I grew up in the suburbs. My parents bought a block of land on the outskirts of Melbourne. It was a quarter acre block. It was the Australian dream, and my parents who had arrived from Belfast N.Ireland bought into it. It was cheap land and they could build their own home and have space around them. A luxury for those from Europe who were used to living in townhouses and high density living.
The house was built by AV Jennings - brown bricks and tiled roof. In Victoria, brick veneer was the standard build. All the existing flora and fauna was stripped to create these blocks - some of the old photos show how barren the street was.
I have fond childhood memories of the fringe suburbs, mostly to do with the street life, playing with all the other immigrants kids and my BMX (again). We were a skip away from semi rural land, creeks and farmland. I recall the clearing of a large block for a few new families to build their home - it cut down all the old trees which i knew were the homes of local wildlife - . As you grew up, the suburbs became a place of pure boredom, wasted youth and plenty of trouble. I saw plenty of good people go bad, but geez does it give you a love of good old fashioned mischief.
A long winded tale for the introduction to another refurbishment Tavern project, The Quarter Acre Tavern, a local community based venue which aims to inject this dream into the locale of Applecross, a suburb which could use a little bit of good ol fashioned mischief.