Comprising design drawings and design concepts, this archival material refers to the 'Endeavour Cycle' that Dan Potra devised for the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games. Made from three interconnecting bicycles, the prop symbolised the HMS Endeavour on its arrival to Australian shores. Riding the cycle into the arena were three performers, representing Captain Cook, his 'first mate' and 'second mate', and in tow, a caged rabbit that symbolised the introduction of feral species.
Potra's vision for the Endeavour Cycle arose from the artwork of Heath Robinson (1872-1944), an English illustrator who devised many whimsical and mechanical inventions. (Copies of Robinson's artwork feature in this archive.) His sense of whimsy pervades npt only the Endeavour Cycle and but also the other props that Potra designed for 'Tin Symphony', a segment of the Opening Ceremony.
Described by the NSW premier Bob Carr as 'the greatest spectacle Australia has produced', the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games took place at Stadium Australia, Homebush Bay on Friday 15 September 2000. Though the ceremony featured anthems, speeches, oaths, flags, pop singers and a marching band, its daring conceptual sequences ('Deep Sea Dreaming', 'Awakening', 'Nature', 'Tin Symphony', 'Arrivals' and 'Eternity') will be remembered as the major imaginative works. Each segment commenced without interruption, following on from the last to form an overall narrative. The purpose was to project a national image to a worldwide audience, to form the world's vision of Australian culture. This image embraced tolerance, social progress, multiculturalism and reconciliation, as well as nature, history and creativity. Designed to stimulate emotional responses from the audience, these segments delivered a refreshing mixture of youth, naivety and larrikinism.
The complex and inventive 'Tin Symphony' segment, directed by Nigel Jamieson, involved 850 performers. It examined the impact of Europeans' arrival on the land after 60,000 years of Aboriginal habitation. 'Tin Symphony' began with the arrival on the spectacular Endeavour cycle carrying a gently parodied Captain Cook and his crew (accompanied by a caged rabbit). It consisted of three linked tricycles, propelled by conventional bicycle pedals, with a total length of 11 metres and a height of 3 metres. The explorers carried telescopes and sketchbooks, looking in wonder at the unfamiliar flora and fauna.
As 'Tin Symphony' unfolded, the colonists brought new technologies and materials, symbolised by corrugated iron, metal windmills and steel farming machinery. Even Ned Kelly encased himself in metal, continuing the theme of mechanisation. The segment cleverly linked icons of colonial and rural Australia, such as Captain Cook, resourceful pioneers, Ned Kelly, Irish girls, a sheep-making machine, corrugated iron windmills, derricks, water tanks and farm machinery, with modern images of suburbia, lawn mowers and the beach. The segment had an implicit theme of the settlers' humour and resourcefulness in the face of adversity. It ended with the descendents of the settlers, the modern Australians, who has tamed and transformed the land, symbolised by the lawnmower ballet, a kind of serenade to suburbia, its backyards and barbecues.
This archival material represents the initial design concepts that gave rise to the Endeavour Cycle - an elaborate prop that would begin the Tin Symphony segment of the Opening Ceremony.
Prop maker, Alan Robertson, and the Ceremonies Workshop collected this archival material to assist with the design and manufacture of the Endeavour Cycle - an elaborate prop that would begin the Tin Symphony segment of the Opening Ceremony.
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This text content licensed under