Sydney Suburbs continued: Auburn, Austral

_____________________________

AUBURN:

Location:

• Auburn is located 19 kilometres west of the Sydney CBD.

• It is the administrative centre of the local government area of Auburn Council.

Name origin:

• Auburn was named after Oliver Goldsmith's poem The Deserted Village, which describes 'Auburn' in England as “the loveliest village of the plain.”

• It was so named by property speculators Mills and Pile, who subdivided and auctioned large land areas in 1878 after the coming of the railway in 1877 had boosted development. Originally proposed to be called Burford, that name was rejected as being too similar to the nearby suburb of Burwood.

History:

• The Auburn area was once used by Aboriginal people as a market place for the exchange of goods, a site for ritual battles and a 'Law Place' for ceremonies. 

• The area was located on the border between the Darug inland group and the Eora/Dharawal coastal group. The Wangal and Wategoro, sub-groups or clans, are the groups most often recognised as the original inhabitants of the Auburn/Homebush Bay region.

• Bennelong, one of the most famous Aboriginies of the time, was a member of Wangal, as was his wife, Barangaroo. Pemulwuy, who organised tribes to resist the white settlement of the Sydney region from 1790 to 1802 was also a member of the Wangal. The part of Darling harbour that was previously The Hungry Mile and which is now being developed as a prestigious waterfront commercial and residential suburb has been named after her, Barangaroo.

• The first explorers of the area were Arthur Phillip, the first governor of the colony, and John Hunter, who subsequently succeeded him. On 5 February 1788, shortly after the arrival of the First Fleet, they followed the course of the Parramatta River to what is now Homebush Bay, where they camped for the night. The next day they explored a tributary which they named the Duck River, which now forms the western boundary of Auburn. This river was so named because they saw what they thought were ducks rising out of a reed-covered swamp, but which were actually Eastern Swamp hens. The name Duck River remained and the Eastern Swamp Hen featured prominently on the Council's Coat of Arms and is part of the Auburn City Council logo.

Auburn Council Coat of Arms

Auburn Council logo

• Settlement began with the first land grants in 1806 but development of Auburn was slow until the coming of the railway in 1877. Subdivisions and large scale auctions took place in 1878.

• The Auburn local government area as we know it today was formed in 1948, when Auburn and Lidcombe Councils merged into Auburn Municipal Council. The boundaries of this municipality were much as they are today.

About:

• The local government area of Auburn is bounded by the Duck River on the west, and the boundaries of Rookwood Cemetery and Homebush Bay on the east.

• The area includes the extensive industrial lands that were converted in the late 1990s into Sydney Olympic Park.

• It is one of the most culturally diverse areas in Sydney. 53% of residents are overseas-born and come from widely differing ethnic, cultural and social backgrounds with 50% of residents speaking a language other than English at home.

• In 2012, Auburn was identified as the suburb with the highest number of drive-by shooting incidents in the Sydney Region, coming in at 34 incidents in the five years between 2007 and 2012.

• Auburn has also been in the public eye recently because of the attention on, and actions of, Auburn Council's Deputy Mayor Salim Mehajer.

Gallery:

Auburn Road, Auburn, date unknown

Parramatta Rd near Lidcombe, looking west towards Auburn, 1927

Auburn Railway Station, 1920

Schoolboys at Auburn Railway Station, date unknown

Stan O'Brien's Farrier shop, corner of Queen & Marion Streets, Auburn, 1925

Exterior view of the Auburn Hotel, 1952, with men queuing outside for last drinks in the days of 6.00pm closing, known as “the Six O'clock Swill”

McIlrath's Grocery Store, Auburn, date unknown

McIlrath’s home delivery

Gallipoli Mosque, Auburn

Part of the interior ceiling, Gallipoli Mosque

______________________________

AUSTRAL:

Location:

• 42 kilometres south-west of the Sydney CBD.

• Located in the local government area of the City of Liverpool.

Name origin:

• The area that now constitutes the suburbs of Austral was a parcel of land in West Hoxton purchased by the Austral Banking and Land Proprietary. 

• When residents pushed for a second public school in the Hoxton Park area in 1891, Austral Banking and Land Proprietary donated 3 acres (12,000 m2) of its land for the site and, in return, the school was named Austral Public School. 

• The name of the school became synonymous with the area although it wasn't officially recognised until 1972. 

• Austral Post Office opened on 7 February 1894

Gallery:

Yugoslav Club at Austral NSW, date unknown

Quote for the Day: Michael Caine

"Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath."

- Michael Caine (1933 - )

Michael Caine is an English actor and author. Renowned for his distinctive working class cockney accent, Caine has appeared in over 115 films and is regarded as a British film icon. Caine is one of only two actors nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to 2000s (the other one being Jack Nicholson; Laurence Olivier was also nominated for an acting Academy Award in five different decades, beginning in 1939 and ending in 1978).

From 1952 to 1954 Caine was a soldier in the British Army’s Royal Fusiliers, which included active service in Korea during the Korean War. 

'I was a soldier in Korea and I got into a situation where I knew I was going to die – like the people know they are going to die of cancer, except then we got out of it. But it lasted with me – I was nineteen. That formed my character for the rest of my life. The rest of my life I have lived every bloody moment from the moment I wake up until the time I go to sleep.'

- Michael Caine

People: Don Just

Don Just - The man building a cathedral

Meet Justo Gallego Martínez, aka Don Just, who was born on 20 September 1925. That makes him 90 years old, a noteworthy fact in its own right. What is more remarkable about the man is that he has made it his life’s work to nearly singlehandedly construct a remarkable cathedral, but more of that later.

This is his story:

• Gallego Martinez was raised as a Catholic and at age 10 witnessed communist forces fighting in the Spanish Civil War shoot priests and ransack churches. He became a Trappist monk but contracted tuberculosis in 1961 at age 36 and was expelled from the monastery.

• Gallego prayed to Our Lady of the Pillar (an alternative Spanish name for the Virgin Mary) and promised to build a shrine in her honour if he was made well, commencing construction of a cathedral on some land he had inherited from his parents.

• He began building the cathedral in 1961 and has worked on it every day since, except on Sundays when he attends Mass.

• The cathedral does not have planning permission and does not have the blessing of the Catholic Church.

• Neither does Gallego have any overall plans and drawings for the building. Instead it has evolved, and been made up, as he goes along, deriving inspiration from various sources including St Peter’s Basilica, the White House in the US and various castles and churches in Spain.

• The vast central dome took 20 years to erect and there are two dozen more incomplete cupolas around the building. There are cloisters, a sacristy, even a cavernous crypt. Sections of several walls have been painted to depict scenes from the Bible.

• Most of the building materials and tools used for construction are recycled. This includes everyday objects and excess construction materials donated by construction companies and a nearby brick factory. The columns have been moulded with old petrol drums. The building work has been carried out without any crane. Gallego begins his day at 4.00am by collecting bits of brick, tiles and recycled materials from local factories, then starting physical work at 6.00am.

• Although Gallego Martinez has worked mostly alone on the project, he has received some assistance from time to time, including from a local named Angel Lopez Sanchez, and from his six nephews, (who helped place the girders for the dome). There have also been occasional volunteers.

“I thought the place was a ruin and Don Justo was a tramp, but we spent all day chatting, he fed me chorizo and as I had a lot of spare time, I told him I'd help. He got so deep into my heart that I'm still here today and very content."

- Angel Lopez Sanchez

• In 2005, an advertising campaign for the Aquarius soft drink gave him and his cathedral Spain-wide exposure. 

• Gallego Martínez lives with his sister nearby. 

• He has financed his work by selling and renting some of his inherited farmland. Private donations from supporters and visitors are also given.

• Residents of the area have mixed views on the ongoing project; some view it as a positive tourist attraction while others consider it merely an eyesore that officials have not done enough to prevent. 

• The future of the cathedral is uncertain. The structure does not meet minimum standards and planning permission is difficult to get, even for properly prepared applications for proposed structures.

• Gallego Martinez has bequeathed his building to the local bishopric in the hope it can eventually serve as a fully functional parish church. He knows, however, that that may not happen. 

• Meanwhile, Gallego Martinez keeps quietly working, building his cathedral in homage to God and the Virgin, a monument also to the human spirit and its capacity to persevere.

"If I lived my life again, I'd build this church again, only bigger. Twice the size, because for me, this is an act of faith."

- Gallego Martinez

Gallery:

Quote for the Day

“His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly’s wings. At one time he understood it no more than the butterfly did and he did not know when it was brushed or marred. Later he became conscious of his damaged wings and of their construction and he learned to think and could not fly any more because the love of flight was gone and he could only remember when it had been effortless.”

- Ernest Hemingway on Scott Fitzgerald

Ernest Hemingway

F Scott Fitzgerald

Funny Friday

I was making a Will for a client a few days ago and I congratulated her on her son having been appointed a judge. “Yes,” she replied, “and his brother is a pilot.”

That reminded me of the following Jewish joke:

The first Jewish President is elected.
He calls his Mother: "Mama, I've won the elections, you've got to come to the swearing-in ceremony."
"I don't know, what would I wear?"
"Don't worry, I'll send you a dressmaker."
"But I only eat kosher food!"
"Mama, I'm gonna be the President, I can get you kosher food..."
"But how will I get there?"
"I'll send a limo, just come, alright?"
"Ach, okay, if it makes you happy.”
The day comes and Mama is seated between the Supreme Court Justices and the future Cabinet members. She nudges the man on her right. "You see that boy, the one with his hand on the Bible? His brother's a doctor."

How good will it be if Bernie Sanders is elected, think of all the Jewish jokes that will come to the fore. 

 I love a good Jewish joke, here are some for Funny Friday . . . 

______________________________

Mr. Shwartz goes to meet his new son-in-law to be, Sol. 

He says to Sol (who is very religious), "So nu, tell me Sol, my boy, what do you do? 

"I study the Torah," he replies. 

"But Sol, you are going to marry my daughter, how are you going to feed and house her?" 

"No problem," says Sol, "I study the Torah and it says God will provide." 

"But you will have children, how will you educate them?" asks Mr. Shwartz. 

"No problem," says Sol, "I study the Torah and it says God will provide." 

Mr. Shwartz goes home and Mrs. Shwartz, his wife, anxiously asks what Sol is like. 

"Well," says Mr. Shwartz, "he's a lovely boy, I only just met him and he already thinks I'm God."

______________________________

Sadie, an old Jewish woman, has worked for fifty years in the garment district in New York.

One evening she’s coming home from work, she’s on the subway, and a tall, rather strange-looking man in a long raincoat comes over and stands in front of her.

Suddenly, he opens his coat and flashes her.

Sadie looks closely, sighs and says, “You call this a lining?”

______________________________

An old man is in a hospice, dying, and his 60-year-old wife is by his bedside.

“Rivka,” he says. “Tell me the truth. In our forty years of marriage, were you ever unfaithful?”

Rivka remains silent. 

“Rivka? Did you hear me? I asked if you’ve ever been with another man?”

“Chaim,” she says, “I don’t understand the question.”

“Don’t understand the . . . ? Just tell me. I won’t be mad. I’m dying. I would just like to know. During our marriage, did you ever shtup another man?”

Again, Rivka says nothing.

“Rivkie, Rivkie, what’s the problem?”

His wife looks at him and says, “I’m worried. What if I tell you, and you don’t die?”

______________________________

______________________________

An old American Jew felt that death was close and asked his sons to take him to the Holy Land, to die there and be buried in Jerusalem. 

The loving sons did as he asked, brought him to Jerusalem, put him in a hospital and waited for death to come. However, once in Jerusalem the old man felt better and better and in some weeks was again strong, healthy and full of life. He called upon his sons and told them: " Take me quickly back to the United States." 

The sons were confused and asked: "Father how come? You said you want to die in the Holy Land and be buried in Jerusalem!' 

"Yes," answered the father, to die it's OK but to live here....!?"

______________________________

Two Jewish men are sitting in a wonderful deli frequented almost exclusively by Jews in the Jewish section of town. They are talking among themselves in Yiddish. A Chinese waiter comes up and in fluent and impeccable Yiddish asks them if everything is okay, can he get them anything, and so forth. The Jewish men are dumbfounded. "My God, where did he learn such perfect Yiddish?" they both think. After they pay the bill they ask the manager of the store, an old friend also fluent in Yiddish, "Where did your waiter learn such fabulous Yiddish?" The owner looks around and leans in so no one will hear and says, "Shhhh. He thinks we're teaching him English."

______________________________

A little Jewish boy was telling his mother about how he had won a part in a play that was being done at school. His mother asked, "What is the part you will play, Saul?" Saul responded, "I shall play the Jewish husband," to which the mother replied, "Well, you go right back to that teacher and tell her that you want a SPEAKING part!"

 

Corn Corner:

Yussi is a young Jewish boy, an immigrant from Russia, in grammar school. During the English class the the teacher says, “Class, it’s vocabulary time. Can anyone here use the word `cultivate’ in a sentence?”

Nobody raises a hand.

Again, the teacher says, “Come, somebody must know this word. Cultivate. Use it in a sentence. Anyone?”

After another minute, Yussi raises his hand.

“Great, Yussi. What’s your sentence?”

Yussi says, “Vell, in the vinter, ven it’s snowing and you’re vaiting for the school bus, you should go indoors because it’s too cul-ti-vate.”

“It’s goodnight from me ... and it’s goodnight to him.” 

In memory of Ronnie Corbett, who passed away last night, aged 85. 

Thanks for the laughs and the memories.