Where’s Marvin?

My father and I spent the day today travelling together along the recently opened City section of the Sydney Metro, stopping to look at the new-build architecture on our way out to visit the Australian Railway Historical Society’s Redfern bookshop. Just over a hundred metres from Waterloo Metro Station. In the Sydney suburb of Alexandria. Clear as mud ;p

Our first stop on the new section was Victoria Cross Metro Station which, as far as I am aware, has already been shorted to “VicX” in text message form by my peers.

“Captain Kirk to the Bridge ...”

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From what I’d seen on various YouTube videos about Victoria Cross, I was expecting a station that could’ve easily been found on the Washington (DC) Metro in the United States. But from physically standing on the concourse above the platforms I was convinced that it more like something you would see in the J.J. Abrams Star Trek series of films. Either the inside of the Enterprise or an outer-space hangar waiting form that self-same starship to dock within it.

“... two to the power of twenty-five thousand to one against and falling ...”

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Next on the list was Gadigal (Pitt Street) Metro Station. As much as this station’s platforms have been designed to emulate London Underground’s Elizabeth Line to more than a passing degree, the horizontal ribbing on the curved platform and walkway walls destiny remind me of the interior of the starship Heart of Gold from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (specifically the 1981 TV series version), and half-expected Marvin (2005 Film costume) to plod down the corridor with his accompanying paranoia.

Heading up towards the ‘The Underneath.’

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Taking the escalators up from platform level we looked upon the Park Street Exit mural of the two-mural ​‘The Underneath’ by Callum Morton. After a brief look through the ticket barriers out onto Park Street and the Criterion Hotel opposite, we descended back along the escalators to the platform to catch the next train to Waterloo Metro Station.

Up close with the aluminium footprints.

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The left side wall as you ascend the escalators from the ticket barriers to the street level entrance at Waterloo is covered by a sculptural map made up of cast aluminium feet modelled from the feet of local Aboriginal community members. It is a part of the of the whole artwork installation at Waterloo that is collectively called ‘Footprints on Gadigal Nura’ (Nura meaning country) by Nicole Monks.

No sign of any ABBA tributes, yet, outside Waterloo Metro Station.

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On the outside of the Waterloo station building a group of workers were tinkering over a recalcitrant water bubbler as we walked past them and I can report that, as of today, there no signs of either ABBA or outdoor lip-syncing to be found ;)

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Vincent Cavanagh
28 August 2024

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