The making of a community mural (Story Book) - North Yarra ...

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The first thin blue line – under a gorgeous blue sky Mandy painting the roots And then the trees started growing Ralph, handyman extraordinaire got that one nailed! 30 IN THE FLOW - the making of a community mural
Hoddle Street history When I first heard about the storybook for the mural project I wanted to talk to some of our older members at the health centre about their memories of Collingwood before it was sliced in two by an eight lane arterial road. So I organised a meeting with Frank Thompson, Keith Fitzgerald, Harold Hamilton, Maria Luciani and Elsie Smith who have all lived in the suburb for a very long time. (from L) Chris O’Neill, Frank Thompson, Keith Fitzgerald, Harold Hamilton, Maria Luciani, Elsie Smith In the 1950s, before the demolitions began to widen Hoddle Street, Hoddle Street Collingwood was a thriving shopping strip much like Smith Street is now. These ‘slum’ demolitions were not without some controversy – the Government pleased with its progressive policy and action, locals resenting their neighbourhood and houses being labelled as slums. The original Hoddle Street ran between today’s median strip and the Abbotsford side footpath. There were pie shops, green grocers and grocers, butcher shops, a cinema and dance halls, and between Victoria Parade and Alexandra Parade no less than 5 hotels. After a day’s work in the Bryce & Duncan shoe factory women often would buy the ingredients for their families’ evening meal, then shell the peas in each others company on the train on the way home. The Punt Road bus met with the double decker bus in Johnston Street, many factories, mainly footwear and clothing, were in the suburb, and lots of workers cottages lined the streets. For instance Elsie Smith grew up in one at the corner of Vere and Hoddle Street. Many of the people living in the workers cottages were subsequently relocated into the public housing estate between Hoddle and Wellington Streets. Part of the external wall of the health centre was once an internal wall of the Bryce & Duncan shoe factory; in fact their name is still visible on our Easey Street façade. The old factory extended to what is now the median strip but was once the western side of Hoddle Street. This explains the unevenness and many of the ‘tricky corners’ that the artists encountered when they tried to work out how the river design was to ‘smoothly flow’ along the wall. It also explains the name ‘the Factory’ for our big meeting room in the back of the building, a name which has become part of the ‘language’ of the organisation. In 1869 Dr John Singleton established the Collingwood Free Medical Dispensary in Wellington Street. In the 1970s the Whitlam government set up the community health program and by now the old Singleton’s and its charity model of health were feeling the winds of change. An increasingly progressive committee of management decided to purchase the present site between Sackville and Easey Streets and developed a plan for a purpose built new community health centre with money from this new community health IN THE FLOW - the making of a community mural 31
Page 1 and 2: in the flow - we sing and dance in
Page 3 and 4: in the flow - we sing and dance in
Page 5 and 6: Message from the Mayor The City of
Page 7 and 8: Ellen Michel I thought it would be
Page 9 and 10: Drawing as a medium of communicatio
Page 11 and 12: then encouraged to pass through the
Page 13 and 14: I also wish to thank the community
Page 15 and 16: An important part of the work of th
Page 17 and 18: (L) Maria & the late Jean Hales IN
Page 19 and 20: As part of their ARC Program, the s
Page 21 and 22: BIKE RIDING The ARC program, we do
Page 23 and 24: MAGPIE DELI This image represents a
Page 25 and 26: Island I started to draw Dights Fal
Page 27 and 28: A last view of the old façade. The
Page 29: Then the preparations for the new m
Page 33 and 34: Project participants Collingwood Co
Page 35: artist - ellen Michel We are all cr

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