Picto Diary - 19 June 2026 - Sydney Reflections

Above: Marriott Hotel. Sydney, Australia. 19 June 2026.
Seeking The Kimberley.
Image: Sydney Harbor Bridge. Image captured from hotel window at dawn.

For five years, from 1974 to 1979, I commuted across the Sydney Harbour Bridge twice a day. We lived in two different northern suburbs during that time: St Ives (1974–75) and Mosman (1976–79).

I’m embarrassed to admit that my most vivid early memory of that drive is a classic “prang” (the delightful Australian term for a crash). Heading north in my flashy yellow Toyota Celica GT, I rear-ended the car in front of me. Mercifully, no one was hurt, but I managed to bring all northbound traffic on the bridge to a standstill for a good twenty minutes. Nothing says “welcome to Sydney” quite like holding up an entire city while exchanging insurance details.

Above: Sydney, Australia. 19 June 2026.
Seeking The Kimberley.
Image: Drums stands atop the Sydney Harbour Bridge after completing the climb.
(Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb)

Above: Sydney, Australia. 19 June 2026.
Seeking The Kimberley.
Image: 19 June 2026. 54 to 60 Carrington Street.

While my grandson Drums was climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, I strolled over to the site of the building where I had worked for five years, from 1974 to 1979. The image shows the location of what was once the IAC House, later known as Citicorp House, at 54–60 Carrington Street in Sydney, Australia. That building was demolished in 2020 to make way for the Brookfield Place development pictured today.

As I sat in a café in the new complex, savoring a coffee, a flood of memories from my time there—when the building housed work on one of Citi’s then most important business turnaround challenges—came rushing back. One in particular could have derailed my career on my very first day. I walked into the 11th-floor restroom, noticed there were no urinals, and thought to myself, These Aussies are a bit backward. Only as I was leaving did I see the “Women” sign on the door. Thank goodness, no one witnessed my embarrassing faux pas.

Just down the street at 14 Carrington Street (to the left in the image) stood the famous Menzies Hotel, which was demolished in 2014 to make way for a new office complex. Another vivid memory surfaced: I would occasionally join my colleague Jack Brennan (may he rest in peace) for breakfast there. Jack paid $11 a day for breakfast—an eye-popping sum to me at the time (roughly $35 in today’s money). He also once spent $3,000 on a set of false teeth, which struck me as equally astonishing. Single and in his mid-forties, Jack later left Citi to become a Catholic priest.

Above: Sydney, Australia. 19 June 2026.
Seeking The Kimberley.
Image: 54 to 60 Carrington Street. IAC House. Image from 1974.
Hat tip: Corporate Property, CEO IAC/Citicorp Australia, 1974 to 1976.

Above: Sydney, Australia. 19 June 2026.
Seeking The Kimberley.
Image: Sydney Opera House

Being at the Sydney Opera House with Drums today brought back a vivid memory from 1976. That year, I co-directed a 350-voice choir at the first Area Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Australia, held on February 29—a fitting leap-year date. The conference formed part of a larger Pacific Area tour led by Church President Spencer W. Kimball, accompanied by other General Authorities, including Elders Bruce R. McConkie and Loren C. Dunn. It was a landmark event for the Church in Australia and the region.

The choir opened with “Come, Come, Ye Saints” and later performed “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord.” I had the privilege of directing the first of those two numbers. Approximately 3,500 Latter-day Saints filled the Opera House and the adjacent Town Hall, where overflow attendees watched via closed-circuit television. Members had come from Sydney, surrounding areas, and other parts of Australia.

After the session, I met President Kimball—the first time I had met an LDS Church prophet. Although I stood well over a foot taller than he did, I felt small in his presence. With a warm smile and in his characteristically raspy voice, he congratulated me on how well the choir had performed.

Today, I recall how President Kimball—along with one of his predecessors, David O. McKay, and his successor, Ezra Taft Benson—spoke with powerful conviction against the evils of communism, an ideology aggressively promoted by the Soviet Union at the time. Modern Church leaders tend to address the topic less forcefully, even as communism (or related ideologies) appears to pose an internal threat comparable to the external one it represented in the 1970s.

How was I chosen to help lead the choir at the Sydney Opera House? As director of the Normanhurst Ward choir in the Sydney Stake, I had led our group to victory in the stake choir contest—an impressive feat, since the Gosford Ward had long dominated the competition. One of the singers in my choir was Lucy McKay, then in her mid-80s, who had sung in a choir under the direction of my grandfather William Weldon Taylor when he served as a missionary in Sydney in the 1930s. Evidently, someone took note of our success, and I was invited to co-direct the large regional conference choir.

Above: Sydney, Australia. 19 June 2026.
Seeking The Kimberley.
6 Head Restaurant. Eating OZ beef at a positively fabulous steakhouse recommended by the Marriott Hotel concierge.

Addendum:

Steve –

Just a quick personal note regarding your continuing Picto Diaries.

As always, I greatly enjoy “travelling” with you. I’ll never get to most of the places you have visited and continue to visit, but I learn a fair bit about the world from your photographs and observations. I really appreciate these, especially the historical context that you give to places. I’m really enjoying your travels in Australia as the geology is really interesting there.

I also enjoy your interactions with your family. Drums and Mynduveroan have the sort of grandparents that all kids should have. You are totally encouraging to them in their every activity, and you are including them in your life to a great extent. And you’re taking them along on your most interesting adventures. Every kid should have the opportunities that they have.

Best wishes for a great rest of your trip and summer,

DeLorean,
Elkhart, Indiana

Steve,

Great cruise.

Jane and I spent a holiday in Broome in 1978.
Unheard of in those days (no tourists).

We flew from Sydney to Brisbane, then at least half a dozen stops more on the old MMA ("Mickey Mouse Airlines"). They lost our luggage for more than a week, so we bought shorts, t-shirts and thongs at Fongs, the general store in town.

We stayed at the Continental Hotel (the only one).
Aboriginals had to drink outside, and the door from the public bar to the lounge had a sign:
"Gentlemen must wear singlets and thongs in the Lounge Bar."

We rented a little Citroën Mahari and spent glorious days on Ninety Mile Beach without another human being in sight.

Those were the days....

Corporate Property,
Seattle, WA

Steve,
'The north-west is refuge for the largest population of humpback whales on the planet, estimated to be over 29,000 strong! Migrating from their Antarctic feeding grounds to the warm waters of the Kimberley to breed every winter, these waters provide a haven for a species that was once hunted to near extinction, as well as a host of other extraordinary diverse marine life.'
Did you see any whales or other sea creatures?
Joe,
Gosford, NSW

No whales. Turtles, rays, and crocs.

Good evening …

I love reading your travel-logs!!

And I am SO PROUD of my former piano student!! What a wonderful opportunity to be able to take a memorable cruise with you, his grandfather.

Loved the picture of the sunrise, the falls, and several photos of birds.

Warm wishes,
Music In the Mountains,
Racine, WI