sometimes effective
human struggle with nature
how long will it last
SPRING
SUMMER
AUTUMN
WINTER
This is the great wall of Black Rock, one of many such sea barriers spaced around Port Phillip Bay. These walls were built in the 1930’s depression as a public works project to positively utilise unemployed men. Bluestone material was used in the construction with quite a bit coming from the demolition of a large section of the Old Melbourne Gaol, where Ned Kelly (the Australian folk-hero or criminal depending on your interpretation) was executed in the 1860’s. The destruction seen in the Winter photo is the second recent attempt by the natural elements to question what may eventually be a human folly. Climate change, global warming, rising sea levels and increasing extreme weather events all leave the future of this wall and eventually one of Melbourne’s great scenic roads a few metres above the wall uncertain for the moment.
Haiku hound 