Portland, the Town that Built Sydney

Portland NSW is no ordinary town and neither is this Soundtrail. Nestled between the Blue Mountains tourist route with its picturesque villages and world heritage wilderness, and the rural landscapes of the Western Slopes towns of Bathurst, Orange and Mudgee, Portland is a town like no other in Australia. Today it is known by many as ‘the town that built Sydney’ as for almost 100 years Portland provided the cement to build some of Sydney’s most iconic buildings. In this sound-rich geo-located audio tour, you’ll meet the workers and their families who gave their all here, working in dangerous conditions in the limestone quarries or the huge and imposing plant. You’ll step inside the preserved industrial site, and go right into the heart of ‘the beast’. Be immersed in the life, energy and mindset of generations of people who worked, lived and loved here. Walk alongside the lakes, once quarries, as voices bubble up from a not so distant past, or a past which like another country seems just out of reach. As the town transforms again, and welcomes a new chapter and new faces, the Portland Soundtrail is the latest offering. Marrying local voices, archival traces or the journals of an unlikely observer, this is as vivid and visceral as you’re likely to encounter in sound walks today. Discover not only how Portland made the cement here, but how Portland made the people. Download Soundtrail/Portland app on your Android or iphone. Start in the carpark opposite the silos (you can’t miss them). Boot up the Soundtrails app/Portland and start walking.