Histories of Green Square - City of Sydney

Histories of Green Square
At first the state’s Baby Health clinics program came under
strong attack from doctors, especially in the new area of paediatrics.
They became more supportive of the movement as they
saw new career opportunities opening for them. Women’s and
feminist groups also attempted to influence policy outcomes,
but did not have the political clout of the doctors. More
research is needed on their involvement in this process, and
also on women’s other roles. Women were not just clients of
the baby health centres. As feminists, doctors and philanthropists,
they were themselves involved in framing infant health
and welfare policy.
In 1926 the Department of Pubic Health took over the baby
health centres, and this marked an end to the focus on working
class women alone. The baby health centres became a service
that was universally accessible to all mothers, regardless of class
background. The infant welfare movement was now under the
direction of a newly emerged class of experts: nurses, doctors
and clinic sisters who believed that all women needed to be
taught mothercraft, not just working class mothers. They
urged women to avoid the traditional child-rearing practices
passed on to them from their own mothers, and to follow
instead only expert advice that was grounded in ‘scientific’
evidence. Thus the baby health movement can be seen as a part
of the road to modernisation. The nurses, doctors and sisters
were part of the much broader national efficiency movement
which held an ambitious vision for a new society, where social
harmony could be achieved by a state bureaucracy applying
scientific principles to social problems or conflicts.
What is missing from this story is the voices of the mothers
of Alexandria and other Green Square suburbs themselves.
They were not just passive recipients, they had to make choices
about what service they used, whether they would follow the
advice, or whether they would even use the baby health centre
in the first place. For these reasons, an oral history of the
women who lived in the Green Square area would be a very
valuable and rewarding project.
2.10 Exodus and Retreat:
The Chinese of Alexandria and Waterloo
Melita Rogowsky
The Retreat Street precinct of Alexandria is associated with
successive waves of Chinese immigration to Australia. The
area surrounding Retreat Street in Alexandria and Waterloo
has been the site of continuous Chinese occupation since at
least the 1870s. Though the numbers of Chinese in the area
fluctuated dramatically with the introduction and intensification
of the White Australia Policy (WAP), the precinct
accommodated the highest concentration of Chinese market
gardeners in Sydney during the 1880s and early 1900s. The
swamplands of Waterloo provided fertile ground for the
gardens and the gardeners lived in wooden huts adjacent to
the street (which have since been destroyed by fire and/or government
‘cleansing’). They spent their recreational time, along
with other working class Chinese (as well as Europeans), in
Retreat Street, which was notorious for its gambling houses.
The surrounding area, particularly Botany Road and Bourke
Street, hosted many other successful Chinese businesses,
including more market gardeners, grocers, cabinetmakers and
a butcher. The state heritage listed Yiu Ming Temple (circa
1909) and the locally listed terrace houses which adjoin it, were
built by local tradesmen of the Go Yui clan. Situated at the far
end of Retreat Street, they are associated with many of the his-
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torical figures and businesses of the area and remain a key site
of religious and cultural activity for the Go Yui clan. Australian
Born Chinese (ABC) children who were born and raised
in this region attended the local Waterloo Public School. The
conflicts between European-Australians and Chinese-Australians
and the resultant oppressive legislation and regulation
were played out in community agitation and action, media
propaganda, harassment and violence. One important lesson
is that racism does not appear to have been a constant factor
at this local level, but rather escalated in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries; but even then it was at times
mitigated by instances of sympathy, friendship and esteem.
The combined districts of Alexandria and Waterloo are thus
places of special cultural significance and meaning for people
with links to the Chinese communities of this neighbourhood
today. They also enrich our understanding of Sydney’s multicultural
past. It is an important reminder to future generations
of Australians of the broad and complex history of urban
Chinese settlement outside of the boundaries of the area now
commonly known as ‘Chinatown’. It is a story which tells us
about the local implementation of the WAP, and Chinese
community resistance to and negotiation with the xenophobic
Australia of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Making this history available to Chinese communities in this
region and elsewhere, new and current residents of the area,
schools, libraries and workplaces, will contribute to a richer
understanding of an area that is often wrongly dismissed as an
industrial wasteland.
As Ann Stephen noted in her report Lions of Retreat Street,
Chinese settlement in Retreat Street has in part reshaped the
meaning of Alexandria and Waterloo. These suburbs were
named to celebrate the recent victory of the British in the
Napoleonic Wars, as was Retreat Street, which takes its name
from the Waterloo Retreat Hotel which once stood on its
corner. But Retreat Street has become synonymous with the
tranquillity of the temple, rather than with a working class
pub, or European battles.
2.11 From German Streets to Russian libraries:
Immigrant Histories of Green Square
Susan O’Reilly
The Green Square area is known for its industrial history,
plants, factories and most recently for the development of
expensive high-density housing. But these areas were not
spaces only of economic development, devoid of human
voices and the stories of the surrounding communities. What
accents did these voices have? What cultures wove amongst
one another, creating the diverse religious and ethnic communities
that exist in the area today?
The Green Square area has attracted immigrants ever since
industries were established here, and continues to do so. This
history has not yet been written and records are scant, yet a
wealth of immigration stories were found. The area has been
home to an incredibly diverse range of ethnic groups, from the
early Irish, to the Greek, Italian, and eastern European communities
of the post-war period. There was also a strong Chinese
presence, and later other Asian communities, including the
Vietnamese. The pattern of immigrants settling in the area
to take advantage of the high levels of unskilled employment
has been a constant feature of the area, from Irish in the mid
nineteenth century, to the Ukrainian, Vietnamese and Chinese
people in the area today. Immigrants have therefore been
integral to the area’s industrial and labour history. They were
among the hundreds or thousands of workers in the major
industries, and became shopkeepers, tradesmen and market
gardeners.
Little social infrastructure was available for the first waves
of immigrants. The support and security networks were
fulfilled mainly by religious orders, church communities and
their affiliated organisations. Family and local community
networks were also established. Religious diversification and
commitment was strong, with the establishment of the first
Maronite and Melkite churches (1894 and 1895 respectively)
in Waterloo, which reflected a strong Syrian and Lebanese
population. Mt Carmel Catholic Church, built in 1859, was the
pride of the Irish community but also ministered to Maltese
and Lebanese Catholics in the twentieth century.
Local government programs and services to assist migrants
have only developed strongly during the 1990s, and they
have clearly increased immigrants’ opportunities and desire
to interact more closely with the wider community. Their
success, compared with the lack of established services in the
earlier periods, makes it poignantly obvious how hard interaction
would have been for the area’s immigrants from the late
1800’s to the late nineties.
There are no extraordinary immigration stories amongst
these histories, so far. Little scandal and very few controversial
issues seem to have arisen. What is important is the remarkable
ability of these immigrant groups to establish functioning
and resourceful communities that did not forget their traditions
and cultures but also eventually incorporated them into
the wider community of the area.
2.12 The Roots of Green Square: A Planning History
Tessa Endelman
Green Square area has long been a site for planning visions.
Over the twentieth century there were various schemes for the
redevelopment of certain aspects, areas and services in South
Sydney, so the current plans for Green Square are only the latest
in a long history of proposed schemes for the area. Despite its
long history of occupation, very little in the way of planned
redevelopment was actually achieved. At times administered
by individual local councils, for most of its recent history the
majority of the district has been governed alternately by either
South Sydney Council or the City of Sydney Council.
The Green Square project was primarily created through an
alliance between South Sydney City Council and the NSW
State Government. Since about 1991, discussions between
community groups and planners have been held through
a wide variety of forums. Community consultation was a
fundamental part of the new development scheme, and was
achieved through the circulation of a discussion paper, various
discussion groups, letter drops and surveys as well as through
regular updates in the community newsletter the Inner-city
News.
An important factor in the projected urban renewal is the
rezoning of activities within the area. Green Square has a long
industrial history and much of it was previously known as
a slum area. Industrial expansion in the post-WWII period
further reduced the quantity of housing and the quality of the
urban environment. One of the key objectives of the Green
Square project is to encourage multi-land use in the area,
increasing the balance of industrial with commercial and residential
areas.
Chapter 2 – Snapshots: Green Square Histories in Brief
The community’s response revealed the major concerns to be
the environment, the future role of the city, transport, public
safety and the needs of the community. Bearing this in mind,
the council’s development consultants created the South
Sydney Plan, part of which, the Strategy for a Sustainable
City of South Sydney, incorporates the Green Square project.
Other major concerns were the maintenance of a socially and
culturally diverse population (to be achieved by a percentage
of low-cost housing and other strategies), and the promotion
of high quality urban design in new development.
Further development in the area was prompted by the State
Government’s announcement of the new Southern Railway,
a service that would run between the airport and Central
Station for the millions of visitors expected during the 2000
Sydney Olympic Games. The plan of the new train line
included a new station situated in the heart of a newly defined
Green Square area. Access to rail transport finally sparked the
total redevelopment of the area. By 1997, a draft Masterplan
had been developed by South Sydney Council’s consultants,
Stanisic Turner, in association with Hassell Pty Ltd. It aimed to
convert the largely industrial profile of the area into residential
and mixed land use areas., outlining the future planning of
Green Square and its development into the year 2020.
To date, the Green Square project has faced several difficulties
and has become further and further removed from the original
plans and their underlying philosophies. It will be interesting
to see whether it will achieve the high levels of success
in environmental sustainability, social and cultural diversity,
mixed-use zoning, good design and a vibrant urban culture to
which it originally aspired, or whether it will become a ‘white
elephant’. It remains to be seen whether this latest and most
ambitious plan for renewal will suffer a similar fate to that of
its predecessors, or whether it will achieve an equitable and
sound urban future.
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