The evening we arrived in Sydney, the finals of Australian Idol were being held at the Sydney Opera house. Completely oblivious to this fact, we walked straight down to Circular Quay, Sydney’s most pittoresque gathering point, only to be greeted by fireworks shot from the Opera House. Absolutely wonderful.
The first few nights we stayed just across the botanical gardens that lead to Circular Quay. After a few days we moved to a Pitt Street location, from which the above picture was taken. Recently, there has been much dispute in Australia regarding new labor laws signed into effect by prime minister John Howard. Our third day in Sydney, a large protest march was organized which was then executed by the large unions active within the area.
Part of my work for the unit Perception Management, which deals with advanced influencing of mass audiences was related to a campaign to increase the amount of cultural narratives a society as a whole is able to peruse – thus decreasing overt racism without repressing it as is so commonly done in Western Europe.
This idea matches with a feeling of multiculturalism, a mindset propagated within Australia by the Special Broadcasting Service – a national broadcaster that focuses on offering international and world programming to both the Australian and immigrant audiences. Being in Sydney, I was able to arrange a visit to their offices and studios. It was absolutely wonderful and interesting.
Below are some more views from this wonderful city, taken from the AMP/Sydney tower – still Sydney’s highest landmark at 305 meters.
