AJ Sadauskas

Vintage John Broadwood & Sons piano, of a similar vintage to the one played by some chap named Ludwig Beethoven.

The living room of Hambledon Cottage.

The kitchen, which is in a building separate to the main house.

This device is an 18th century water purifier, which uses porous stone to filter water. You pour your collected water into the top. The water is slowly absorbed by the stone, while dirt and contaminants are left behind. What you get at the bottom is purified drinking water.

Some photos from inside Hambledon Cottage, Parramatta, including a vintage John Broadwood & Sons piano.

#Parramatta #history #Australia #museum #piano #music #aushistory

The view of the front of the cottage, as seen behind an old tree.

The stone gates of the historic property.

The front facade of the building.

The side view of the property. The wide varanda was a later addition inspired by John MacArthur's travels to India.

Hambledon Cottage, originally built as the guesthouse for Elizabeth Farm, is another historic colonial property in Parramatta that's now a museum. (Photos from inside tomorrow.)

#building #buildings #architecture #history #Parramatta #NSW #Australia

Circular plaque with an inscription that reads: "Remember the Dreaming. Fire hearth last used around the year 1830. Respect Country. Honour ancestors."

Its location in the middle of the square, facing east.

Something to keep an eye out for if you visit Parramatta Square.

There's a plaque commemorating a fire hearth last used by the Burramattagal–Dharug people around 1830.

It's important to remember this has been a gathering place for millennia. Long before […]

[Original post on pixelfed.social]

Parramatta's famous chrome bus statue. It commemorates the time that Parramatta Stadium was burned down in a rugby league grand final celebration that went too far. As a result, the Parramatta Eels held all their team meetings in a bus.

A crowd of people in front of Australia's oldest continually used church.

People walking across the square or eating lunch under a tree.

Groups of people talking as they walk.

Parramatta Square on a weekday afternoon...

#Parramatta #NSW #Australia #Urbanism #city #cities #StreetPhotography

The site where Arthur Philip first erected his flagpole in 1788.

A 1963 plaque by Sydney City Council which doesn't mention the Eora people at all, but does note a flag was planted here on 26 January 1788.

Here's an Australian colonial history site at Circular Quay.

On Loftus St, just around the corner from Old Customs House, is where Arthur Philip first planted the British flag on 26 January 1788. On land the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation had inhabited for 50,000+ years.

#history #Australia

A map at the train station where west is at the top of the map, and the river (which is north) is on the right.

In this map, east is at the top, and the river (north) is on the left.

Light rail map, where south is at the top and the river (north) is at the bottom.

For contrast, Open Street Map / Organic Maps. Here, the river (north) is at the top of the map.

Everywhere else: Let's put north at the top of the map by convention.

Parramatta Council: That's boring! Random directions are fun! Wheeee!

(My guess is the direction you're facing is at the top? So if you're facing west, west is up top.)

#map #cartography #Australia

The grand lounge room at Elizabeth Farm.

The lounge from the opposite side.

A map of Elizabeth Farm. It once stretched from Parramatta Road and Duck River in the south up to the Parramatta River, and extended from Alfred St in Parramatta in the west, right through to Silverwater in the east. That included the entire Rosehill Raceway.

John MacArthur's study. An ideal spot for writing letters about why s sitting governor (or his lieutenant) needs to go.

Inside Elizabeth Farm, which was the home of Rum Rebellion plotter John MacArthur and his wife Elizabeth. Today, it's a museum that's free to enter.

#ElizabethFarm #Parramatta #NSW #Australia #history #building #architecture

Front view of the Elizabeth Farm compound.

The street entry. You enter through a small café and gift shop.

Main gate to the compound and forecourt

The courtyard with a small tree. The main house is on the left and the servants' quarters are on the right.

The outside of Australia's oldest surviving colonial homestead, Elizabeth Farm. It was originally built in 1793 on stolen Dharug land for John and Elizabeth Macarthur, it is today a museum.

https://mhnsw.au/visit-us/elizabeth-farm/

#history #museum #australia #Parramatta

Parramatta skyline, as seen from the bridge near Tramway Ave.

#Parramatta #city #skyline #skylines #urban #StreetPhotography #buildings #architecture

Three very bright pink roses blooming on a green shrub against a blue sky.

A single pink rose on a bush. More budding roses are visible on a blush in the background.

Five vibrant red trumpet-shaped amaryllis flowers.

A single light pink rose.

The Parramatta Park rose garden is now in full springtime bloom...

#flower #flowers #rose #roses #plant #plants #gardening

Creepy fish prop I think, in a backstage storeroom

Entering the stage. It's lit up with bluish-violet lights.

A pulley with a sign reading: Safe working limit 300 kg per bar.

Inside the ladies' dressing room, with canary yellow benches and costumes on a rack at the back.

Backstage at the Parramatta Riverside Theatre, including in a props store room with an oversized fish...

#theatre #Theater #play #acting #props #PerformingArts #arts #art #backstage

A lighting control system on a desk. Red curtains are visible through the window. Don't ask me what it is, but it looks cool.

The lighting control system and other equipment. A man in a green jacket is standing just outside the window.

A look at the booth. The back wall is black and there's some plastic plants.

A spotlight on a desk.

One for the theatre tech nerds. Inside the control booth at the Parramatta Riverside Theatre.

#Theatre #Theater #TheatreTech #TheaterTech #SoundEngineering #MixingDesk #Lighting #Lights #audiovisual #ControlBooth

View of the stage from the second dress circle.

View of the theatre from the stage.

View of the seating.

The dated 1980s facade.

The soon-to-be-rebuilt Parramatta Riverside Theatre looks a lot nicer on the inside than on the outside.

#art #theatre #PerformingArts #Parramatta #NSW #Australia

A neo-gothic colonial church lit up in purple, orange, and red.

The Leigh Memorial Church lit up for Parra Lanes.

#Parramatta #building #buildings #architecture #ParramattaLanes

Vintage Beatdisc Records posters.

Local bands playing on the Beatdisc Records stage.

Vintage vinyl on display.

Hundreds of photos from past Beatdisc Records gigs.

One of the highlights of Parra Lanes was the Beatdisc Records stage, which featured local punk/hard rock/alternative/metal bands. A lot of Beatdisc memorabilia, including posters, records, and photos were also on display.

#Parramatta #ParramattaLanes #music #Australia

Parramatta Square was absolutely packed with people and food trucks.

Parramatta Town Hall transformed into an Aperol bar.

A funky band plays on the main stage near the Leigh Memorial Church.

Philippino barbeque stand.

Some more photos from Parramatta Lanes on Saturday.

#Parramatta #ParramattaLanes #music #food #Festival #Australia

Vegetarian chilli sin carne with a baked potato (underneath).

Various foods from Sierra Leone including rice, beans, and a sweet donut-like roll.

Sisig from the Philippines. You probably don't want to know what's in it.

Cheeseburger.

Delicious stuff I ate at Parramatta Lanes this year, including cuisine from Sierra Leone.

#food #foods #Parramatta #ParramattaLanes

Church Street in Parramatta absolutely full of people.

Huge crowds of people heading down Church St for Parramatta Lanes.

Parramatta Town Hall pop-up Aperol bar packed with people.

The queues for food are massive.

And here's why you go to Parramatta Lanes on a weeknight instead of Friday or Saturday. It's *packed*.

#Parramatta #ParramattaLanes

The Phive building is lit up in pretty shades of pink and purple. There's a stage set up in the car park, along with food trucks.

The concert stage.

The Leigh Memorial Church carpark behind Phive is the site of a free public rock concert as part of the Parramatta Lanes festival.

#Parramatta #ParramattaLanes #rock #concert #music #LiveMusic #urbanism

Along with pretty lights, food, and live music, there's some pretty spectacular city views up here.

Even on Wednesday night, the queues are long for these car park food vendors.

The car park has been transformed into dancefloors and dining spaces during the festival.

The gateway to the Powerhouse Lane precinct.

Aside from Parramatta Square, the car park near the future Powerhouse Museum and surrounding streets. These have been closed if to cars and filled with food vendors and live music.

#Parramatta #ParramattaLanes #food #events #music #festival #australia

Parra Town Hall lit up orange with a cocktail garden in front.

The word Aperol hangs over an archway in front of Parra Town Hall.

Parra Town Hall has become a cocktail bar during Parramatta Lanes.

#Parramatta #ParramattaLanes #festival

Macquarie St entry to Parra Lanes. A big pink neon sign overhead reads "Parramatta Lanes".

Crowds of people eating food truck food.

The Parramatta Town Hall atrium transformed into a concert stage.

The church lawn transformed into a dining area.

First batch of photos from the 2025 Parramatta Lanes Festival.

The secret is to visit on Wednesday or Thursday night when it's s but quieter, or else you'll be waiting an hour in a food truck queue.

https://atparramatta.com/lanes

#food #Parramatta #event #ParramattaLanes

A heritage-listed multi-storey sandstone building in an Edwardian Baroque architectural style.

The historic Department of Education Building in Bridge St Sydney: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Education_Building

#building #buildings #architecture #sydney #Australia

The Museum of Sydney, a multi-storey sandstone structure at the end of a forecourt that's dwarfed by surrounding buildings.

Looking west across Sydney Cove (now Circular Quay) from near where the Opera House now stands, towards where the Rocks and Harbour Bridge now are.

Colonial sketch of Parramatta, looking up the hill towards Old Government House. It was mostly small cottages.

Colonial sketch looking east from The Rocks towards what's now the Opera House and Royal Botanical Gardens.

There's a really fascinating free exhibition at the Museum of Sydney titled Seeing Sydney Knowing Country.

It contrasts colonial maps and sketches of Sydney with Aboriginal understandings of Country.

https://mhnsw.au/whats-on/exhibitions/seeing-sydney-knowing-country/

#maps #history

The scale model under the glass floor. Unfortunately, these photos also caught the reflection from the skylight above.

The scale model from the other side.

The Customs House building itself is a magnificent sandstone structure. To its left is Australia's first skyscraper, the 1960s AMP building, and behind it the recently renovated newer AMP building.

If you're ever up around Sydney's Circular Quay, here's a free public exhibition that's worth checking out.

There's a full scale model of the City of Sydney under a glass floor at Customs House, including the Harbour Bridge, Opera House, and Central Station […]

[Original post on pixelfed.social]

Danny Lim, carrying a smiley face on a stick, wearing a sign that reads: "Be happy, be horny, more love, not war."

Can a person be described as an icon and an institution? In the case of Danny Lim, the answer is a definite yes.

(For anyone from interstate or overseas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Lim_(activist) )

#Sydney #NSW #auspol #nswpol

Part of the neon pink sculpture in Parramatta Square covered in a tarp.

A blue sign in front reads artwork under repair.

"Artwork under repair."

The pink thing. Now with added black tarps.

#art #PublicArt #Sculpture #Parramatta #NSW #Australia

A section of the bike lane, which is painted green and separated both from the street and the footpath.

The lane continues across a roundabout. The street is raised to the level of the bike lane.

A look at how it circumnavigates the roundabout from a different angle.

This separated bike lane along Alfred St in Parramatta opened earlier this year.

And they managed to pretty much nail it, including things like the raised path at the roundabout.

#bike #bicycle #bicycling #bikes #cycle #cycling #Urbanism #UrbanPlanning #Parramatta #cities

Miss Mimi, a black and white tuxedo cat with green eyes, sits on a broken laundry hamper.

It was a long war of attrition spanning many months.

But in the end, Miss Mimi was victorious against the now-broken laundry hamper.

#cat #cats #CatsOfBlueSky #BlueSkyCats #CatsOfMastodon #MastodonCats #Catstodon #Caturday #CatsOfPixelfed #PixelfedCats

i.d, by Michail Mathioudakis (aka Marcia Manhunter) Artist's description: "i.d is a photo-based drag work that uses ID documentation & photography to playfully and violently depict the conflict of gender, identity and expression that exist within the self. "Beginning solely as an exploration of my own relationship with gender i.d quickly folded out into a rumination on the ways we compartmentalise our internality into external & identifiable experiences - and how that externality can manifest as a conflict within."

M. Sunflower, "Medusa Slaying Persus, After Artemisia", 2024-2025 Artist's description: "Based on Artemisia Gentileschi's Judith Slaying Holofernes, this work explores femme trauma & healing. Medusa (from μέδω mea-do - to guard or protect) the Gorgon is taught as so hideous that any who see her turn to stone. "Fat people are taught similar bigoted bullshit, The Gaze weaponised against us. Many avoid eye contact when addressed by us, instead fixating on your companion as if they are the speaker. "Through ENTIRE CONVERSATIONS. When you address this with said companions, they deny it even happened, oblivious to the daily insanity and aggression we endure. "If fats DARE sight someone, it's often assumed The Gaze = Desire. What delusional sin! The disgust & offense at these brief glances stir many to attack verbally & even physically. "Medusa too, was minding her own business when some patriarchal prick waltzed in to beset & behead her."

Wytchings (Jenny Trinh), "Fear Is A Cold Star", 2025. Artist's description: "Fear Is A Cold Star is a short film based off my fourth EP of the same name. The story follows a mannequin awakening to its own body. An awakening that becomes a reckoning that becomes a reclamation. "Marks from strangers, solidified silence, threads unfurling… How do you reckon with a body that you’ve never fully felt was yours? "The mannequin is imbued with my own experiences of assault, delving into the quiet and messy breaking and mending of it all. And then what happens when you fall into a softness you never thought you'd feel. The film exists in that unraveling: the painful yet beautiful tenderness that follows terror. "The quiet hope that slips in through the cracks of punctured dreams."

The PARI art gallery building

Some artworks from the "Stain" exhibition, which examines "the marks that refuse to fade away". It's on until 26 October at the PARI gallery ( https://pariari.org/ ), cnr Hunter & O'Connell St, Parramatta.

#art #artwork #painting #parramatta