Bossley Park
Categories: uncategorized
Date: 15 January 2006 09:06:59
My home suburb, just under 40km from Sydney city. If you click on the picture to the left you can see roughly where I live. Bossley Park is pretty much the area bordered by Orphan School Creek (follow the row of trees at bottom) to the south, Cowpasture Road (the main road at left) on the west (the large park area further west is the Western Sydney Regional Park), Horsley Drive to the north (the road just visible at top), and the Bus Transit Way on the east (which on the map looks like a big dirt road -- it must've been under construction when the image was taken).
Bossley Park is named for John Brown Bossley who came to Australia in 1838 and practised as a chemist in Sydney. He built an English-style farmhouse in the area, which he called Edensor, after a small village near Chatworth in Derbyshire. Edensor Park is now the suburb directly to the south of Bossley Park.
The Gandangara Aboriginal people were the original inhabitants of what is now metropolitan Sydney. Their homeland covered a huge area stretching as far south as Goulburn [~200km south of Sydney city] and as far west as the Jenolan Caves [~175km west of Sydney city]. Nomadic groups of Aborigines frequently passed through the Bossley Park area as they travelled between the more favourable locations where food supplies were more plentiful, along the Parramatta and Georges Rivers. I was in the Gandangara house at High School (the white building south of my house: it was a ten-minute stroll to school): the other houses were Edina [after Edina Henry, born 1866, who became the first schoolteacher in the Bossley Park District when she was appointed as the Mistress of Bossley Park Provisional School when it opened on 16th November, 1890]; Sartor [after the Sartor family, an Italian family who migrated to Queensland (as many Italian migrants did) in 1922 and made their home in Bossley Park in 1927 (on the block of land now occupied by the High School), which was used as a vineyard, a market garden and a chicken farm]; and Tarburton [for one of the Bossley children, Tarburton Bossley: the Fairfield Showgrounds now stand on part of his local estate]. [Information from Bossley Park High's History page.]
Bossley Park is part of Fairfield City, which is one of the most multicultural cities in Australia: 133 nationalities are represented and over 70 languages spoken. New migrants, the latest from Sudan, continue to arrive. According to the 2001 Census, 95,343 people (53%) living in Fairfield City were born overseas: the main countries of birth being Vietnam, Italy and China. The percentage of persons only speaking English at home is around 29%.
A wide range of nationalities have been part of Fairfield from its beginnings: Germans, Italians, Spanish, Greeks and those from the Balkans were some of the earliest arrivals and still make up a large proportion of residents. Chinese have been here since the early 20th century and they, as well as other Asian groups, particularly Cambodians, Vietnamese, Laotians and the Indo-Chinese, continue to make the area their home. Assyrians are also prevalent here, having first arrived in the mid 1960s. The history pages on the Assyrian Church of the East's website is a fascinating look into this community and their building of churches and a cathedral (in 1990).
In terms of attractions, the Fairfield City Farm (where I hope to take my niece soon), Fairfield Museum and the three soccer clubs (Marconi [the large complex just to the left of my house], Bonnyrigg White Eagles and King Tomislav Club: unfortunately these are no longer in the national league) are probably the most well-known. In addition, the Fairfield Showground -- with its associated markets and various cultural festivals is well-known.
Unfortunately unemployment is quite high in Fairfield, and the rate of youth unemployment is one of the, if not the, highest in Sydney. There are a number of programmes being implemented to address this. One of Fairfield's suburbs, Cabramatta, has -- fairly, I'd say -- a rather bad reputation for drug availability: I get offered some almost everytime I visit. As with such areas, you just need to know where to avoid. Cabramatta and Canley Vale also have some of the best SE Asian food, and at fantastic prices, that you could ever hope to get. Around my area Italian places feature predominantly, and in Fairfield itself you'll find Laotian, Vietnamese, Turkish, Iraqi and Lebanese food a-plenty.
I do love living here. Growing up in such a multicultural area has been a great blessing: it helped me to see through others' eyes and understand that "our" way is not the only way in existence. My neighbours range from Italians to Lebanese to Armenians to Turks to Anglos. My best friends at school were Cambodians and Vietnamese. My best friends at uni were East-Timorese and Assyrian. I love it.
[And I'd love to hear about your suburb: let me know via the comments if you feel like telling us about it.]