On Tuesday 4 May 2004 I sat at a coffee shop table and took in the passing parade on Kent Street Sydney just south of Erskine Street where James Dempsey once lived.
As I sat sipping a cup of well brewed coffee and some fresh raisin toast I watched the passing parade of the early morning rush hour.
· A late model Holden Monaro thundered by under heavy acceleration as there was a break in the traffic.
· Soon a Falcon GTP came screeching to a halt just beside me. A car that most young lads would die for (and a few old lads also).
· BMW’s, Mercedes, flashy sports cars and upmarket four wheel drives were common.
· Taxis were plying for fares having dropped off at nearby offices.
· Multi storey buildings crowded the pavement into a seemingly insignificant and narrow pathway into oblivion.
· A middle aged man walked past dressed in a business suit, jingling coins in his trouser pocket.
· Both male and female office workers passed along and crossed Kent Street dressed in their dark and drab business suits. Only an occasional female dressed in floral dress or bright clothes broke the drabness.
· Coats and scarves were worn by some as they made their way to work on a mild autumn day, I wonder how they would cope with a Canberra winter.
· A concrete truck broke the “silence “ of the passing traffic noise with his hissing Jacobs and maxi brakes as he slowed for a red light at Erskine Street, then he again broke the morning “silence” as the huge diesel engine roared into life belching black smoke into the air. In a moment the truck was gone. Gone to make another concrete monolith. A monolith to be knocked down in another hundred years to make way for a space station maybe.
· There were businesses everywhere. Professional suites and corporate offices for the thousands to work in.
· Two taxis fought over the one stopping space with honking of horns and fists shaking only to lose the fare to a third cab which took advantage of a changing red light to pick the fare up. There has to be a message in this one.
· The sun reached weakly down almost to the road and spindly trees in a couple of places but mostly was content to play games on the windows of the towering offices.
· Joggers scantly dressed in their designer runners, shorts and sometimes tops, ran past zig-zaging in and out of the morning rush hour crowd. Some carried back packs. Others ran by puffing with sweat beads glistening on their foreheads.
· I noted some very obese people. One lady passed breathless as she waddled under her 140 to 160kg beer barrel. Many others passed and crossed Kent Street with their office tummies protruding under their dark business suits.
· A stretch Mercedes Hire car passed by with darkened windows and it’s secret cargo of important executives, heading to a meeting to change our everyday lives.
· Communications inspection points were located along both sides of the street providing lifelines for electricity, water, sewers, telephone, facsimile, and computers as offices workers communicated in comfort with the outside world instantly.
Street trees lined the roadside, growing in appalling conditions with asphalt right up to their trunks. The trees spindly growth was pruned beneath by passing buses and trucks and above seemed to be flat to allow office workers a view to the street below.
Parking vending machines allowed short stay parking along the western side of Kent street, while others stopped on the eastern side to drop off and pick up. Kent Street is one way running south to north up to Erskine Street.
O’Donoghues Irish pub on the corner of Kent and Erskine Sts,
provided some relief from the endless offices and office associated businesses, as did the coffee shops along the street.
What would James Dempsey have thought about as he wheeled his wheelbarrow along Kent Street in the early 1800’s with his bolsters, chisels, set square, stringline and hammers. He would have had time to say good morning to a friend or to talk to a stranger, or maybe pat a friendly dog or horse on the nose. He would have eagerly sought news from Ireland which would have at least been three months old. What work would the passers by have been doing in 1812? What would they think if they could have seen Kent Street in 2004? What would be the value of a house block in Kent Street today?
KENT STREET SYDNEY JUST SOUTH OF ERSKINE STREET, MAY 2004
I stayed another few minutes in reflection, took a short walk down Kent Street where I took a photo, then walked slowly to St Mary’s Cathedral saying a rosary as I went, as a tribute to a good and humble man.
Dennis Dempsey.
8 May 2004.