‘Workmen paint the Caltex sign on Caltex House, Kent St, Sydney, 1959, drawing to an end one of the worse recessions Australia experienced since the 1930’s
faber est suae quisque fortunae…
Eternal return to the place of my youth, Fort Street Girls High School on Observatory Hill. The mythological locale we lusted after over at the co-ed old boys school campus in Petersham. My aunt Russ Aroney was an Old Girl, one of the first voices I heard as a babe in London. She was an old world nurse, tough love, a socialist, suffragette, with starched whites. A second mother to my mamma Stamatia, who would follow in her footsteps.
The lead light in the stairwell of old Fort Street Girls high school the motto faber est suae quisque fortunae…endelibly etched on my psyche
Fort Street Girls High School, Observatory Hill, Sydney
Climbing the stairs of the old girls school each day, I read the lead light phase we all sang as teenagers, in our anthem: faber est suae quisque fortunae… In these uncertain times it brings a notalgic comfort.
Everyone is the artisan of his own fortune
Building of the Cahill Expressway. Fort Street Girls High School from Iain Wallace, Lost Sydney, (unknown source)
“On this day in 1932 the Sydney Harbour Bridge opened to the public. Fort Street Girls High School was the first in the procession across the Sydney Harbour Bridge at its official opening 16th March 1932 (NSW State Archives and Records).
@LostFortStreet FB – Iain Wallace
Fort Street Girls High School , Sydney Harbour Bridge official opening 16th March 1932
1932 Sydney Harbour Bridge opened to the public. The captains of both Fort Street Boys’ & Girls’ High Schools, Reginald Sharpe and Beryl Lamble, ran the scroll’s last leg of its long journey. (NSW State Library).
The pendulum on the grandfather clock outside the Principals office chimes each hour, an incessant reminder that time is passing.
Today it could have been another beautiful day on Sydney harbour, but the unfolding dramatic changes have not been seen since the war. My heart goes out to my colleagues doing it tough.
Looking out the window of my office it could be a perfect Sydney day
The spectral ghosts of our past haunt these corridoors but it feels comforting.
Thanks Iaian Wallace: Fort Street Girls High School 1949 – 4th year girls dressed as Grecian maidens. They did a dance balancing blue balloons as part of the Centenary Pageant at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. The building behind may be the Colonial Secretary’s Office block. The tree in the background is no longer there.(Del Swain Collection)Roll Call of Famous Old Fortians – SMH Sat 30 Apr 1949 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18113449Fort Street High School – Pygmalion 1983 (Fort Street Archives Collection)Fort Street Girls High School 1950 – Del Swain with her friends in white dresses taken in the Botanic Gardens after Speech Day ceremony at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. (Del Swain Collection) From Iain WallaceThank you @Lost.Fort.Street #HeritageAtHome. Can you see Fort Street Girls High School in the misty background of this iconic Sydney image? White #cat atop one of the pylon supports of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, January 1957 by Dennis Rowe. The school is now the home of the National Trust (NSW).Thank you @Lost.Fort.Street #HeritageAtHome Siberia & the Art/Sewing Room In an article called Historical Content of Observatory Hill Sydney January 1997 prepared by Wendy Thorp, there is mention that Siberia was built for sewing and general classrooms. Building photos- 1) Siberia; 2) Art and Sewing Building. Photos supplied by 1962 ex Fortians. Thanks to Vivien Naimo & Iain Wallace.Thanks Iain Wallace -Fort Street Boys High Swimming Cahmpions 1926 (Waddington Collection)
Strange Black Box 