Continuing on from my previous blog, across the road from my house
in Stanmore was a block of flats, and to either side of the flats were two very
old houses. One we called the
witch’s house. This was because
the old lady in that house only came out to check her mail and she wore long
black robes and had very long, white hair. She actually looked exactly like a witch and was very
scary. The house was very dark,
overgrown and creepy. Then one day
the house got bulldozed and a block of units went up.
The other house was a massive 2-storey house similar to mine but I
think it was older. This house had
a family in it from New Zealand.
There were the parents and 5 children. They had their own yard in that house but it was very small
and only at the back of the house.
So they always came to my yard to play too. They were good fun but the other kids would make fun of
their accent.
Then a block of units also replaced that house. On either side of me were two
federation houses; each had an older couple in them, with no children
around. They had dogs that always
tried to attack the postman. They always asked my dad for help with their house
maintenance, which he was always happy to do for them. Another house 2 doors up had another
older couple too and the lady would come over to get our cumquats to make the
best marmalade I ever tasted, we went through jars of that stuff and to this
day I still remember the amazing taste.
My mother always marvelled at how she made it as it wasn’t something my
mother would be familiar with making in Portugal.
My mother never really spoke English very well so to go shopping
either my dad or me had to go with her.
Shopping consisted of walking up to Enmore where there used to be a
corner supermarket, a fruit man, a butcher and a fish shop. That’s all we needed and so every
couple of days I would help my mum do the shopping. On occasion my dad would
drive us. My mum got her drivers licence when I was about 12 so until then we
just walked everywhere. My father’s car was a Holden Ute from 1962 then when my
mother got her licence we got a blue Ford Escort in 1978 and my father sold the
ute.
The families in the street were from all different backgrounds and
some were immigrants like my parents.
We had Greek, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and New Zealanders but mostly they
were from Anglo Saxon backgrounds.
Everyone got along and there were never any neighbourhood disputes. It
was a very good time back then, everyone helped each other and everyone knew each
other in the street in the immediate area of our house.
Living at that location was very convenient as the train station
was close to go to the city or we could bike ride to different places close by
even to the city sometimes. I
remember roller-skating too for very long distances. Our house was located at the top of the hill. So to roller skate down the hill was
tricky, and there was a telegraph pole on the corner at the bottom of the hill
which I usually ended up hitting when skating down the hill and losing control!
We would know nearly every single house in the street and who
lived there. The book “To Kill a
Mockingbird” was especially interesting to me because we had a “Boo Radley”
house! It was so creepy. It was a block from our house, across
the road, after the stop sign on the way to school. We crossed the road to avoid that house. It was a huge mansion, very dark and
scary. The house was called Woerden and was built in the 1870’s, and has since
been replaced by a park. The
original fence still stands. So
whenever we would walk past we would peer through the overgrowth to see if
there was anyone there and we would get occasional glimpses of someone inside
the window. I found out later a
reclusive person lived there. But
on some occasions stories would surface of ghosts in the house, something
frightening peering through the windows at night. It was the local haunted house. We were terrified of it. We even had dares of who would dare to run through the iron
gate into the front yard and stay the longest… some boys went for it, I never
did, I just ran away like the rest of the girls!
There were many mysterious houses and people around this area in
those days. And many interesting people from all different backgrounds with
stories to tell. We had an
orphanage for girls, which is now known as Stanmore Lodge. The girls were always locked away, they
were never allowed out and we only saw them when they had their annual fete on
the grounds. That’s when I got to
see the inside of that amazing house too, thankfully today it’s been restored
beautifully and is very well looked after. We suspect it was actually a home for unwed teenaged girls
as the girls there seemed a bit older.
It was at this fete that I’d buy my second hand Barbie dolls and their
clothes for 5c and the cakes were awesome, the only time we ever got to eat
Lamingtons as my mother was not into baking cakes.
Our main shopping street was Newtown shops or Parramatta Road
shops in Annandale. There were
some larger stores like Coles (which was like a Target store back then, not a
supermarket like it is now) and a department store like Gowings in Newtown
although it was called something else.
Supermarkets were just corner stores there were no large Woolworth’s or
Coles like there is now. A corner
supermarket was all we needed back then anyway. I would only get toys and stuff when it was Christmas and my
birthday and my mother made all my clothes so we didn’t need shopping
malls! But now and then we would
visit the only shopping mall we knew which was Centrepoint.
Since my dad worked for the railways in Sydney we could go
anywhere for free by train. So we
would go to the city and checkout Centrepoint. That was our luxury shopping mall, which is now Westfield
Sydney. Even back then it was so beautiful with its carpeted mall area (when it
was first built) and fabulous shops that my mother would love to check
out. If we had to buy a new suit
for my dad or a new dress or shoes for my mum we’d go there. When I was older I
made my mother buy me some clothes, as I didn’t want to wear the clothes she
made for me anymore. Centrepoint
was always a big treat but my father would just have a nap on the velvet
couches while we shopped. My
mother would just go and get him to pay for stuff of course!
Newtown and Annandale had some nice clothing shops back then too
but then it went downhill really quick and became very run down. Today, Newtown is a great place to
visit and to go shopping and it had a great recovery from the down time. The different types of stores that you
find there are varied in price and style.
You get modern designers and then you get the op shops and Salvos. There are artsy stores along with the
run of the mill clothing shops.
It’s now become a mecca of restaurants, bars, café’s, all kinds of
variety shops and every kind of eating/drinking place you can think of. It’s come a long way from the old times
when I was a kid and it’s great to see that.
Sadly some parts of Parramatta Road, Annandale where we would find
upmarket boutiques and shoe stores, are still very run down or abandoned. I guess that area didn’t make the
transition to the modern day tastes as easily as Newtown did. So now and then, I like to visit
Newtown, remember the good times of the past with my mum and dad and enjoy the
new experiences it offers to my now teenaged daughter who is the same age as I
was back then when I still lived in Stanmore.
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