Perspecta 1997 exhibition highlighting the past, present condition and potential of obsolete industrial sites beside Sydney Harbour, at the Museum of Sydney from 1 August 1997. Review by Christopher Procter left Pyrmont Sugar refinery, a site considered in the Harbourings exhibition. Photo by Liz Cotter.
All harbourfront cities have land that is inaccessible and unused.
In it, the human figure can be rendered stark and dwarf. A central question surrounding these waterfront tracts is how to make them part of the metropolitan area. In Sydney, industrial tracts and infrastructure are found on the waterfront north, south and west of the city. Parramatta River is pocked with used, abused and abandoned military, industrial, public and private land. Some thirty sites are available for redevelopment.