ADAM HARVEY: In the 80s and 90s, the Block was a no-go area for outsiders.
For
a place with such a big reputation, it’s a very small area – about the
size of a football pitch, centred on Eveleigh Street, it was handed over
to the Aboriginal community by Gough Whitlam in the 1970s. But drugs
and crime got so bad here that the entire Block was eventually torn
down.
The drugs moved elsewhere years ago. The last terraces were
demolished in October, but it’s taken time to shed a hard-won
reputation.
Michael Texalaki is raising a family here.
MICHAEL
TEXALAKI: I can remember when we first moved here, there were times
when taxi drivers wouldn’t come here and council workers wouldn’t come
here and things like that. But there was also a really fluctuating
behaviour on the streets.
As I say, like I think it was a real
habit for people to come into the area who knew that it was an area that
was sort of a bit ungoverned.
ADAM HARVEY: But for the people who live here it’s always been a safe place.
Elizabeth Ramage has lived here on and off for decades. She’s 81-years-old.
ELIZABETH
RAMAGE: I found it a very welcoming and exciting place to live. Mainly I
think because I had a lot of Aboriginal friends so I felt safe among my
friends. I find it more dicey now because my friends are not up the top
of Eveleigh Street.
ADAM HARVEY: These days the block is just a
patch of grass with views of the CBD and a couple of Redfern high-rises.
There’s a few private property signs planted in the middle of the
grass.
The patch is owned by the Aboriginal Housing Company,
who’ve proposed to fill the space with a $70 million complex of
townhouses and apartments for students and Aboriginal people.
Elizabeth
Ramage’s son Ian grew up here. He says it’s important that The Block
isn’t just turned into just another expensive Sydney real estate
development.
IAN RAMAGE: It would be another, you know, trendy
inner city suburb. We have lots of those. You know, Newtown’s fun but we
don’t need Newtown everywhere.
ADAM HARVEY: Dixie Link-Gordon raised six children in The Block.
DIXIE
LINK-GORDON: No it was a good place, there was friends, we had a
wonderful pre-school that was right there on Eveleigh Street and the old
Murawina, you know, it was a learning place for not only children but
it was for parents to do outreach TAFE courses. It was pretty buzzing.
ADAM HARVEY: Why did it get the reputation that it got as a dangerous place?
DIXIE
LINK-GORDON: I don’t know, what can I say. There’s a lot of outside
influence who see an investment on people who are maybe struggling with
challenges like addiction, you know, drug addiction. You see there’s
someone out there who’s prepared to put their hand up and say yeah I’ll
sell to the addict.
ADAM HARVEY: And she’s got great hopes for the redevelopment.
DIXIE
LINK-GORDON: To tell you the truth I’m not one for sitting around
talking about what’s getting us down. If you do that, you get caught up
in it and I like to think – have a positive attitude for us here in this
inner city community and if you know, we think positively, put it out
there, you know I’m just one to believe that it will happen for us.
ELEANOR HALL: That’s Dixie Link-Gordon from Redfern, ending that report from Adam Harvey.
Adam Harvey reported this story on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 12:50:00