Title: Fort Denison all at Sea
Description: Fort Denison’s new exhibition examines life on the island and highlights some concerning ecological issues.
Author: Charlotte Malycon 2008
Credits: Please credit author and link to www.decypher.com.au
————————————————————————————–
Local Designs for Fort Denison, All at Sea
A new exhibition created by Manly design group, Shoebox Creative, has replaced Fort Denison’s decade-old display. But its installation was not all smooth sailing. Nine of twenty-eight new story panels ended up in Sydney Harbour when huge gusts blew the lifting crane off course on delivery day.
The catastrophe almost ruined their efforts to meet a tough three week design deadline. Generally Fort Denison is open all year round but this once-in-decade-event saw the island closed to the public for five days while the new exhibition was mounted over June 30 – July 5, 2008.
After the incident, all hands jumped on deck to have replacements printed, delivered and installed, to ensure doors could open the following day. “Meeting the 3 week deadline was tough,” says designer, Dan Day. “Thankfully we’ve done a lot of exhibitions with NSW Library, which helped. When the panels blew off it was devastating. Luckily we worked with a great crew so we just managed to pull it together.”
The exhibition is now open to the public and drawing a positive response. “This exhibition has some fantastic stories in it,” says Day. “The curator wanted to emphasise the living history of the place and bring in an ecological angle. Through feature highlights, clever placement and an interesting use of light and material, we really let the Fort do the talking,” he explains.
One such feature highlights the original island bedrock, which Day describes as ‘living rock.’ Watching it during rain is quite unnerving. As water trickles down the inside of the rock face, you realise that the mossy channel it flows through has been carved out over centuries. Far longer than any Fort has been standing on the island.
Another is a 1908 tide gauge. All the tide information for Sydney Harbour comes from the tide gauge on Fort Denison, in operation since 1867. Though the displayed historical meter has been superseded by modern gadgetry, it still performs almost as accurately as its techno counterpart. Their records are vital in casting future predictions for survival.
Today’s satellite research shows that the sea is now rising at double the 20th century rate. According to Fort Denison’s exhibition panels, if this trend continues, its forecourt (and presumably that of many Sydney harbourside properties) may be tidally submerged by 2058.
The Fort’s resident stories also emphasise the devastating ecological changes Sydney Harbour’s development is wreaking. “We collected beautiful oysters, nearly the size of a saucer, from the southern end of the Fort. At night we caught bream and sometimes jewfish,” declares a panel quoting Wesley Jarvis son of caretaker Osmond Jarvis, 1953.
Today’s fishermen and restaurateurs alike, bemoan the decline of the Sydney Rock Oyster. With any luck, this new exhibition will do more than just serve as a fun, family outing. It might spark renewed interest in preserving and renewing what remains of one of the world’s greatest harbours and its defining living monument.
National Parks and Wildlife (NPWS) runs Fort Denison tours daily. Access to the island is by water ferry or with Matilda Cruises.
