Another voice
Lilla’s greatest feat is to make us imagine the unimaginable
31 March 2007
‘I was much surprised,’ wrote Anthony Trollope in 1873, ‘at the fortifications of Sydney Harbour. One would almost wish to be a gunner for the sake of being at one of these forts.’ He was right. Guarding the entrance to the city’s great inland harbour system at North Head and South Head are lookouts and fortifications in the most beautiful of situations.
The coincidence last week of the short walk to South Head, the long journey to Australia, and a book, led me to a curious sideways reflection on the fine old cannon still pointing across the harbour mouth. Which way to face? Who are the next enemy? Sitting near the lighthouse on the grassy promontory, to my left the skyline of Sydney itself, to my right the open Pacific, I studied the long explanatory plaque, and thought of the book I had just been reading.
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