Saturday 17 October 2009

The Yellow Steps

The yellow steps are not enough in number to be John Buchan’s “The 39 Steps”, nor are they as elegant as the Arthur Stace script on Sydney Streets of “Eternity” in beautiful copperplate running lettering, but they are still mysterious, and on our streets.



By now, I have seen them in 5 or 6 locations around the foreshore at Rapid Creek in Darwin, mostly on the bike path in the area, as well as several on paved asphalt streets in the area.

It looks as if someone steps in a spot with a lot of paint then walks out for 6-10 steps at normal pace, leaving yellow footsteps behind.

The old adage of “take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footsteps” seems true here. The locations are not overly close to houses, nor indicative of someone planning a bit of criminal activity.

Yes, we have a normal amount of graffiti activity around the Darwin city area on walls and even public items such as electricity junction boxes…………….but painted footsteps?? Have they been elevated from graffiti to folk lore – Eternity was!

The first time the steps were seen, I, like others I suppose, assumed paint had been spilt, and someone walked in it, barefoot. But when now at least 6-8 more have been seen………..we do have a story, surely. When did they first appear? How many locations are there? Who is the perpetrator?

Watch this space………..maybe.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe it is the urban yellow footed rock wallaby?

MsTypo said...

I know i recently posted about my hatred of graffiti but this is intriguing. I'd love to know the story behind it if you ever find out.