Heavenly Worldliness: Australia

Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts

Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney

We stayed for two nights in a hotel in Sydney while we were in Australia. one ofthe highlights was seeing the Hyde Park Barracks. This is where the convicts lived in the early days. The story is presented very well.

More here.

Richard Johnson Obelisk

I omitted to mention how we came across the Richard Johnson obelisk in downtown Sydney. It marks the first Christian service on Australian soil February 3, 1788 and the first srmon preached by Johnson on Psalm 116:12 (What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits) and the first church, August 25, 1793.

Midweek Meeting September 23 2026

Bondi

It was a delight to be with the folk at the Childs Hill Baptist midweek meeting last Wednesday. We were nine in the room and another five online. I read from Romans 1 and prayed and then gave some feedback on the trip to Australia. I spoke about the three churches attended and some of the lovely Christian people we met. It is encouraging to think that others are labouring as we are but on the other side of the world. We then spent some time in prayer. Good to be there again.

Blue Mountains


Lamington (Australian cake made from squares of butter cake or sponge cake coated in an outer layer of chocolate sauce and rolled in desiccated coconut.)

Australian Hat Trick

Like many a man I like my hats. These three get more Australian as we go on.

Melbourne Recordings Available

The addresses on preaching Song of Songs given recently in Melbourne are now all available. The first is here.

A lecture on conscience given on the afternoon of the Lord's Day in Christ Covenant Church is also available. See here.

Art Gallery of New South Wales

It was good to see some of the paintings in the NSW art gallery in Sydney. we have mentioned one painting. I missed the John Constable but these caught my eye. All are in the opublic domain and gathered via Wikimedia Commons, except the Augustus John found here - https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/1134/

Tissot

Edouard Detaille

Cezanne

Monet

van Gogh

Augustus John

The Blue Mountains

The Three Sisters

Before heading to Australia we were to make sure we visited the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney. We have dn ethat and it truly is breathtaking.

Maroubra Bay

Adam. J.W.C., CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>
via Wikimedia Commons

When I was about 15 I bought an album called Epsilon in Malaysian Pale. It was the second solo album by the German musician, Edgar Froese. I bought it on the basis of my appreciation for his band, Tangerine Dream. It consisted then, on vinyl, of one side with tthe album title and the other side with a track calle Maroubra Bay. I lilke both tracks though it was hard work at first, These are pretty obscure mellotron and synthesiser dominated tracks. I'd never given much thought to the titles but then here in Sydney I saw a bus headed for Maroubra Beach and it suddenly clicked. Apparently Tangerine Dream toured Australia back in the seventies and Maroubra Bay recalls the Sydney location, a sandy beach where people surf. Yesterday we were offered a final opportunity to see somwhere and so I jumped at the offer of a 26 minute car ride to Maroubra Bay. We had lunch in the Bay Hotel and watched the scene, noting the existence of the Matoubra Bay Garage.

You can hear the 1975 track here. Interestingly it was later re-issued backwads by mistake - not so very different. See here. Perhaps the best version, further research reveals is the 2004 remix, whcih introduces ocean sounds and other extras that take the track to an even higher level. Hear it here.

10 Australian Inventions

Boomerang
Practical Refrigerator 1856
Electric drill 1889
Hills Hoist clothes line 1945
Black box flight recorder 1958
Ultrasound scanner 1962
Inflatable escape slide 1965
Electronic pacemaker 1969
Polymer banknotes 1988
Extended wear contact lenses 1991

(Also Granny Smith apples 1868)

Lord's Day September 13 2026

This last Lord's Day I was again in Kogarah Bay Bible Church and St John's Park Baptist. I preached on the crown of thorns in the morning at KBBC and on Proverbs 24:15, 16 on th evening at SJPBC.

See here for the first sermon

https://kbbc.org.au/the-crown-of-thorns-john-191-3/

And for the second

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSn2UAJK6xc

Crimson Rosella

Saw this one up in the Blue Mountains

10 Australian pieces on my ipod

Friday on my mind The Easybeats (Number 2 in Top 100)
The Carnival Is Over The Seekers (Number 37 in Top 100)
Torn Natalie Imbruglia (Number 51 in Top 100)
Down Under Men At Work (Number 65 in Top 100)
Truly Madly Deeply Savage Garden (Number 89 in Top 100)
You're the Voice The Alan Parsons Project (Number 90 in Top 100 ie John Farnham version)
Weather With You Crowded House (Not in Top 100 though other Crowded House soings are)
All The Lovers Kylie Minogue (Not in Top 100 though another Kylie song is)
I'll Never Find Another You The Seekers (Not in Top 100)
Maroubra Bay Edgar Froese (Maroubra Beach is in Sydney)

10 Australian Deserts

Great Victoria Desert (348,750sq.km)
Great Sandy Desert (267,250sq.km)
Tanami Desert (184,500sq.km)
Simpson Desert (176,500sq.km)
Gibson Desert (156,000sq.km)
Little Sandy Desert (111,500sq.km)
Strzelecki Desert (80,250sq.km)
Sturt Stony Desert (29,750sq.km)
Tirari Desert (15,250sq.km)
Pedirka Desert (1250sq. km)

Midweek Meeting September 9 2026

For the third week running I was in the prayer meeting at Kogarah Bible Church. Again we were around twenty but not the same twenty for various reasons. The full time elder, Andrew Harrison, led. A bkessing to be there once again. One of the burdens for prayer was the war affected lands of Sudan, South Sudan and Lebanon.