|
July 03, 2007
I was in Brisbane on the weekend for work, but I managed to take the odd photo or two I was fortunate to stay at the Marriott hotel in a room that had a river view. A vista some would say. There was no need to listen to Lucinda William's expressing her suffering in World of Tears on the ipod.
Gary Sauer-Thompson, Brisbane from hotel window, 2007
I awoke on Saturday morning to the sun rising across the river. The picturesque beckoned. 30 seconds latter the moment had gone. In the Marriott Hotel one plays Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris' All the Road Running whilst reading the Financial Review and thinking about investment properties, before going for a walk along the river boardwalk to New Farm.
Brisbane is a lovely city despite the f gungho development ethos and the boring high rise apartment towers scattered along the river. Brisbane's growth highlights just how much Adelaide has become a regional city; one that is surviving, rather than thriving like Bendigo or Ballarat in Victoria, which are feeding off a booming Melbourne and its export hubs.
It's a provincial life in Adelaide whereas Brisbane's CBD, which is plugged into the global economy, presents a cosmopolitan life. There 's confidence in the air. The future is full of promise. The money is easy. The river has the yachts and riverside mansions of corporate Australia. It is modern.
Gary Sauer-Thompson, high rise reflections, 2007
Ten years ago Adelaide had a real sense of loss, no direction and few options. It was reeling, and it has just managed to stop losing people to the other capital cities in the last year. This is the place to listen to Lucinda Williams and her roots-rock music out of Los Angeles about isolation, failed relationships, depression, drug abuse, suicide, and child abuse. This is the place for a moment of catharsis, as it is where the historical shudders are most deeply felt as we live downstream.
The urban message from Brisbane is clear: a stranded Adelaide has to establish a connection to the global economy, if it is to survive. That's the promise of uranium mining at Roxby Downs isn't it. On the other hand Adelaide, can do well to avoid the awful development of the ghastly high rise apartments amdist som beautiful heritage buildings (eg., the beautiful Customs House) The area as a place has little urban life as it has been a carved up by traffic and high rise and so is a space to pass through.
|
Yes Brisbane has come a long way since the bad old days of Joh!
Yes its a very different city to Adelaide. But Adelaide really has always been the Ugly Sister to the other capitals.