The Arthur Conan Doyle plaque in Sydney

Continuing from my previous post from Adelaide (https://221bcooee.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-arthur-conan-doyle-plaque-in.html), I'm in Sydney and made a point of making my way to Circular Quay, where there is a plaque dedicated to ACD. Unlike in Adelaide, the plaque dedicated to ACD is not a singleton, but a part of a large set of plaques around Circular Quay honoring Australian writers and (relevant to ACD) writers who visited Australia. The 'Sydney Writers Walk' is a set of 60 circular metal plaques embedded in the footpath, created by the New South Wales Ministry for the Arts (Sydney is the capital of New South Wales). Circular Quay (pronounced 'Key') is where the First Fleet of ships arriving in Australia with convicts established the colony, and the plaques are spaced around the Quay from the Sydney Opera House on one side to the Overseas Passenger Terminal at the other.

The Arthur Conan Doyle plaque is located on the western side of the Quay near the front of the Museum of Contemporary Art (formerly the Maritime Services Board).

Transcript:

Arthur Conan Doyle 1859-1930 "We all devoted ourselves to surf-bathing, spending a good deal of our day in the water, as is the custom of the place. It is a real romp with Nature, for the great Pacific rollers come sweeping in and break over you, rolling you over on the sand if they catch you unawares. It was a golden patch in our restless lives. — The Wanderings of a Spiritualist (1921) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, visited Australia in 1920-1921 during a series of lecture tours on spiritualism." NSW Ministry for the Arts. Writers Walk.

The view from the plaque towards the Quay looks straight across to the Sydney Opera House. While the plaque is not intended to be Sherlockian in placement, it is remarkable to note that in the 'Adventure of Gloria Scott', the convicts mutinied and the Gloria Scott was destroyed. The survivors were picked up by the 'Hotspur' and arrived in Sydney, and the passengers would have disembarked right here at Circular Quay !