Connected Histories (2025)
Audio description
Audio descriptions were produced by Access2Arts.
Artwork information
- Title: Connected Histories (2025)
- Artist: James Gulliver Hancock
- Location: Lewisham West light rail precinct
Text description
James Gulliver Hancock's Connected Histories, made in 2025, comprises a series of six two-dimensional train carriages cut from rusted metal panels, installed freestanding along the GreenWay's fence line.
Each carriage stands approximately 1 metre tall and 2 metre wide, with the entire installation of six carriages stretching approximately 12 to 13 metres. The carriages are set on low steel posts, and at each end, they are linked with a short rusted chain.
Lines and shapes have been cut from the carriages to reveal the shapes and features of old-fashioned steam engines through negative space. While some carriages appear traditional - a rectangular shape atop two rows of three wheels each, sporting a pair of chimneys and pulling a coal container on the end - others have been more intricately carved to reveal abstract shapes and landscapes within – a tree is growing from one, with a series of skyscraper buildings set beside it.
Other carriages feature windmills, multi-storey houses with four-paned windows, and plumes of smoke billowing from chimneys, as in an industrial-era city street. On the second carriage, the word ‘flour’ is cut out in capital letters.
Viewed from behind, sunlight projects the shadow of each silhouetted carriage onto bluestone gravel, doubling its images. Footlights are situated on the ground before the base of the sculpture, parallel to the GreenWay.
Surrounding context
In front of this artwork is a strip of garden bed featuring new vegetation and some young trees staked into the soil. A strip of bluestone gravel separates the garden bed from the artwork. Behind this, a wall with multi-coloured street art lettering stretching across it. A creeping green vine grows over the top, obscuring most of the lettering.
Opposite the artwork are two timber park benches with armrests, set slightly back from the path. Beside them, to the right, are two curved steel bike racks, a bike service point for pumping up tyres, and recycling and garbage bins. Behind these, protected by a cyclone fence, light rail tracks run parallel to the GreenWay.
Signage text
These carriages travel through time, beginning at the original steam locomotive and ending at contemporary life. The train uncovers a multi-generational story of evolving use. Sitting on a short siding of the original line the rough steel makeup of the sculpture also references the industry and heavy production this line has facilitated in the past, changing the landscape of both Sydney and Australia.
Conclusion
The GreenWay is an environmental and active travel corridor linking the Cooks River at Earlwood with the Parramatta River at Iron Cove.
The GreenWay Public Art program has curated eight new public artworks which transform this urban green corridor into a place that inspires visitors and residents to encounter cultural heritage and contemporary life, express deeper connection to place, engage with local stories, diverse communities, and natural ecosystems. The artworks explore themes of, and collaborate with, the natural environment, local rail history and native flora and fauna.
This concludes the audio description, written by Hen Vaughan for Access2arts. Connected Histories is one of eight artworks that explore themes of, and collaborate with, the natural environment, local rail history and native flora and fauna, curated by GreenWay Public Art Program.