COOK’S TREASURES
AROUND SYDNEY’S HYDE PARK

-text Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
photos Andrei Dorian Gheorghe and Felician Ursache
design Florin Alexandru Stancu-

Hyde Park and surroundings
Right in Central Sydney:
Not only other hemisphere,
But also other galaxy!

My fellow and I were delighted to find a superb park
right near the hotel where we stayed for a few days
after we arrived in Australia.

In fact the Hyde Park in Central Sydney is
the first public park (inaugurated in 1810) in this continent-country,
and along with
the (old and new, beautiful and interesting) buildings around it,
a zone full of cosmic reflections.

Like the vertices of a scalene triangle,
three differently confessional monuments give to this park
an original aura.

The first of them, Saint James’ Church,
is a Protestant-Anglican one,
and was made in the 1820s.

The second of them is the Great Synagogue
or the “synagogue-cathedral of Australia”,
and was made in the 1870s.

The third of them, Saint Mary’s Cathedral,
is Roman-Catholic,
and was made in the 19th century as the longest church in the Pacific.

Walking through the park,
we saw the impressive statue of James Cook (1728-1779),
the English explorer who, in his three voyages to the Pacific Ocean,
discovered the east coast of Australia (including the pre-Sydney zone)
and Hawaii,
and clarified the natural position of New Zealand.

It is quite fascinating that,
being passionate for astronomy,
Cook also transformed his ships into astronomical observatories
(with professional astronomers and telescopes),
and observed in 1769 in the Pacific Ocean the transits of
Venus (in June) and Mercury (in November) across the Sun.

Endeavour, Resolution and Discovery,
These were the ships commanded by James Cook
To expand geography,
To spread civilization,
And to sail through astronomy.

Also in the Hyde Park
a Memorial was erected in 1934
to commemorate the Australian heroes from World War I.

The heroes never die
And do not look for an altar.
They just send us more light,
Resting on a supreme star.

On the morning of 7 November 2014
I tried to see a cosmic coronation from the Hyde Park.

To be sincere, at first I was worried.

How could I keep my equilibrium
with the Morning Moon appearing inversed
and then the Sun going from east to west
not through south, like in Europe,
but through north?

But there wasn’t any problem.
Just a new show for me!

After the morning “warm up”,
the Moon became timid,
withdrawing among the clouds
(which subtly changed their colour)

and making place for the flight
of the ocean of light
which imperially flooded the city
with a new celestial energy.

COOK’S TREASURES AROUND SYDNEY’S HYDE PARK

COOK’S TREASURES
AROUND SYDNEY’S HYDE PARK