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Global Navigation - a pre cast terrazzo artwork by David Humphries set into the pavement at the entrance of the Australian
National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour Sydney
Size 3 meters in diameter - installed 2003
Commissioned by the AustralianNationalMaritimeMuseum through the buildings architects Cox Richardson and Co.
David Humphries forecourt terrazzo artwork is the welcoming statement for visitors to The Australian National Maritime
Museum who now number more than 300,000 per year
Starry, starry skies and navigation at sea are the central themes in Sydney artist David Humphries' ' Global
Navigation' which is set with its cardinal compass point oriented towards true North.
At the centre of the design, is the astronaut's view of Australia and its surrounding seas viewed through clearing cloud.
Arranged around this central 'core' are the dominant points of the magnetic compass set against a deep blue background
representing the night sky dotted with hundreds of brilliant stars and shells of the earth's seas.
"From the beginning of time humanity has looked to the heavens for guidance in all areas of life," says Humphries.
"The earliest mariners used the sun, moon and stars to navigate their way across the featureless seas.''
"Then came the magnetic compass, a brilliant invention with which navigators set their directions around the world.''
"Now we have satellite navigation... with minimum effort we can establish our location on the globe and set our course with
pinpoint accuracy."
'Global Navigation', he says, ''reflects the progress of navigation through time''.
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