That’s definately it…
By George I think he’s done it.
Goat Island it is.
Now the historical significance of Goat Island:
Was used as a prison for convicts (the special kind of immigrants to Australia), and was quarried by these prisoners (slave labour) to help build Sydney.
Goat Island was also used by the early Australian navy, but more importantly, by the “water police” that was the first law enforcement in the penal colony. It was to prevent escaped convicts from leaving the colony, and combat smuggling.
The Island was also used for various purposes through the years, including quarantine, shipyard and for cultural events.
It is now part of the Sydney Harbour National Park.
The island has a wonderful view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which is a pretty famous Sydney landmark. The bridge itself looks almost identical to the Bayonne Bridge, which connects New Jersey with Staten Island. Lots of people use the bridge to get to New York via the Holland Tunnel route. That’s one connection to the Natalie Portman thing.
Goat Island is also used for various cultural events (rock concerts, etc), but probably most famously as the location for “Water Rats” – an Australian TV series filmed from 1996 to 2001. The show is all about the modern water police and is a bit of a soap opera, and plays up lots of Australian and Sydney stereotypes. In the show, there are a group of divers who are always underwater, fighting crime…
The show is culturally influential (in a small way) on Canada in two ways: it is currently in its second running on Canadian TV, and it has influenced the production of Canadian TV. The show epitomizes the “don’t try to be American” style of drama production, and the producers of Da Vinci’s Inquest cited it as an influence and an example of how shows that are unabashedly local can be international successes.
Natalie Portman’s character on Star Wars is protected by security chief Captain Typho. The actor who plays Captain Typho, Jay Laga’aia, starred in Water Rats from 1996 to 2001, and could be found regularly on Goat Island.
Finally, the Sydney Harbour Bridge is also based on Hell Gate Bridge, which is a railyway tunnel between Queens and the Bronx. It is used by various rail companies as a link into New York. That includes Canadian Pacific (and VIA Rail).
I think this was a great “where is this” – from my point of view, anyway. I think you guys needed to stop thinking about North America for a bit, then you would have gotten it right away.
What finally got it for you, Bigthumb?
Honestly, the white police boat. For some reason I clued in that it was Australia. And the fact that it wasn’t in North America.
And you’ve proven that your a trivia king because none of what you said in your hints could have led me to it.
Big Thumb, what did you see in the first picture that made you think it was a police boat? I’ve looked and looked, but I can’t make that connection.
Never mind, I just scrolled back up the page and saw all of the pictures flick past. The first time I looked at the picture MiG posted all I saw was the Sidney skyline.
Nothing in the first picture. In the slideshow that MiG posted, there is a white police boat. Don’t ask me how I did the leap to Australia, I don’t even know myself. So I looked at a Sidney map at first and saw that one of the islands had some similar features to the aerial posted ( Second picture). I found out the name then googled it for images and Voilà !
Sheer luck, the hints were leading me in many directions but not there.
I think the idea of the first picture not being an aerial shot was good but too tough considering that the place (Goat Island) isn’t that well known. The problem is that there is no way to verify if you are wrong and eliminate possibilities. Maybe I will try it again but with a place that is well known but with a picture like the one MiG posted first.
Stay tuned.
I sort of totally gave it away at one point, by using a hint like “Yes, the immigrants were human. Well, they might have brought some goats or rats, or goat rats.” I edited it, though.
If you google for “goat rats”, it’s the first hit.
i didnt know you were allowed to use google to solve it !
Duh??