A Message from the Breath of Life Co-Ordinator

Last Monday (Australia Day holiday) the Breath of Life team made an executive decision to take down the remaining windmills.

Many had been destroyed by strong wind the day before and others had been vandalised, one pole was pulled from the ground and a windmill found lying in Wolfe Street.

We decided that the overall design needed to remain uniform and therefore the remaining windmills taken down. Although this does not make as much of an impact as the initial installation design, public safety was our main priority as we did not want to take the risk of any remaining windmills coming loose and harming anyone.

The installation of windmills has been well documented and a slideshow will be available at the Symposium today to highlight the project in its original state. Unfortunately we do not have the funds or the physical man power to restore the full installation, except to install a couple for February 9 children's workshops. There are plenty of images available on our flickr site and blog pages that record the installation in its former glory.

The change in the design is also documented and interpreted (in a very creative way) as seen on the blog.

Ann Hardy

Co-ordinator
Breath of Life Team

Flying Windmills Reported Over 97 Cities

NEWCASTLE - Australia - Reports of flying windmills have been flooding in to mission control on the Obelisk Hill site Newcastle Australia. There are now over 266 sightings over 97 cities worldwide, as tracked by Google Earth's aerial windmill tracking station in New Jersey.

"We are so pleased, and relieved that so many survived from their brutal attack only nights ago" Varelle Hardy, spokesperson for the Breath of Life Art Installation team said today.

A Very Happy Mrs Varelle Hardy

Breath of Life, part of the Back to the City Project was one of the installations attacked a number of nights ago by giant flying vandal sharks called 'coaliaths'. Many windmills escaped (leaving their tails floating in the wind) and have been flying over the planet ever since their hasty departure.

"Evidence has also been emerging that some of our windmills have found sanctuary in distant lands and have sprouted wind farms" said Mrs Hardy. "We are sending out a call to local children to come to the Obelisk Hill on Saturday 9th February 9-11 am to help us create more windmills that we hope to plant locally and hopefully they will germinate and grow into mature wind farms." she said.

Survivor Windmill 'Speaks' of Night Battle Ordeal

NEWCASTLE, Australia - Detectives of Operation Boreas have had a major breakthrough and been able to finally 'speak' with the sole surviving windmill of the Breath of Life installation.

Inspector Auster told the international press conference assembled today that it had not been 'easy' - "As you may be aware Windmills don't speak in our language, rather they converse in a form of music, so we needed to bring in specialists to find out what this one was saying."

The musicians from the Hunter Wind Ensemble translated testimony from 'Windemere' to English for over 4 hours hours today. What emerged was a tale of tragic terror, and an insight into a hitherto unknown world of windmills.

At dusk on the evening of the 27 January 2008 they were set upon by large 'flying sharks' called 'coaliaths' who descended on the group of 60 odd art installations. Most of the windmills took flight, leaving their tails, much like lizards, as is also done in their species. They fly and scatter, similar to a dandelion's seeds when the wind or a person's breath blows the seeds off into the world. Some unfortunately did not make it, and were destroyed by the coaliaths.

The windmills are said travel the earth, in some cases for years, before sailing down to germinate more of their kind in what we call 'wind farms'.

Dr Albrecht of the University of Newcastle, an expert in such species, said this recent discovery was amazing, and would lead to greater understanding of the phenomenon.

"Words cannot describe my excitement" Dr Albrecht said. "To be now able to communicate with these lifeforms will help us to understand what they need in order to thrive." "I have also discovered that these species cause sickness then death to the 'coaliaths' that attack and eat them". Coaliaths are known to cause a medical condition known as 'solastalgia', or the 'feeling of homelessness while you're still at home'. They are also responsible for clawing out huge chunks of the landscape of the Hunter Region. "They have voracious appetites" Dr Albrecht said.

Evidence of Coaliath Investation

In the Newcastle Herald it was reported that over night these 'flying sharks' struck again on another art installation, unfortunately in this case the flat people had no means of flight at their disposal.


Investigations are continuing with another sighting over the Sydney Opera reported.

Breaking News - Windmills sighted over Manhattan

NEW YORK - Flying Windmills sighted over Statue of Liberty

A set of mysterious objects commonly termed "flying windmills" were sighted by the US Weather Bureau station on Manhattan Island at 8:45 pm Sunday.

Zephyr Favonius of the Weather Bureau said that he and an assistant watched the "flying windmills" for approximately 10 minutes in the bureau theodolite, the instrument used to observe weather balloons.

They said the "objects" looked like your common variety American pinwheels, though looked different.

"They threw a soft white light", they said, "as they passed the Statue of Liberty and occasionally took on a blueish hue. They moved through the sky at a leisurely speed and finally disappeared toward the northeast".

Breaking News - Windmills Mysteriously Disappear

[REUTERS] NEWCASTLE, Australia - Dozens of white-sailed windmills have mysteriously gone missing over night from the Obelisk Hill site where they were installed only days ago, a representative for the Back to the City Arts Project said on Monday. All that remain are their tails.

The Breath of Life Art Installation team installed over 60 windmills, also known as the Australian White-Sailed Pinwheels, on the historic Obelisk site, 167 kms north of Sydney, as part of the Back to the City Project that was launched on the 25th January 2008.

"We have found a small number strewn on the ground showing evidence that some had been attacked by vandals or something quite monstrous and ferocious. You can tell by the teeth marks. The rest are missing," Varelle Hardy, a senior official of the Breath of Life installation team, said.

But she ruled out the possibility of all 60 missing windmills falling prey to the vandal monsters.

"If these vandal monsters had destroyed them they should have left behind the bodies" after taking away the sails, she said, adding that just one in tact windmill had been found during an extensive search.

"Where did they go? I have no answer. It is a mystery," Mrs Hardy said.

A Police spokesman did not rule out the possibility of contacting the Central Intelligence concerning the matter, "We will contact Interpol if necessary, in order to find out who did this. It's an outrage. In all my years of policing I have never seen such a thing." Detective Auster said. The Police confirmed today that they would set up Operation Boreas in an attempt to find the perpetrators.

"We hope that the one windmill who survived will help us with our inquiries" he said.

Sites to Behold

Back to the City Launch - Newcastle Australia

Professor Steffen Lehmann Artistic Director of the 'Back to the City' project speaks at the launch of the event by Lord Mayor of Newcastle John Tate. 24 January 2008. For more information please consult the Back to the City Website.

All in a Day

View the Breath of Life slideshow on Flickr

During the afternoon the site became alive with the vista of windmills all around, the installation formed new viewing points and the Newcastle landscape (looking outwards) seemed so much different. The scene to Nobbys Headlands was framed and the view towards the Kooragang Windmill made it not appear as isolative as usual. The nearby Jesmond House appears closer , not as detached from the hill. The Parade Ground and Military Buildings on the James Fletcher Hospital site are now in focus. Those enjoying the nearby Park, take a quick glance at the Obelisk, it has some new friends for a while. It has a 'Breath of Life'.

The City is captured from all angles.

Breath of Life - Construction Images

John drilling

Beau drilling

Painted Posts

Warren at work

A Star is Born

Caroline Hale and John Noble are interviewed while cutting out sails for the Breath of Life Art Installation Project.