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You are here: Home / UrbanGrowth, SMDA & RWA Plans & Activities / Eveleigh Rail Heritage / Remembering Eveleigh's Workers / The GhosTrain Project – audio-portraits of the Redfern Locomotive & Eveleigh Carriage Works

The GhosTrain Project – audio-portraits of the Redfern Locomotive & Eveleigh Carriage Works

Nigel Helyer is the current ABC Radiophonic Fellow, working on the GhosTrain project.This new project aims to create a series of audio-portraits of the Redfern Locomotive & Eveleigh Carriage Works encompassing the oral histories and acoustic ecologies of Industrial culture. The works will be broadcast on ABC Radio National and be available as Podcasts. Future phases of the project will see the audio material transformed into a Sound-Sculpture installed throughout the CarriageWorks and also developed as a GPS guided Heritage Audio Tour of the site.

The GhosTrain project.is asking you to contribute to this exciting project that deals with the fast disappearing memory of Sydney’s recent industrial past. Sure buildings can be preserved (and used in new ways) but they are only mute reminders of what has been lost or destroyed, the working lives, the aspirations and the political struggles that are so easily discounted by the developers’ magic wand!

GhosTrain is looking for community contributions that can weave personal stories of Eveleigh. You, or your family are invited to upload your stories, your images and your writings.

Share your Audio Recordings and Oral histories in Pool via the audio upload page here.

When you upload material, mark it with the tag  ‘GhosTrain’ so everyone can find it.

If you're not a member of Pool it is easy to join; you’ll need to register here and of course it’s free!

See all Pool contributions tagged GhosTrain here.

And as a last resort, if you have difficulty accessing the internet, or want to make a recording but do not have the gear give Nigel a call on 04 19 49 34 95 or email sonic@sonicobjects.com

GhosTrain; More sound ideas!

The Eveleigh site is impressive on a number of levels; its robust industrial architecture, the simple but effective re-purposing of the site as a cultural space; set against the lingering knowledge that this was a site of labour ~ of specialised knowledge and skill and of a lifestyle all but forgotten in Sydney’s upwardly mobile affluent society well that’s a nice way of putting it!

When we consider changing socio-economic landscape of our city we naturally focus our attention upon the more obvious physical features of the shifting usage of architectural structures and major environmental infrastructures.

In a marked contrast, it is the transient elements, that are the soul of living cultures but these are difficult to seize upon and tend to be quickly forgotten; erased under changing patterns of work and social usage. The iconic sounds that characterise a locale are one of the most fragile and difficult of these transient elements to recognise, evaluate and value, yet they hold the key to memory.

The acoustic ecologies of industrial landscapes are prime examples of our extraordinary collective capacity for amnesia. Closely observed, every location has a characteristic soundscape in effect a sonic fingerprint, formed from a complex mix of smaller incidental sounds, punctuated by unique, keynote sounds that are site-specific and directly associated with the particular structures and activities found at the location. Good examples of the iconic nature of keynote sounds are the Imman’s call to prayer in Istanbul or the Fog-horns of San Francisco.

The discipline of Acoustic Ecology recognises that contemporary trends driven by Globalisation, the ubiquitous spread of urbanism, mechanised transport and forms of labour result in a homogenisation of world soundscapes, reducing both the variety, character and uniqueness of local acoustic ecologies.

In a modest way GhosTrain seeks to redress such oversight by addressing the unique architectural heritage and social history of the Redfern Locomotive & Eveliegh Carriage Works sites from a sonic perspective ~ recognising the importance of the soundscape that once characterised the site and endeavouring to re-instate specific elements of its acoustic ecology and the memories contained within oral history.

Source: www.pool.org.au/text/ghostrain/the_ghostrain_project