Categories: uncategorized
Date: 13 January 2006 23:52:17
Jan commented on a previous entry that I'd forgotten about Croydon: it being her suburb. We have to rectify that.
As she noted, Croydon is an historic suburb: a number of embassies were once there and there a number of houses from the 19th century [that is historic for Sydney -- especially given the desire to knock down things here].
The Wangal Aboriginal people were the original inhabitants of the area. European arrival forced the retreat of the Wangal into alien territory, depriving them both of their source of food and spiritual connection with their country. The small pox epidemic of 1788 also proved to be the bane of this tribe, as it would for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. No Wangal people survive today. Burwood, one of the councils Croydon is under -- it seems Croydon is split under Burwood and Ashfield, is home to about 200 of the 10,000 or so Aboriginal residents who live in Sydney . According to Burwood council, the three most cited ancestries are Chinese (16%), Australian (15%) and English (14%) -- there are also a number of Koreans, Italians, Lebanese and Indians in Burwood.
A railway was opened from Sydney to Parramatta (about 25 kilometres from Sydney city; it was the site of various farms early in the days of the colony and its name means "where the eels lie down" in an Aboriginal language) in 1855. In 1874, Five Dock Station was opened and in 1876 it was renamed Croydon Station, supposedly because the suburb was about the same distance from the old Homebush racecourse as the London suburb of Croydon was from another racecourse (can any Londoners confirm / deny that their is a racecourse near your Croydon?)
Whenever I drive through the suburbs of Burwood, Croydon or Strathfield, I often feel I'm in very a different place. Being older areas, huge trees often line streets, and gardens, either growing rampantly or perfectly maintained, provide an entrace into each house. The same for some areas of Ashfield, such as Semele's grandparents, whose house I visited when I pciked-up her and her sister and brother-in-law and we went to see Russian Dolls. Beautiful, but given the fact we don't get a lot of rain (although we've had a steady stream this week), and many of the garedens are done in English-style, I'm wondering what may happen to them in the future, especially as we continue to have water restrictions. Perhaps they'll evolve to native gardens? Perhaps it will rain, for forty days and forty nights? Who knows.
Jan also mentioned the girls from the Presbyterian Ladies' College: when I used to leave uni just before school finished, the train to Fairfield would often make a stop at Croydon to pick up the girls from PLC. Seeing them in their outfits, complete with bérets, did always strike fear into me as a swarm of school girls can be rather loud -- and, surprisingly to me, rather boisterous. I went to a co-ed school, and had female friends, but they didn't seem as rowdy as the lovely girls from PLC [although perhaps they toned down for me]. Interestingly enough, two of my very good friends now went to PLC [I met them at uni]: the first thing I asked was to see photos in their bérets! ;-)
I'll also have to try and visit that café at the station one day: are they open weekends Jan, or just weekdays?
Next: my city, Fairfield, and suburb, Bossley Park. I'd be interested in hearing about where you all live as well.