It was standing room only at the Annerley Library on Saturday 10 August, with Dr Janis Hanley presenting a fascinating exploration of the multi-cultural beginnings of Ekibin.
Engaging maps, photographs and other documents presented gave a real ‘feel’ for the area and how it changed over time. A tale of fellmongers, tanneries, wool scours and manure dumps in the catchment that impacted Norman Creek (and gave a certain aroma to the area).
An overview of how Chinese market gardeners used nutrient-rich creek water (from upstream slaughterhouses) to fertilise organically and grow vegetables successfully and productively.
Janis carefully navigated the complexities of antiquated and exclusionary immigration policies and revealed fascinating information about local Chinese residents from official historical documentation.
After the talk the room was abuzz and several descendants of Chinese Market gardeners recalled stories from their childhood.
Dr Janis Hanley provides some interesting narratives using historical maps.
Heritage is best experienced in place – not musty conference halls or footnoted tomes. A Walk in the Warm Zone is an encounter of the living heritage kind.
The walk, created by Pauline Peel and supported by a team of contributors was launched last Friday. It starts in Villa street Annerley and explores the surrounds through the writings of well known author Jessica Anderson.
Heritage resides is the living fabric of communities. We can really only access this heritage by walking streets, paying attention to the surrounds, connecting with others, exploring forgotten corners and sharing stories.
History becomes our-story, through the magic of storytelling as the many threads, and the layers of the past that haunt places, are acknowledged, shared, and become entangled with our own life experiences.
These ongoing encounters maintain a living heritage — adapting, and constantly renewing, as stories are re-told, and places re-experienced.
The walk
A walk in the warm zone, cleverly weaves together place, fiction, memory, and performance, seeking out and enriching this living heritage.
Jessica Anderson’s fictional characters reflect her own experiences growing up in Annerley-Yeronga in the 1920s. All are brought to life. Denis’s performances as Jessica’s Dad, steels the show, bringing both humour and hard truths.
Through the walk, Pauline Peel gently takes us by the hand, leading us to places thick with memory.
Together we visit the backyard of Jessica’s childhood and follow her memories through the back gate into Yeronga Memorial Park. We gather outside her primary school, and sit in the pews of the church she insisted on attending.
Along the way we hear about discoveries made by current owners of Jessica’s house, as well a reminiscences by the team members, Jeanette and Wendie who grew up in the area during WWII and post-war. Their memories of park and school entwine with the experiences of Jessica’s characters.
Finishing up at ASHG’s history room in Villa Street gave us a chance for a cuppa and a chat.
This walk is creative heritage at its best: collaborative, artful, and engaging the senses. It affects, at times deeply, and at other times playfully. It is an inspiring co-created mash-up of performance, creative writing, memory, artefacts and storytelling.
The Inspiration
Pauline writes of her inspiration for telling Jessica Anderson’s stories in this way.
The making
It is founded on considerable research and is a collaboration. PaulineASHGs Villa Street Project brought collaborators, and revealed local knowledge, further developing these ideas. Denis Peel, Jeanette Wiley, Kate Dyson, Wendie Hirsch and various community members contributed to the making of this event.
Join Pauline, Jeanette and Wendie to Walk in the Warm Zone starting outside 48 Villa Street at 9.45 am on Friday 21 June and Saturday 22 June.
Walk in the Warm Zone celebrates the Australian author Jessica Anderson (1916-2010), who grew up at 56 Villa Street in the 1920s and early 1930s. Her family were Charles and Alice Queale and she had three siblings.
Jessica Anderson drew on her memories of her Brisbane childhood in her writing including Tirra Lirra by the River which won the Miles Franklin Award, Stories from the Warm Zone and Sydney Stories and her short memoir Starting too Late. Jessica Anderson referred to Stories from the Warm Zone and Sydney Stories as autobiographical fiction.
Walk in the Warm Zone combines local history with the richness of Jessica Anderson’s writing. At the end of the walk we hope you can join us in the ASHG History Room, Yeronga Community Centre to continue to talk history and have a cup of tea.
Ever wondered about the changing Service Stations of Annerley. Find out more on Monday 3rd June at 7.00 pm when Mark Baker will presents The Rise and Fall of Service Stations in Annerley.
Mark Baker has worked in the heritage sector since the 1970s.
The event is free. Donations are welcome.
See you there for what promises to be another fascinating insight into our local history.
The talk will be preceded by the (optional) monthly meeting at 6.00 pm.
On Tuesday evening, our April Talking History was on Dickebusch Street, Clifton Hill Moorooka.
An entire street without front doors? How can that be?
There are ten houses on Dickiebusch Street, and all are accessed from other streets: no actual houses with street addresses on Dickebusch St (Flemish for thick bush).
Kate Dyson, ASHG Vice president, took us through the brief history of the land on which Clifton Hill War Services Homes Estate in Moorooka was built.
She looked at the naming of some of the streets and their connection to European First World War sites, with a focus on Dickebusch St, the street that connects Longueval St, Waterlot St and Delville Avenue.
It was then on to a brief look at the lives and stories of some of the residents: owners and tenants who lived out what might have been ordinary lives but had experienced extraordinary times.
Speaking to Kate afterwards, she expressed how finding these exceptional stories of people living in ordinary suburban streets is what makes researching local history is so important. History lurks in the seemingly every-day.
Forty-four attended Kate’s talk on Tuesday evening. If you were unable to make it and are interested in hearing more or sharing information, email us – [email protected]
Local railway stations in Fairfield, Yeronga and Yeerongpilly are being upgraded and made accessible as part of the Cross River Rail project. ASHG is working with Cross River rail to provide historical signage for each of the stations. Research for the Fairfield Train Station has been finalised although the signage is yet to be installed. In the meantime Cross River rail have presented ASHG with 3 posters for the new local history room in the Yeronga Community Centre. The posters reflect each area of the research undertaken for the signage: Indigenous history; Rail (Fairfield) History and Urban Change. Denis Peel, Secretary of ASHG, holding the poster about the rail history of Fairfield in the above photo. Denis and President Jeff Brunne undertook the research.
