Family History Pride

The city of Sydney has created many people important in the world of Art, Music, Design, Science and various other forms.  

What I love most about Sydney is it's underground strength.

One of the strongest women I have ever known, was my Great Grand-mother Olive  (She thought that being called great-grandma made her feel old in her 80's so she insisted that we call her Grandma). She moved from a small country town in South of Gosford, NSW to inner Sydney and never looked back, when she moved to the small lane in the middle of Surrey Hills it was a run down ghetto like lane.  The houses are small 1 bedroom terraces that I think were once upon a time were servants or workers quarters.  They had one room and a small attic room on the second floor.  On the bottom floor there was a lounge room in the front and the kitchen in the back, with a tiny "garden" in the back with the laundry/bath and toilet  plus a tiny area to hang washing. It was so teenie tiny.  It was amazing going to the house as a child, it was like visiting history, even though my mum and Nanna had purchased a hot water system for the house my Grandma isn't on boiling the water for the bath every day, she lived in the house until she was about 92 years old.  She was a very old fashioned woman and even though she couldn't get up the stairs to the bedroom she still managed to garden everyday.

My Grandma started collecting old cans and pots to make small flower pots on the pavement in front of her house. Soon other people in the street were following suit.  Eventually the local council started to think this was a great idea.  So they put bollards at the ends of the street to stop cars from driving down the street.  This allowed for the gardens to develop  and also allow for people to walk down the street to admire the gardens without worrying about traffic.

[This article was sent to my Nan from one of the ladies in the street, Written by: Meredith Kirton for The Green Magazine, Photos by: Sue Stubbs]

Over the years there have been many article written about this little laneway in Inner Sydney. Including: Cat Street's Laneway Garden, Street Garden, and a lovely personal post from Delirious Without New York
There is one more fantastic article that was in The Sydney Morning Herald in 1997, I have the scanned copy which I will update later. It includes some of her history. She's amazing

[My Great Grandmother around her 90th birthday]

Another thing I loved about this lane, was it was down the road from an amazing antique store my mum would take my brother and I there and we would explore for ages, my sister recently went back to Surrey Hills to see if it was still there and it is.  I am going to Sydney in April, I am definitely going to have a trip down Elhorne Lane via the antique store.