The A to Z of 2205: Duff St

There's a few notable things about Duff St: the views to the city of Sydney, the air intake area for the M5 tunnel which travels underneath, and some contemporary architecture. I have it on good authority rather close to home that it's also a favourite for kids hurtling down on their bikes!

Below: Land for sale right next to the air intake vent for the M5 motorway tunnel. This tunnel has been the subject of much controversy, since before it opened. It has not had an air filtration system within the tunnel. Air was taken in here, and expelled, unfiltered, through a stack in Henderson St (Turrella) - we'll see it when I get to "H" for Henderson! Anyway, after many protests, much pressure on the government, demonstrable sickness of residents, and the fact that subsequent tunnels were built with filtration systems, a filtration system is being installed in this tunnel.



Below: The white buildings in the distance are associated with Sydney Airport.

Below: Duff St is a dead end at the western end, with a walk way down the hill not visible to the left.



Below: Sydney CBD. You can see the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Tower quite clearly.



Below: Looking down the hill towards Hirst St and the corner of Arncliffe Park

Below: The Hirst St intersection - lookign across to Mitchell St, which runs alongside Arncliffe Park.

Below: Looking up Duff St from Hirst St

The A to Z of 2205: Broe Ave, Arncliffe

Named after Alderman Henry Broe, an alderman of Rockdale Council 1904-14 and 1917-20 and Mayor of Rockdale 1909-14 and 1918-20.(The Origins of Street Names in the Municipality of Rockdale, compiled by Alderman Ron Rathbone, 1990)

Below: It's Sunday morning and the cars parked all along here are not only residents', but worshippers at St mark's Coptic Cathedral in Wollongong Rd.
Below: The most gorgeous feature of Broe Avenue is the sandstone entrance to Arncliffe Park on the corner of Hirst St, and the sandstone fence which runs the length of the park.

Below: Cricket nets, and one of the two kids' playgrounds in the park
Below: Newly developed town houses (2008) where once several smaller, single-fronted weatherboard houses stood.
Below: I posted this previously, and one of my readers explained it is the remains of a Water Board sewer vent from just after World War One. Apparently they were made with melted down German artillery pieces brought back after the war. Now THAT'S really interesting!
Below: Looking back towards Hirst St from Wokllongong Rd
Below: Looking towards Station St from Wollongong Rd
Below: From Station St to Wollongong Rd, with the fence of St MArk's on the left.

Photos taken 10 Aug 2008

Arncliffe Park Part 3

, park

Above: Tai Chi 25 August 2006
Early autumn, February 2007
Regrassing the cricket pitch 8 Feb 2008

Arncliffe Park Part 1

Arncliffe Park is bound by Wollongong Road, Mitchell St, Hirst St and Broe Avenue. It was originally a Chinese market garden, the property of Kim Too. In March 1889 it was officially proclaimed as a public park.

Before WW1, Wollongong Road grocer, Hugh Wilkins, a Rockdale Council representative 1911-1917, complained bitterly about the lukewarm attitude of police to the "Push" which frequented the park and had attacked "a respectable Chinaman", about footballers undressing in the park, and of people playing cricket and cards on Sundays.

Estate agent Arthur Goddard, a representative of the area 1908 - 1914, criticised the use of the park by open air motion picture operators and the Arncliffe Brass Band playing "ragtime" music in the park on Sundays.

A very big tree in Arncliffe Park

Soccer and cricket are played in the park.

Fog in the park - June 2006

The War Memorial

The Avenue of trees, planted about 1904

Arncliffe Park Part 2

Local women chat in the park

Local men chat in the park

The cricket nets

I don't know what this is, but suspect it might be the base of an old lamp post.

Children's playground

Chinese market gardens

Above: The back of the Market Garden looking over the Riverine Park wetland towards West Botany Street. Below: Views from West Botany Street.

Chinese market garden, 212 West Botany Street.
Look carefully and you can see the control towers of Sydney airport in the background. Not the very high towers - they are sports ground lights. The towers to the left of the left most tall lights.
[The effect of the airport on Arncliffe will be a future blog].

There are many people of Chinese heritage who have arrived in the area quite recently- since China relaxed the rules about emigration, and since the handback of Hong Kong. But the Chinese in the Arncliffe area have a much longer history. There have been Chinese people in the area since the 1800s.

This garden is one of only three remaining in the inner Sydney area. It is on the State heritage List, where it states that it was first occupied by Sun Kuong-War, Lee How and Sin Hop Sing in 1892. The current owner is the State Government (Department of Planning), but it is farmed by Chinese people.

Amazingly, despite the enormous change in the area, this land has been in continuous use as a market garden for 114 years.

When I visited today there were two people working - one along the rows of vegetables, the other wheeling a barrow. Both wore the conical-shaped hats typical of Chinese farmers.

Market Gardens - a bit of history

After the Gold Rushes of the 1850s, several former miners and newer arrivals from China (though drastically fewer than in the 1850s and 60s) established market gardens - many in the Botany Bay area.

By 1894, the local property directory listed market gardens run by Sam How Long, Yee Mow and Gee Sing in Arncliffe Street (now mainly light industry, car smash repairers, an indoor go-kart place, and most recently, some "luxury" high rise apartment development). Ah Choy and Yok Sing were in Bonar and Illawarra Streets, and at the northern end of Wollongong Road Ah Jack, Sun Sam Long and Mow Sing are listed.

The land that is now Arncliffe Park was a Chinese market garden.

For much of the Interwar years, and especially in the Great Depression, Chinese market gardens were the only source of vegetables for urban Australians.

See here for heritage listing details.

Here some Chinese Australians recount their experiences, including with market gardening.