Sydney CBD During COVID-19
Sydney CBD during times of COVID-19 was very interesting. I took the opportunity to document the city as I am sure it will be something we never get to experience again. We live in the heart of Sydney CBD and it was very surreal to experience the quietness and peace whilst walking in the city.
These photos were taken on the 27th of March 2020 late afternoon and none of the photos were manipulated. I wanted to portray the city as they were and they were taken from my point of view.
Friday night is usually a very busy night in the city as everyone is out and about and starting their weekend. In Chinatown on Dixon Street, every Friday night there’s usually a night market with various Asian food stalls and products sold. One main store that always attracted a large crowd of people and long queue is the Emperor Garden Cakes where they sold the famous Emperor’s Creme Puffs! Pre-COVID, the night market would be packed with people, but due to COVID, the whole Dixon Street was completely empty. No people and no stalls setup and very few stores were open.
As we walked through the city to document the event, I felt the term ‘ghost town’ was appropriate to describe the situation then. Queen Victoria Building (QVB) was empty and not a single retail shop was open. The only ones open were perhaps restaurants that were only offering take away food options. You do see a couple of people walking here and there as they were accessing the public transport. I can honestly say that I have never witnessed that emptiness in QVB and the Pitt Street Mall area as both are very popular places for many people throughout the week.
The most iconic building in Sydney, the Sydney Opera House (SOH) was also empty on a Friday evening. Just imagine that! The only time where you’d see the SOH empty perhaps would be around 1am to 6am, where people are still asleep at home. But empty on a Friday evening was never a thing! You’d usually see a lot of people at the Opera Bar enjoying their food and drinks with friends whilst enjoying the beautiful view of the Opera House and Darling Harbour bridge in the background.
Everywhere you walked, you would see signs about COVID-19. They include reminders about keeping your hands clean or social distancing or temporary closures of shops or even about shortage of certain products in the supermarkets due to COVID.
Overall, it was very interesting to see how fast things changed around the city. Living in a city where it is usually fast paced filled with the daily hustle and bustle to total emptiness was just shocking and peaceful at the same time. What was usually packed with people were empty as people were self containing themselves at home and staying safe. It was sad to see how many businesses and individuals were badly affected by COVID.
On a positive note, as restrictions have been eased recently, more shops have reopened, restaurants able to have customers dine in, you do see more people walking about in the city. Seems like things will get back to normal soon, but not the ‘normal’ that we all know pre-COVID.
