Bogs House
Bogs House sits below Sugget Spring, in a pine forest, a short detour off the main path. It is the last of the stone houses on the tour.
Opening the door, we found ourselves once again looking at a reflection of the impenetrability and darkness of the forest. Sections of tree trunks – thin and straight – stood from floor to ceiling rooted to the floor in a bed of pea gravel. Spaces between the stalks allowed for passage, and soon we found ourselves wandering through such, peering through the darkness for pathways and using the light brought in from the outside to find our way home. We were inside out, in the outside but in, closing the circle from whence we began.
And in short order after leaving Bogs House, following the creek back to the pastures of sheep and cattle and the groomed lawns of the Rosedale Football and Cricket Club where we had parked our car, we were in the modern world, where the people still live and work within the environment. This time, however, it is farming instead of mining that brings both struggle and promise. But in seeing those sheep and cattle caring for their young, we realize from the young that life goes on.
At the End of the Day
Once at the car, we realized it had been a push. We had completed the trek in four hours. But then again, we didn’t stop for nourishment or to escape the weather as so many do at Job’s well. Instead, we chose to push ahead – both because of the weather and because of a prior commitment which required us to be back at the hotel before dinner.
And once in the car on the ride back to our hotel, silence dominated as we tried to process and understand what we had witnessed. We were still searching for answers to questions posed throughout the trek. And that searching continued into our night dreams, as component parts lived and dreamed merged into more subliminal messages and questions.
We had, most certainly, witnessed the cycle of life within the circular path and we had witnessed Goldsworthy’s signature sculptural mastery of material. But the questions stuck with us. What was Goldsworthy up to? Why were certain names given to buildings? Were our experiences and understanding his own, or were we merely projecting our own thoughts and emotions, beliefs and values, onto his?
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