Then and Now

I am continuing processing old slides and photographs and came across this lot taken in 1971 when we built our first home. We had recently returned from a trip around the world, after leaving Papua New Guinea. It was time to settle down. Before we left for Europe had bought an acre (half ha) of land in what was then called Eight Mile Plains and is now called Springwood. We looked around for a house we liked and settled on a 'Beazley' boomerang shaped 3-Bedroom house.

 The day arrived when we met the builder with the bulldozer to level the land and dig the foundations.

The builder arrives with the bullzozer 

I'm supervising the action

The land had a gentle slope

A few days later, we had the foundations in and shortly after the slab. Builders in those days were very efficient and prompt. The Blogger plans the garden. An acre is an awful lot of land

The foundations are in

The timber frame goes up

 Once the frame was up, I pulled all the wires into the ceiling and frames for the lighting and power points. I was an electrician then.

The roof is on

We visited the site most weekends to check it out and sometimes order changes to be made. The builder was very tolerant with us and didn't complain when we asked for things to be moved or improved. Mind you, he charged us for it. Fair enough.

Outside looks a real mess

Finally, after five months, we took possession of the house and moved in.

Our very first house

The funny thing was, our address was Lot 14, Springwood Road, Eight Mile Plains, which a few years later became Lot 14, Springwood Road, Slacks Creek and yet another few years later, 222, Springwood Road, Springwood. So we changed addresses three times without even moving.

The kitchen is finished

Springwood has changed drastically in 43 years, as the picture below shows. What once was a single lane road where passing vehicles had to drive onto the dirt road next to the bitumen, is now a 4-lane road.

This is the road now

Our first daughter Carol was born there. It was a building boom, so we only stayed for a couple of years there before we sold the place for more than twice as much and bought another house, still in Springwood. But that's another story.

A truly remarkable Outing

This morning, we jumped on a bus into town with the U3A Camera Club. Destination the Gallery of Modern Art at South Bank. Now, I might be ever so slightly biased, but I am certain that GOMA at Brisbane ranks amongst the top modern art galleries in the English Speaking World. My well travelled, very arty daughter agrees with me.

Presently, there is one of the most dramatic exhibitions held at GOMA, ‘Cai Guo-Qiang: Falling Back to Earth’ presents major new works by a truly global artist, whose large-scale installations and explosion events have made him one of the most innovative figures in contemporary art. Over the past 25 years, Cai Guo Qiang has held solo exhibitions at some of the world’s most prestigious art institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in New York. Following recent exhibitions in Qatar, Los Angeles, Copenhagen, Rio de Janeiro and Venice, QAGOMA presents ‘Cai Guo-Qiang: Falling Back to Earth’ — the artist’s first solo exhibition in Australia and a GOMA exclusive.

Members of the club mingled with the public to capture the exhibits

‘Falling Back to Earth’, presented by Tourism and Events Queensland and Santos GLNG Project, features four installations, including two newly commissioned works directly inspired by the landscapes of southeast Queensland, which the artist visited in 2011. The centerpiece of the exhibition — Heritage 2013 — features 99 replicas of animals from around the world, gathered together to drink from a blue lake surrounded by pristine white sand, reminiscent of the lakes of Moreton Bay’s islands.
 

Animals gather around the lake to drink

At first, it looked to me as if the lake was a coloured plastic sheet, but one of the staff members assured me it is real water. It looks amazing. There is a boardwalk all around the lake for the visitors and sand to the edge of the lake. Visitors are not allowed onto the pristine white sand.

The other major installation, — Head On 2006 — is a striking installation of 99 artificial wolves leaping en masse into a glass wall, on display in Australia for the first time.

Both spectacular and meditative, and presenting a beautiful, thought-provoking vision of our relationship with the earth and with each other, ‘Falling Back to Earth’ is a must-see exhibition. Here, visitors can walk amongst the animals up close, which made perfect subjects for close-up photography.

If this exhibit ever visits your city, I strongly recommend you go and see it.