38 thoughts on “about farrelly”

1. There are things that we should discuss at some point, alas, you are a very hard woman to find contact details for.

   Thus, mine are here.

   best regards,

   Alexander Tree.

   • I often feel that I would like to thank you for your articles in the SMH. It is always a pleasure to read opinions and ideas that I agree with but expressed so much more eloquently than my abilities permit. Thank you in particular for today’s contribution: ‘The toll of secularity….” When we find that we feel a need to interact with God in some way, all the Sydney Anglicans can offer is pretty much what must be the most dumbed down god around. Dressing things up with a new glamour building will not compensate for this, but at least Christ Church is still there, quietly doing its thing for those of more heightened sensibilities.

2. Dr Elizabeth

   I like the blog, but could you set up a RSS feed for your flaneurings?

3. I agree, your contact details are not easy to find. In relation to your article 21.06.2012 SMH I would like you to visit http://www.hipti.org.au for pragmatic transport solutions for Newcastle NSW. I would also welcome the opportunity to discuss the GPT/Landcom deal for the east CBD of Newcastle.

4. hasn’t the Integrated Design Advisory Board, advising the Premier of South Australia, the Hon. Jay Weatherill, been abolished?

5. Hi Elizabeth, i’m no one special or accomplished just a mum and teacher who after 30 wonderful years in Sydney has returned to Newcastle and, after 6 years back, am still astonished that nobody gets/grows/develops the potential in what is a fabulous slice of coast. I am DYING to hear your thoughts on this most perplexing, annoying place and why it is so.
   All the very best to you.
   Dorin

   • Well yes, hi Dorin. I have always wondered why Newcastle isn’t more loved and sought after. In many ways though I think it’s a blessing. Preservation by neglect – perhaps it’s the last coastal snippet. Enjoy!

     emf

6. Is there a list of projects in Riddel’s new book on Robin Dods? I’m interested in locating work by Dods in the Ku-ring-gai area. Seems, however, that all were in association with Spain and Cosh. In 1913 Spain Cosh & Dods designed a garage and additional bedrooms at Hillview in Turramurra (these can be seen from the highway), and in 1916 a ‘villa’ in Pibrac Avenue, Warrawee. I think this was for John and Emily Crawford at no 17 (source tender etc notices) but am not sure. Then there is a house in Powell Street, Killara for Dr Moxham in 1918 – think this is No 30. May I quote you in my column for KHS?

   • Hello Kath

     Sorry for the slow reply. I’ve been away for a few days.

     Happy to be quoted, as long as it’s accurate. As to Dods projects – no, there is to comprehensive project list, or index in fact. It is organised project-by-project, covering about 30 or so, with an introduction and bio at the front.

     Hope this helps

     elizabeth

7. I always enjoy your columns, but I particularly liked your comments today about Christ Church St Laurence. I photographed many of Blacket’s churches in the 1980s and have very fond memories of C C St L. It was by far my favourite, not only a wonderful design but very welcoming people as well. My only complaint was that it was nigh impossible to get a decent exterior shot of it.

8. Amen to ‘the toll of secularity is inbuilt in new design’ and to Charles Windsor’s insights. Barneys disappears into the streetscape — even my dentist’s practice has more pizazz. If ecclesiastical architecture speaks of our vision of God, then the current crop is MacMansions and Ugh boots.

9. Hello Elizabeth,
   Invariably, your column in the SMH is the first one I seek out when I open the website, or when for the perverse thrill of it, I purchase a physical copy when on those occasions I return home to Sydney (I hold the broadsheet in strong affection). I find myself in furious agreement with you time and time again, and I’m constantly bemused and saddened how at how developers and an obsequious and short-sighted political-class in Australia seem to almost always get it wrong, exerting so much energy swimming against human-scale, common-sense solutions for mediocrity and bald-faced tangible expressions of cronyism. What is it about about Australia, which gives rise to this mediocrity?

   I’m presently living in Oslo and would very much like to see your take on urban planning and architecture in the Nordic region, particularly as Oslo is currently undergoing an monumental waterfront regeneration scheme. You might also be interested in the urban renewal of Malmo’s former docklands and shipyards. I strongly recommend searching it out as this development sets many benchmarks in my opinion.

   I wanted to commend you on your latest article ‘Where the Brits have us beaten’ contrasting the examples of the London Olympic site with that of Sydney’s in no-mans land, otherwise known as Homebush. I also wanted to bring your attention to a small paean for what stood on the London Olympic Site before Thatcherite economic raltionalism rendered it a ‘rust-pocket’ as you put it:

   I thought you might appreciate this article from someone who is researching and endeavouring to build a large scale-model of this particular corner of London at the turn of the 20th century:

   http://basilicafields.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/olympic-flames/

   You may also be interested in this particular blog – an account of the urban landscape in post-war, post-Thatcherite Britain from an outraged urban planner. Fantastic stuff and furiously passionate and engaging writing:

   http://www.jonestheplanner.co.uk/

   Thank you for your time and keep fighting the good fight!

   -Grant

   • Hi Grant

     thanks for this. Isn’t Jones the Planner terrific? Like everything in the UK, planning is so politicised: if you’re opposed to modernist devastation you’re immediately classified as a Prince of Wales fogey who wants the world to turn Amish and derided by architects. Interesting.

     I’m spending a few weeks in London early next year. Maybe I should try to hop up to Norway and have a look… Malmo I think is really interesting.

     regards

     elizabeth

     • Hello there Ms PHD (urbanism) – Malmo is in fact in Sweden, not Norway. But hey, when you are as educated as your grand self, and blessed with a 47 page CV, who cares about accuracy?

     • Elizabeth, you might be interested in this. The revival of the terrace house:

       http://rationalhouse.com/index.php

       • Hi Supermundane (I know you left your name a few eons back, but I like the in-the-world-but-not-of-itness of Supermundane)

         thanks for this – interesting site.

         I’ve been thinking of doing an In Praise of the Terrace…

         Which reminds me – did you ever see Tom Cordell’s film, Utopia London? Pretty interesting, if you get a chance.

         best, elizabeth

         • Hi Elizabeth. I look forward to reading your paean to the humble terrace house.

           I confess I’ve not heard of the documentary so thanks for the tip – it sounds like something I’d be very interested in. As I see it, the horrors of the great wars of the 20th century resulted in a collective rupturing of the psyche and a mass rejection, for the first time since the late medieval period, of any eulogising of the past – a rejection of the notion that the past had any positive lessons to teach us.

           While praiseworthy in their aims and vision, the post-war utopianists perhaps were too absolute in wanting to draw a hard demarcation line between the past and shaping the present and consequently the future. They strove to reject the world that had led to such destruction and unprecedented loss of life.

           My feeling is we’re beginning to recognise that it is possible to take the ideals of the post-war period and recognise that there are forms and scales, hitherto rejected that simply and intuitively resonate with human beings, individually and collectively. My concern is that perhaps in our adoption of an economics system premised on a radical laissez-faire, we’ve lost sight of the worth egalitarian ideal of the post-war utopianists.

           Thanks again Elizabeth!

10. Hi there,
    I just read your article in the smh online. I moved to Sydney three years ago. On route I stopped in Seattle and was taken back by the ease of cycling and progressiveness of the city as a whole. I think this got me thinking and believing that Sydney, as one of the most liveable cities in the world, would be the same. Beautiful harbour, cycleways and progressive people. Sadly I was really shocked in that area. Proof that preconceptions can lead to a fall.

    Anyway. I was watching the abc one day and there was a PBS show on Portland, Oregon called E2 Transport.

    http://www.pbs.org/e2/transport.html

    The show was about city design, public transport and how the American Dream of a large house with a picket fence in the suburbs needs to be revised. I think it said that Portland has been the only city in the World to lower it’s carbon footprint over the last 20 years or so? Through intelligent planning and thought.

    With globalisation it is quite obvious that the American Dream has been the Wests dream for some time, and now the Easts strives for the same thing. Leading to dire consequences.

    I told my friend who is into this kind of thing too and be brought the the series. I feel like this show should be burnt to cd and dropped in every letter box in Sydney, Newcastle.. all urban areas. The show on Paris and what they have done with the bike system there is great and could be adopted quickly here. I don’t understand why it wouldn’t?

    http://www.pbs.org/e2/episodes/308_paris_velo_liberte_trailer.html

    http://www.pbs.org/e2/transport.html

    I kick a ball around in the mornings near Rose Bay in Sydney. Day after day I see the road clogged with cars, all with one passenger.. all heading to probably the same place, or somewhere near it.

    This show needs to be seen.

11. Elizabeth
    Ive just read your article on cycling. I am a committed pedestrian and like most of my partners in stride who traverse the Sydney CBD daily, I experience considerable annoyance with the sizeable proportion of Sydney cyclists who ride with scant regard for our wellbeing, considering us as obstacles on their path to some level of physical perfection (though why they think the lycra is attractive is really beyond me). I suggest you attempt a stroll in peak hour across the Pyrmont Bridge to witness these maniacs in action-rangers are regularly stationed on either end to try to control them but even they admit there is not much they can do. I suggest the whole notion of promoting cycling for fitness is the problem and why Sydney cyclists are so on the nose-it needs to be ditched as it only encourages people to cycle at speeds and in a manner completely incompatible with the densely trafficked city-and I’m referring here to foot traffic – not car traffic. Cycling around a city CBD, as it was when I grew up in a country town, should simply be promotoed as a great form of cheap and flexible transport to get you from A to B-forget about promoting the health and fitness benefits. Those who cycle in Paris seem to take this approach and it was my experience they pose no problems for pedestrians-and they certainly cycle with much more style than those in lycra.

12. Hello Elizabeth,
    Have wanted to let you know for a while how much I enjoy and appreciate your columns. I landed back in Sydney last month after 12 years in New York and fear I’ve lost the code to decipher the culture of this joint, if indeed I ever had it. Having made the decision to return, reading your columns from my NYU bunker provided some sort of hope that Sydney might be more worldly than the suburban arrangement in which I grew up and eventually fled from. Lots of “What have I done?” moments these past few weeks, but between the beauty of the landscape, sense of space, and delight of being close to my 7 yo daughter, I may manage to survive. Thanks again for voicing what (I hope!) a lot of people feel.

13. Hi Elizabeth,

    My husband and I look forward to your columns every Thursday. Occasionally we say, must send a comment of appreciation, but never do. When we saw Adele Horin’s goodbye column on Saturday, we remarked that we hoped you hadnt opted for redundancy. This morning we were delighted to see you still there and commented that we hoped it meant you were staying. The content of that column has forced me to my laptop. I cannot imagine how ghastly your week must have been with all that vitriol pouring into your inbox. The level of rage and misogyny among the population, under the cloak of anonymity, is a very worrying trend. We write as a gesture of support and appreciation. We sincerely hope you can rise above all the nastiness and continue to do what you do so well. kind regards, Bunty Avieson and Mal Watson

14. Dear Elizabeth,
    I’m a training history teacher who thought he’d take some time to tell you that you are the only writer who speaks to me on a level that I can only describe as intellectually inspiring. Far from an ivory tower, you’ve spoken common sense and refused the ideological traps our world is so willing to set off. Bravo

15. Onyabike Elizabeth – all the way to my place.
    You’re the best. After me of course.
    And I’m the best after you. We’d get on fine.
    I tell lots I don’t ride a bicycle. It’s a motorbike
    only I’m the motor. Civility’s gone sweetheart.

16. Dear Elizabeth

    I was so pleased to read your article on cycling last week but horrified to read of the “hate mail” you have received as a result. Reading some of the vitriolic blog reactions to your cycling experience left me feeling very upset for you and concerned at the level of hatred in the community for “cyclists”. It is very scary to realise this is how so many unthinking people see us and judge all as not deserving of any respect or consideration on the road. This is sheer madness; there are some very stupid car drivers who run red lights, etc, but they don’t attract the same generalisations cyclists attract.

    My husband and I have been in Townsville for the last five weeks enjoying the wonderful bike paths and bike lanes. However, in the last 7-10 days we have had some very aggressive young blokes give us a very hard time blasting their horns and yelling abuse, even a young woman hanging out of a car that came far too close to scream obscenities in my ear. The last straw came yesterday when a young hot head in a 4WD crossed two lanes of traffic and swerved into the bike lane in front of me while blowing the horn and bellowing at me. Now I think is time to go back home!

    All the very best Elizabeth.

17. I have always enjoyed reading your articles in the SMH as they present a pragmatic and insightful observation of the issues at hand. Rarely do I write to authors/journalists to express my pleasure. However, given the vitriolic attacks on Charlotte Dawson and yourself this week, I felt compelled to address the balance. The informed understand that there are small percentage of internet users who do not have the skills to raise the level of debate, rather they use the media to project their psychological torment on others. I’ve often wondered how one could address the issue, and I realised that Jason Wilson from the University of Canberra is right. It’s not how we respond, it is more important to ask why people do it. While it is largely a matter for psychiatrists, I do feel that as a community we have a responsibility to hold people accountable for their actions. And this is something you do very well.

    Stay strong Elizabeth.

18. Hi Elizabeth, I hope you’re well.

    If you have a few minutes at some point, I’d be keen to ask for your opinion on an article I’m currently writing for my own blog, actroads.org.

    Although at this point my blog primarily focuses on particular infrastructure issues for motorists in Canberra; I am a big advocate of shared spaces and would like to see a higher emphasis placed on non-motorised and pedestrian transport in urban areas throughout Australia.

    If you’re happy to have a chat either by phone or email, it would be excellent to hear from you.

    Regards,
    Alex.

19. I really enjoy your perspective on all things urban.
    Finally I have something you might find equally interesting:

    The Preliminary Report on our survey of views regarding the NSW Green Paper – A New Planning System for NSW. A full report will be available later this month.
    Here is the Survey Link to the survey:
    > https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NSWPlanningSystemSurvey
    >
    Id send the report if I knew how to do that.
    Cheers

20. Hello Elizabeth, thanks for le flaneur and your stirring the pot articles which effectively talk about the elephants in the room.

    I thought you would be interested in this short film on architectural renewal made locally by Greg Punch:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zgnlswRWcM&feature=youtu.be

    Would be great to have an architectural film unit!

    Keep up the good fight!

    Tony

    • Hi Tony

      thanks for this – nice film! Looks like a great little building (and isn’t Philip good on camera!) I have been trying for ages to get a story up on heritage, and the value of oldness, but no-one’s interested any more.

      Good to be reminded though. I’ll try again.

      regards

      emf

21. Dear Elizabeth,
    Interesting article on the Turnbull’s today. Didn’t Mr T announce (in April 2010) that he would leave politics at the next election? people seem to have forgotten.
    Anyway, just wondering if you’re aware of the demolition of well, not exactly a building, but if it were it would be one of those unprepossessing elderly institutions which sit quietly on the main street – which none the less holds significant artifacts in it’s basement… I’m speaking of ABC Radio National.

    There are severe cuts intended for the network’s arts unit, which are the beginning (or perhaps the middle) of a serious attack on this national institution many of us hold dear.

    At stake, the future of radio drama, which brings contemporary Australian writing to 40,000+ people each week (an enormous venue by any stretch, and it’s free!), and gives work to hundreds of actors and musicians. Airplay, the Book Reading, Sunday Story and Movie Time are to be axed.

    Also the experimental space, the Night Air, which has introduced so many to playful radio and story telling.

    Complex features and documentaries – Into the Music, Hindsight and 360documentaries too will be affected. A 1/3 increase in workload for the staff remaining after the redundancies are handed out means the quality of these internationally renowned programs will be seriously affected.

    Two sound engineers and one admin staff are also to go. 11 staff in total, although over the past 2 years already 12 have disappeared through attrition.
    The modest travel the network undertook has been curtailed – now RN can only bring you stories from, well, near their desks.

    A new low-staffed radio program called the Creative Audio Unit will come into play, bringing listeners American storytelling and low budget buy-ins.

    11 of RN’s most experienced documentary, drama and features producers are being targeted for redundancy. The Arts area of RN is being seriously eroded. This area is a significant marker of RN’s difference on the radio dial. Without it, how long can RN itself continue?

    There is some press around, but the staff need support.
    Their struggle is one mirrored in television. ABC is suffering death by
    1000 cuts to fund various projects including the shiny-looking, somewhat waiting for (any) news to break News24.

    Anyway thought your collection of mates might be interested to know this… and no doubt the denizens of RN would love some support. A vocal public is the only way to stop the cuts,
    best
    Rachael.

22. Hi there Elizabeth, regarding your piece on Turnbull today, what you and others – notably Robert Manne – forget about his time as opposition leader is that he had the opportunity to provide leadership and bipartisanship on refugees arriving by boat, but he didn’t. I emailed his office at the time to encourage him to move the Liberal Party back towards humanitarianism and bipartisanship on this and other social issues, but received the usual rote reply i.e. thanks for your input but nothing doing. And in his very first interview as opposition leader with Kerry O’Brien, Turnbull said the Republic was effectively dead for the foreseeable future. His flagship issue, and one that Kevin Rudd was open and optimistic about at the time. That’s right, Malcolm Turnbull, head of the ARM for some sort of eternity, said ‘no’ to the possibility of discussing a republic. Cut it off at the pass. So please, let’s not rewrite history. Yes, credit where it’s due – he was brave on climate change, but on a range of other issues he was just like the rest of them – another soul for sale.

23. I’d like to thank you for today’s piece about Hallowe’en/Dia de Difuntos. Really nice to see a mainstream journalist acknowledging that this celebration, in both its Celtic and Hispanic forms, is really life-affirming – not, as the idiot fundamentalists claim, some diabolical ritual. As to the way this society treats the disposal of its dead, I once worked on subtitling a doco about some people in Switzerland who run a service to scatter clients’ ashes on a stretch of mountainside which the group owns. It makes this alternative to horrible cemeteries available to people who can’t physically get to the wilderness themselves. The family get the empty urn back; I suppose you could use it to hold a person’s favourite flowers, and it doesn’t clutter up the wild mountainside.

    • Thanks Kate.

      For me, it’s important to have the ashes in a place you can return to, to remember. But, yes – there’s an American mob who’ll make them into a fish-reef for you and drop them in the ocean…No end to human weirdness. Thank god.

24. Dear Elizabeth,
    I would very much like to connect with you to discuss a unique curation role for a travel event we are producing in Sydney in 2013. Remo, a friend of mine from TED, speaks highly of you and I’d love to set up some time to meet you next week while I’m in Sydney, if you’re available. I am happy to share more details in advance of that, could you please kindly contact me via email – jill@afar.com
    Thanks so much Elizabeth,
    very best,
    Jill

25. The true visual impact of James Packers Barangaroo casino development proposal.

    Please support Sydney Harbour’s beauty by preventing Sydney’s postcard views from being dominated by the erection of an exclusive high rollers casino.

26. Re Timothy’s message about Barangaroo, I have to say that “erection” is definitely the right word for the Packer proposal!

27. Today’s accusation from former Planning Minister Frank Sartor that Eddie Obeid
    pressured him to call in the Rozelle Village development as a state significant
    project underscores yet again the need for the Balmain Leagues Club site to be
    returned to local community control.
    Giving evidence before ICAC, Sartor claimed Obeid said to him “you’ve got to call
    it in – be a team player mate” in reference to the former Balmain Leagues Club
    development proposal then under consideration by the Planning Department for
    State Significant status.
    “If Mr Sartor’s allegation that Eddie Obeid leant on him to call in the Balmain
    Leagues redevelopment is accurate, it represents a shocking betrayal of the Rozelle
    community” “The saga of the Leagues Club redevelopment has been marked by a lack of
    transparency and this must now come to an end. The only way to restore faith that
    this process has not been unduly influenced by Eddie, Benny or anyone else is for
    control of the site to be returned to the local community.”
    Cr Byrne said at present the revised Rozelle Village proposal for multiple towers up
    to 24 storeys high is set be determined by the Planning Assessment Commission, a
    State Government appointed panel, without the local community having any real
    say.
    “Council is in the process of preparing a thorough submission detailing the very
    serious impacts this slightly smaller skyscraper proposal would have on our
    community.”

    PRESS RELEASE LEICHHARDT COUNCIL 19/11/12

    Emergency briefing by Council, Balmain Town Hall tonight, Monday.

28. “Government Approved.”