Mona Road and Lane, Darling Point on Monday, 13 July 2020

Mona Road merges with Darling Point Road and at the very end is the beautiful McKell Park. It’s like entering paradise. On this sparkling day, people sit on benches facing the water. A young couple is having a picnic on the grass. A ferry just arrives at the Darling Point wharf.

On an ornamented stone bench, which could be a leftover of the former neo-gothic mansion Canonbury, are small objects like offerings: three green fruits, two snail shells, a golden star and pink coloured discs from a wind charm. Canonbury was built at this location in 1904 and became a naval hospital during WWII. Before there were two other residences, a cottage in 1841 and the Landsdowne mansion in 1879. And before that, the area was called Yarranabbee by the traditional owners of the Gadigal land.

The two people, who sat on the bench when the ferry came in, are leaving. An elegant, old lady with the white stick for the vision impaired and a younger man guiding her, possibly her son. I hear her saying, “Silly Scott…” and think immediately that she is talking about Scott Morrison. I have learned a while ago that the upper middle classes, especially of her generation, use the word ‘silly’ instead of ‘stupid’. Using his first name indicates that she sees him as being on her side of the fence, but she reserves the right to have a critical attitude. This is my interpretation. 

Now in September 2021, after more than a year of pandemic, it seems that we are all on first-name terms with our politicians, at least in our minds. Gladys, Dan and Scott, we see them every day at press conferences on TV. They have become so familiar.

Next to the park is the Gothic Revival residence Lindesay, completed in 1836 for the colony’s treasurer Mr Campbell Drummond Riddell, and had many subsequent owners including Charles Nicholson, a collector of rare books and antiquities and chancellor of the University of Sydney. His collection used to be in the Nicholson Museum on the university’s main campus. The Lindesay is now also a museum and is temporarily closed because of COVID-19. 

Mona Road has some grand houses, but the part near New South Head Road also has quite modest brick residences and flats and a small row of dark-looking Victorian terraces which must have a fantastic view over Rushcutters Bay. 

I once lived in Mona Lane in ‘The Georgeson’ at the time of the Sydney Olympics. My flat was on the upper floor and had an unrestricted view over the bay to the city. I would come home from my job at ‘Opal Fields’ in Darling Harbour and sit at night in the lounge room to watch the laser show. It was also the final year of my Master's Degree at SCA and the self-portraits I took with an old Rolleicord and a long shutter release cable for my project were taken in that flat. It was big and I had it all to myself. 

Next door is a sombre 1930’s brick block of flats that got fitted with new roof tiles in 2000, but now looks deserted. Mona Lane ends with a footpath down to Rushcutters Bay. In those days you could still go to the park on New Year’s Eve with your friends and bring alcohol without having to pay or pass barricades.