The wooden Fremantle Traffic bridge (opened 15th December 1939) is due to be demolished and replaced by a new structure in the next few years… Each of the main wooden pillars is hand carved with numbers (in roman numerals), the criss-cross of West Australian timber bolted together is quite unique, it would be a shame to lose such an iconic structure – should be kept as a bike/pedestrian bridge!
Sketched in ink before colour…
The “Irwin Street Building” is the oldest building on University of Western Australia [UWA] campus, originally located on Irwin Street in the centre of Perth, it was moved to the current site in 1987. Presently used as the cricket pavilion and heritage office. I drew this in black pencil in a Clairefontaine notebook sitting on a bench under the trees, very pleasant.
Notes from https://www.web.uwa.edu.au/university/history/archive-collections/irwin-street…..
“A T-shaped jarrah building constructed in 1913 provided the University’s original accommodation on this site. It was not quite complete when teaching started on 31 March 1913. Professor AD Ross, Foundation Professor of Mathematics and Physics commented that: “…the first building we got was certainly original in more senses than one. It was a jarrah shed, 110 feet long by 20 feet wide … We estimated that the building would be ready for a start on the 16 March, then 21 March, then 23 March, and finally it must be 31 March. Members of staff, at the risk of their lives, would go in and pin up notes on doors: ‘Department of Geology’ or the like. Since one of the little rooms had already been commandeered for the janitor, the telephone, electric switchboard, brooms, mops and buckets, it was evident that eleven departments must share six rooms.”
The last remaining house is Bayly Street, North Fremantle is surrounded by containers, trucks and shipping…such a cute house
Cycling back from Fremantle I stopped by the iconic (and heritage listed) Dingo Flour building, owned by Great Southern Roller Flour Mills Ltd. I sketched the same view almost exactly 5 years ago (25 June 2015) when the silos were still standing to the left of the main shed and it was rather rusty then (renovated in 2016 – new corrugated panels and repaint). 
The abandoned Fremantle Power Station, in North Coogee, I sketched this ruined building in November 2015 and have returned again to have another crack at it, this time an autumn day when it wasn’t so scorching hot. Opened in 1954 and closed in 1985 it has been empty and unloved for the last 35 years. Now surrounded by new apartments and luxury homes it looms as a ghost from the past on the horizon. My sketch squashed the long building onto a small rectangular page but that’s how this building felt to me, looking up at the solid concrete structure with the dark empty window frames (most glass is missing, just the odd one high up that remains intact).
7 and a half hours sketching the last day of the Perth Royal Show at the Royal Agricultural Society show grounds in Claremont, had a fantastic time and managed 11 sketches…a personal record! Started with a couple of pencil sketches in the cattle sheds to warm up then changed to fountain pen and watercolours…Soooo much to sketch…it’s not cheap to get into the show (adult ticket is $32 at the gate, $28 pre-purchase at IGA) but so long as you have time to stay and really look around it’s worth it to meet the farmers and crafts people and see all the exhibits.
I was chatting with smiths at the Blacksmiths’ Association of Western Australia who have invited the urban sketchers to go and sketch again at the forge works.
Cycling around Perth today, stopped at the old brickworks in Ascot, quick sketch of one of the kilns, there’s a row of these domed little kilns and several square chimney stacks all in disrepair. The brickworks ceased in 1982…
Sketching with the Perth Plein Air Painters this morning…this is “Tom Fricker Cottage”. It’s an old single storey iron and weatherboard house that was originally sited in nearby Jolimont but moved to Swanbourne and placed next to Tom Collins house as examples of early WA architecture, set among mature gum trees it’s beautiful spot…
Koonalda Homestead…abandoned station and former petrol station along the old Eyre Highway….about 20 minute drive up a rocky track off the “new” A1 Eyre Highway connecting Western Australia to South Australia. Camped here just after Christmas, the wrecked cars are all pre-1970 vintage…crashes or mechanical failures on the bone shaker old road. I sketched an old Ford Zephyr, classic shape that’s slowly rusting into the dirt. Also the old petrol pump, naked with all it’s cogs, dials and flywheel on display, amazingly the orange lamp cover was intact! Koonalda is definitely worth a visit, the old homestead is unlocked…walking around is taking a step back in time. And the cars….so many all piled up…could have spent a week there sketching…another time… 
A sunny autumn day in the old part of Guildford – originally the first Swan River settlement before Perth became favoured as the capital city of Western Australia. There are many original Australian colonial era buildings that are still standing but often with different wares for sale in the 21st century. The “Apothecary Hall” is currently a dress shop with beautiful crimson and plum full length frocks in the window. “James of Guildford” is a second hand/antique and curios place (couldn’t find any history on this shop). The power poles and power lines make the town feel like stepping back in time (many metro areas now have underground power – less cluttered looking).
sketchbookblue 