Morpeth Camera Club report: Glyn's Australian Odyssey

The mystery guest speaker turned out to be the club’s own Glyn Trueman with a presentation entitled ‘An Australian Odyssey, or Opportunistic Photos from OZ’.

Glyn and his wife Hilary had spent six weeks travelling and learning about Australian life. Staying initially in Albury, which lies between Melbourne and Sydney, they wanted to acclimatise to Australian ways, register with their healthcare programme and generally to meet the locals who, Glyn explained, seemed to use a language based on a shortened version of words and names.

He went on to describe and illustrate their itinerary – starting in Melbourne where they left on a cruise ship, in rough seas, which took them up to Eden, an old whaling port.

A visit to the museum showed catching and processing methods from the past and we also saw examples of the traditional architecture of corrugated iron roofs and verandas.

Their next stop was to Sydney with its Harbour Bridge, warships, defence forts and its many colourful ferries. Although some streets lie in the shadow of the high rise modern architecture, those in attendance enjoyed seeing examples of colourful wall art and shots of Aborigine street musicians and dancers.

Images of the Sydney Opera House exterior with its scale-like tiles provided the audience with dramatic abstract lines and curves, while in contrast the interior was mainly Brutalist in style, and they enjoyed seeing the cityscape lit impressively at night time as seen from the river.

Their journey continued with a visit to Morpeth, New South Wales, with its original buildings, St James’ Church, the old disused railway and hotels dating back to 1838.

They then went on to the upmarket town of Terrigal with its striated sandstone coastal rocky outcrops, its flora and birdlife and beach scenes. While there they were advised to visit Forresters Beach, where Glyn showed images of sweeping panoramas and huge rolling waves being enjoyed by surfers.

Aboard a very affordable train system they arrived back at Melbourne and those in attendance enjoyed seeing buildings, old and new, heritage trams and St Paul’s Cathedral with its beautiful stained glass windows and tiles, and also posters apologising to the first nation for their treatment in the past.

Then onto Queen Victoria market with its array of street food, exotic fruits, shop signs, wall art, sculptures and musicians.

During their return trip to Albury, they visited the site where the restoration of the DC-2 aircraft was taking place and he filled the audience in with stories about the races between Europe and Australia – which were the pioneer flights before becoming the main routes that we know today.

Anzac Day was taking place and those in attendance saw parades commemorating Australia and New Zealand’s contribution to World War Two. Following on they saw colourful birds and parrots at the Botanical Gardens, and a visit to the Nut Festival to celebrate the nut harvest, with craftsmen, wool spinners and musicians.

A visit to HMAS Otway, a submarine in Holbrook, also colourful pubs, the Station Masters’ House and stories about the different gauge railway lines system at the border concluded Glyn’s presentation.

Together with information throughout about Australia’s healthcare system, its rail network and general way of life, this made for a very interesting evening at the club.

The club chairman thanked Glyn for showing the audience not only the well known landmarks, but the everyday life in Australia, after which refreshments were served.