Little Bay, property of Prince Henry Hospital, is located 9 miles (14.5 kilometers), southeast of the center of Sydney. The cliff-lined South Pacific Ocean shore area that was wrapped is approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) long, 150 to 800 feet (46 to 244 meters) wide, 85 feet (26 meters) high at the northern cliffs and was at sea level at the southern sandy beach.

One million square feet (92,900 square meters) of erosion-control fabric (synthetic woven fiber usually manufactured for agricultural purposes) were used for the wrapping. 35 miles (56.3 kilometers) of polypropylene rope, 0.6 inches (1.5 centimeters) in diameter, tied the fabric to the rocks. Ramset guns fired 25,000 charges of fasteners, threaded studs and clips to secure the rope to the rocks.

Major Ninian Melville, retired from the Army Corps of Engineers, was in charge of the climbers and workers at the site. 17,000 manpower hours, over a period of four weeks, were expended by 15 professional mountain climbers, 110 workers (architecture and art students from the University of Sydney and East Sydney Technical College), as well as a number of Australian artists and teachers. All climbers and workers were paid, with the exception of 11 architecture students who refused to be paid.

The project was financed entirely by Christo and Jeanne-Claude through the sale of Christo’s original preparatory drawings, collages, scale models, early Packages and Wrapped Objects of the 1950s and 1960s and lithographs. The artists do not accept sponsorships of any kind.

The coast remained wrapped for a period of ten weeks from October 28, 1969. Then all materials were removed and recycled and the site was returned to its original condition.

Related Videos

• Interview with Christo about Wrapped Coast
• Wrapped Coast
• Jeanne-Claude on "wrapping"

Related Bibliography Items

• Christo: Wrapped Coast, One Million Square Feet, Little Bay, 1969

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