A video I made as part of my Year 12 Visual Arts major work comparing scenes around Parramatta Sydney, using footage from a 1957 film in the National Film and Sound Archive’s collection and my own footage taken in the same locations 61 years later, side by side.
1957 footage, History was Made at Parramatta: Australia Colour Diary 4 from the NFSA can be viewed here: • History Was Made At Pa...
My footage was filmed between January and April 2018 on a Sony RX100 Mk 3 camera and this video was edited and put together using Adobe Premiere.
LOCATIONS WITH TIMESTAMPS:
0:06 aerial shot. 1957 - Looking South West, possibly Burnside Street and Romani Street on the right in Oatlands? If you recognise where this is, or what direction it is facing please comment below. 2018 - filmed from the Meriton Altitude Apartments in Church Street looking towards Sydney CBD.
0:11 Church Street pan shot, looking South. Some of the original buildings remain on the right. In the distance you can see the side of the twin spires of St John's Anglican Church. The street is now a single one way lane at this section.
0:18 1957 - Grace Bros Department store. 2018 - Westfield Shopping Centre, corner of Argyle and Church Streets.
0:21 1957 - Holden House/Fair Deal Holden. 2018 - building abandoned for new apartment buildings development, 65 Church Street/Great Western Highway. You can still see the place where the Holden sign once was, on the top right.
0:25 1957 - Parramatta and Granville Electrical Supply Company building. 2018 - Office building, corner of Macquarie and Smith Streets.
0:28 James Houison’s cottage, 62 Macquarie Street. Now surrounded by tall buildings and used as Ray White office.
0:37 Roseneath Cottage, corner O’Connell and Ross Streets.
0:43 Elizabeth Farm. In the original film, the first two shots were filmed from the back of the house, however today this view is obscured by trees in front of the stone wall. Instead I filmed from the front of the house on Alice Street which is visually similar when the footage was flipped later in editing (you can notice this with the reversed lettering on the sign in my footage).
0:53 Old Government House, Parramatta Park
0:56 The Governor’s Bath House, Parramatta Park. On the left in both years is the Boer War Memorial and Court House pillars.
0:58 Corner of Church and Palmer Streets. 1957 - Congregational Church. 2018 - Bridal Secrets shop.
1:02 All Saints Anglican Church, Victoria Road/Elizabeth Street.
1:13 Queens Wharf Reserve sandstone wharf by the Parramatta River. I filmed a few metres further up from the 1957 film, as the view of the river is now obscured by trees in that position. The original sandstone blocks are now in amongst a muddy mangrove and can still be seen at times when the tide is out. The metal rings are gone.
1:22 Boundary marker stone on Alfred Street, near Weston Street. One of nine in Parramatta. The stone was moved away from the kerb because of cars damaging it.
1:28 The Old King's School building and parade grounds, 24A O’Connell Street. It is now Bayanami Public School (filmed with permission).
1:55 Wistaria Gardens, next to Parramatta Park and part of the Cumberland Hospital. Unfortunately because of the timing of the HSC year, I was unable to film this in Spring when the Wisteria flowers were out, as seen in the 1957 film.
2:14 Speed boat races on the Parramatta River at Silverwater/Ermington, near the Silverwater Bridge. 1957 - Silverwater Naval Stores. 2018 - Unit blocks
2:33 1957 - aerial shot of Pennant Hills Road, near James Ruse Drive. 2018 - aerial shot looking at Victoria Road, from the Meriton Altitude Apartments on Church Street.
2:36 1957 - I am unsure what direction this is looking, aerial shot looking somewhere west, towards the Blue Mountains? 2018 - aerial shot looking north-east, from the Meriton Altitude Apartments on Church Street.
2:39 1957 - A Reddit user identified this house as 107 Bettington Road Oatlands, near the Oatlands Golf Club entrance. 2018- aerial of buildings, Parramatta wharf and Macarthur Street Bridge from the Meriton Altitude Apartments on Church Street.
2:42 1957 - Cooramilla. I think this house might be at 114 Pennant Hills Road, Oatlands. 2018 - pan shot of the Meriton Altitude Apartments in Church Street which is where the David Jones once was.