thu 29 Sep 2022
A drawing of a light-rail vehicle turning on to a city street.
A depiction of the yet-to-be-built intersection of London Circuit and Commonwealth Avenue, just south of Civic. (Supplied: ACT government)
Public servants in Canberra may be asked to work at home or avoid the city centre, where a major construction project is tipped to disrupt traffic for years.
Key points:
The first stage of the Civic-to-Woden light rail route will take two years to build
City commuters have been urged to avoid peak-hour traffic
The government is using extra sensors, cameras and staff to help monitor traffic problems
The ACT government will begin extending the city's light rail network from the CBD, known as Civic, towards the southern town centre of Woden later this year.
It describes this 11-kilometre route as "the biggest infrastructure project in the history of our city", saying it will create thousands of jobs and, when finished, reduce future traffic gridlock.
The initial extension covers just 1.7 kilometres to Lake Burley Griffin, but this work — which will elevate London Circuit so it intersects with Commonwealth Avenue — will take about two years.
Car parks and some roads will close during the construction, and Transport Minister Chris Steel said "some disruption for everyone" was inevitable.
"But we're trying to mitigate that as much as possible," he said.
"We've been engaging with … large employers, like the federal public service departments, in the lead-up to this disruption period around providing their staff with opportunities to work from home and provide more flexible ways of working."
A drawing of a light rail vehicle turning a corner at a city intersection.
The light rail route will extend from Civic, where it currently ends, along London Circuit. (Supplied: ACT government)
Mr Steel said that might involve commuting "slightly later or slightly earlier to avoid the worst of the congestion".
ACT public servants had already been given "significant flexibility" to work from home, he said.
The minister encouraged other workers to use public transport if possible, travel outside peak periods, or walk or cycle.
But commuters would still be able to drive into the city if they needed to.
"We are closing parts of car parks across the city — 665 car [spaces] — but that's out of a total of 14,250 that are available across the city," Mr Steel said.
"There is ample parking around, but … it will mean that people have to change their habits."
15 min video Minister for Transport and City Services Chris Steel discusses the traffic disruption.
Road surveillance network expanded
The ACT's traffic light system already relies on electronic surveillance, which gathers data for an artificial intelligence model that minimises traffic jams.
However, the government is adding more sensors, cameras and staff to prepare for the disruptions to come.
Mr Steel said Transport Canberra was installing 40 extra Bluetooth sensors, to give the government more information about where and when road traffic was accumulating.
Thirty new cameras were also being installed, which would be monitored by staff to help them decide whether they needed to intervene.
Mr Steel said the government would use social media to keep Canberrans updated about traffic problems as they arose, and which transport alternatives were available.
"The data collected from the traffic network will be used to inform directions to motorists before and during travel on the best ways to move around the city during the construction period," he said.
"Better surveillance of our roads throughout the day will also mean we can respond more quickly to events, like accidents holding up traffic."
The government has also set up a "disruption taskforce" to manage the traffic changes.
The taskforce's latest update says a "park and ride" station has now opened at Mawson, to encourage commuters to travel to Civic by bus.
Meanwhile, the city's e-scooter hire schemes have been expanded to include the Woden and Gungahlin areas.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-29/canberra-traffic-delays-loom-amid-light-rail-construction/101485740
Rone’s ode to mid-century Melbourne transforms Flinders Street Station. Kerrie O'Brien September 29, 2022. 11 comments
Rone has long been fascinated by the urban legend of the ballroom at Flinders Street, often wondering if it even existed and whether he could create work there. “It has always been on my list,” he says.
That ambition is about to come true, as the 42-year-old Geelong-born artist opens his biggest work yet. With Time, he is about to take over not only the storied ballroom but the entire third level of the iconic Melbourne station.
Artist Rone in his architectural intervention upstairs at Flinders Street Station.
Artist Rone in his architectural intervention upstairs at Flinders Street Station.Credit:Jason South
Rone is the moniker of street artist Tyrone Wright, who describes the transformation as “an architectural intervention”. Much more than art on the walls, it is an imagined reality of a world gone by, a glimpse of what might have been.
“‘I’ll meet you under the clocks’, there’s a nod to that in everything,” he says. “There’s something about this building and time. The clock tower [at the station] was how all the train drivers would set their watches: they would go out to all the regions, this is the space that set time for all Victoria. It’s quite beautiful to know it rings out from here.”
Three years in the making, Time is a love letter to mid-century Melbourne. “One of the things I really work with is that whole thing of beauty and decay. If it looks fragile, you can appreciate it more because you know it’s not going to last, this heightened sense of beauty because it’s so delicate,” he says.
“There’s something about this building and time,” says artist Rone, upstairs at Flinders Street Station.Credit:Jason South
Wright hopes people experience a shift in time when they visit. Playing with morning and afternoon light, he says, one room might feel like a different time of the day to what it is outside, but it might also take a visitor back 50 years in time. “I like the idea that what I do is a response to the architecture. I make the building part of my artwork, you can’t tell where the building starts and my work finishes.”
The artist’s last major large-scale work was Empire, a derelict Art Deco mansion at Burnham Beeches made over in 2019; it attracted an estimated 25,000 visitors. While it told imagined stories of the upper classes, this latest shines a light on the working class of post-WWII Melbourne.
That timeframe was inspired by his grandmother, who used to work in the famous fashion strip Flinders Lane as a seamstress. “I started looking at that and other administration jobs, that influenced what would fit in this building,” he says, adding it is not meant to be historically correct. “I want it to be fantastical.”
“That’s one of the reasons I don’t paint celebrities: people can see what I’ve done wrong.”
Across the station’s third floor, themed rooms will be filled with original and recreated period objects, lighting and sound design. Spaces will include typing pools, machine rooms and public libraries of mid-1900s Melbourne, with Rone’s haunting signature female portraits hovering above each scene.
Rone aka Tyrone Wright had his first comprehensive survey show at Geelong Gallery last year.Credit:Eddie Jim
Teresa Oman, who the artist has worked with for years, is the model. “She’s almost like an emotional representation in these spaces,” Wright says. “She’s a bit of a classic beauty in a sense. I’m definitely going for something universal, I get a lot of comments saying ‘It looks like my sister, my grandmother’ ... If you met her in person would say I totally painted her wrong. She has this chameleon sense.″
Several longtime collaborators helped create the world Rone envisaged for Time. Set dresser Carly Spooner collected period pieces from op shops, garage sales and Gumtree to create the detail in the various rooms: the type of desk, typewriters and so on. Callum Preston led the team of set builders who crafted the many structures and replica furniture featured, while composer Nick Batterham works on the very complicated soundscape. “We learnt lessons from previous shows,” says Wright. “If you do a soundtrack across 10 rooms no one can hear it all at the same time but music does bleed from room to room.”
Access to the station has been limited, so much of the planning has been done digitally. Restrictions as a result of its heritage-listing proved challenging; anything over two metres long had to be created as modular units. Rone and his team have had access to the site since July, and about 120 people have worked on the installation, with a core team of between five and 10. The project was financed in part by the government’s Rise funding, through which Wright received $1.86 million.
A general view of the new exhibition by artist Rone upstairs at Flinders Street Station.Credit:Jason South
“It’s taking shape; all I can see is what isn’t done.”
“It’s 90 per cent planning, there’s so much planning that goes into everything ... This is my art practice now, I still do canvas commissions and bits and pieces but I have said no to almost everything in past years,” Wright says. “As a traditional painter it’s been really exciting to work in other dimensions, to realise I can be expressive by placing a sewing machine in a room, some trinkets on the floor.″
A chance meeting with then state planning minister Richard Wynne at Empire was a part catalyst to this work: Wright was asked where he’d like to work next and he said the station would be his ideal. “It was a total pipe dream. I kept hassling people, I roped in Visit Victoria, they got very excited about it, they roped in the Melbourne International Arts Festival ... it was meant to open before Patricia [Piccinini]’s show ...”
Then, of course, the pandemic hit: “It was one of those clusterf--- COVID things”.
About 50 visitors will be allowed in at a time. “I’m really excited to let people in and they will have their own stories when they come ... those stories are really beautiful to hear,” he says, adding that memories evoked or stories conjured in the space were one of the most wonderful aspects of Empire.
Flinders Street Station’s upper levels used to house sporting clubs, language classes, a rooftop running track and, of course, the ballroom.
Despite the fact he grew up in Geelong, Wright did not watch the grand final on the weekend. “Geelong will probably disown me for saying that!” he says, with a laugh. The main game for him is bringing to fruition a project his teenage self could only dream of, all those years ago when he wondered if the Flinders Street Ballroom really existed.
Time runs until January 29, 2023.
* Cringe art
Rone's artwork seems to be inspired by hair care and lipstick commercials.
Empire was terrific. I'll be going to this one, for sure!
Empire was better than terrific. I'll see you there.
Sounds good. I recall attending a Melbourne University Revolutionary Workers' Ball in the Flinders Street Station ballroom sometime in the 1970s. Even had a cloakroom attendant to take your coats.
https://www.theage.com.au/culture/art-and-design/rone-s-ode-to-mid-century-melbourne-transforms-flinders-street-station-20220920-p5bjmy.html
New free Brisbane bus loop rolls out as roadwork ramps up. Tony Moore September 29, 2022. 4 comments
A new free bus will from early 2023 run for 12 months through inner-city Brisbane to tempt people out of their cars as big construction projects ramp up.
The free bus will run a triangular “loop” at South Brisbane, along Vulture Street past Brisbane State High School as far as Tribune Street, around to Grey Street and back towards Kurilpa Point, then down Montague Road until it meets Vulture Street again.
A new free bus will run through the major arts, retail and residential areas of South Brisbane and West End from 2023 as a 12-month trial.Credit:Brisbane City Council
It will allow residents, students and workers to get to local primary and secondary schools, to the popular West End Markets, Queensland Museum, the State Library of Queensland, the Queensland Performing Arts Complex and South Bank Parklands.
The 10-minute loop also runs past West End’s main retail centre on Boundary Street.
The free bus service coincides with major work for the Brisbane Metro project around the Queensland Cultural Centre and extra traffic along Montague Road, a major thoroughfare between South Brisbane and West End.
Brisbane City Council transport committee chair Ryan Murphy said the free bus trial was introduced to ease traffic congestion as construction on big projects increased.
Brisbane City Council will introduce a free bus service around South Brisbane that will run through Grey Street, Montague Road and Vulture streets from 2023 as roadworks intensify. Credit:Tony Moore
“As construction on some big and exciting projects, including Brisbane Metro, ramp up, it’s important we continue to make it easy for people to get around,” Murphy said.
“In South Brisbane, there will be major Brisbane Metro works at the Cultural Centre Precinct along with ongoing work on other projects, including Cross River Rail and a number of residential and commercial buildings.
“We will be introducing a 12-month bus trial during the peak of construction works in this area that will service 15 stops across Tribune Street, Grey Street and Montague Road in South Brisbane.”
The free bus loop will use the existing bus stops along the route, while introducing five new bus stops.
The decision to continue the service beyond 12 months would depend on how well it was used and how resources from the council’s $671 million transport budget would be spent, Murphy said.
“This will be a 12-month trial during the major construction phase of the state-of-the-art Brisbane Metro project, after which its effectiveness will be assessed.”
Councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan said the decision was a “fabulous” result after 18 months of debate about bus stop locations.
“While many able-bodied residents probably don’t have a big issue walking or riding from West End to South Bank, those of us who are not quite as mobile, including older residents and parents with young kids, will benefit greatly from this,” Sriranganathan said.
“Crucially, for local businesses it will bring more visitors and tourists from the South Brisbane riverfront further into the Kurilpa peninsula.”
He said he would support the removal of street parking at pinch points, including the northern end of Montague Road, “to avoid the buses getting held up in general traffic”.
* Great work BCC. That access between West End and the Gabba near Mater has always been tricky for buses/bike transport but not cars. I doubt Gabba Councillor had anything to do with it though. just claiming some relevance where he can.
Hard luck if you're in the outer burbs
Should have extended further into Woolloongabba as despite there being 5 services currently running through 4101 there is nothing linking west end and Woolloongabba.
Even though I don’t live there, it’s a great idea and should spread to more areas.
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/new-free-brisbane-bus-loop-rolls-out-as-roadwork-ramps-up-20220929-p5blvt.html
<www.theage.com.au/national/queensland/new-free-brisbane-bus-loop-rolls-out-as-roadwork-ramps-up-20220929-p5blvt.html>
New traffic technology to ease Woden light rail construction disruption: ACT government. Soofia Tariq September 29 2022. 9 Comments
The ACT government is installing additional traffic motoring as construction for the Woden light rail is due to begin. Picture by Elesa Kurtz
Canberrans will be able to get live updates from Canberra's main roads with new traffic monitoring systems aiming to ease disruption caused by the construction of the Woden light rail and raising of London Circuit.
In an announcement on Thursday, Minister for Transport and City Services Chris Steel said the ACT government is installing intelligent transport monitoring technology on roads impacted by construction in Civic, which will provide live updates to travellers.
"To reduce traffic impacts associated with the delivery of light rail and other major public and private projects in the city centre, we've been investing in smart technology to better manage our traffic network during construction and beyond," Minister Steel said.
Data collected from the traffic network will be used to inform directions to motorists before and during travel on the best ways to move around the city during the construction period.
The government will also hire additional staff at the traffic management centre "to ensure we've got live coverage during the morning and afternoon peaks".
"This means motorists can expect more management of traffic lights and live updates to variable message signage as the construction program ramps up," Minister Steel said.
"While disruption from such major infrastructure is unavoidable we'll be asking Canberrans to adjust their routines and think about other ways to get around like travelling outside of peak periods, walking, cycling or taking public transport."
READ MORE: Around 40 additional Bluetooth sensors and 30 new cameras are being installed on roads to provide live updates to motorists and public transport users.
<www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7923124/new-traffic-technology-to-reduce-impact-of-light-rail-construction>
