The item from John Loveridge about the smells of Broadway (C8) reminded Laurie Wilson of Allambie Heights of being a Sydney University undergraduate in the 1960s. “You could tell the wind direction from the smells: brewery hops meant an easterly from the Kent Brewery, strawberry jam meant a southerly via the IXL jam factory and chocolate biscuits meant a westerly via the Westons Biscuits factory.”
In the aroma wars of Parramatta Road (C8), for John Hepworth of Haberfield biscuits beat booze any day of the week. “I’ll see your hops on Broadway, and raise you the smell of Wagon Wheels at the Westons biscuit factory on Parra Road, and whatever biscuits Peek Freans were baking where Bunnings now has its Ashfield store.”
For Peter Riley of Penrith, travelling north from Central on a red rattler with all doors and windows open on a hot summer’s afternoon was an olfactory adventure (C8). “The Arnott’s biscuit factory at Strathfield, followed by a paint factory at Concord West and then the mysterious emissions from the ICI chemical plant at Rhodes. Even the Parramatta River at Meadowbank was a bit whiffy at times. But nothing quite matched the pong from the occasional tightly packed livestock train heading for the Homebush abattoir in the opposite direction.”
When it comes to lost odours of old Sydney (C8), there are those whose loss is not much lamented – particularly those emanating from the ICI and Union Carbide factories at Rhodes, and the smell from the tanneries of O’Riordan Street. Ken Barnett of Armidale remembers that “the most unpleasant, stomach-churning odour of all was that encountered at Rhodes”, but that when he infrequently found himself in the car with his dad driving down O’Riordan Street in Botany, “Dad would invariably wind the window down and instruct: ‘Sniff up, plenty for everyone! Don’t stint yourselves!’”
Helen Chisholm (C8) may actually have reason to be worried, according to David Gordon of Cranebrook. “Central Australia was once the ocean bed, and the waters may have lapped the western side of the Great Dividing Range ... so Mudgee could be in trouble if the Australian continent suddenly was submerged. What does her insurer know that she doesn’t?”
Warren Howlett of Blackheath was amused, and disturbed, to hear a morning radio report that stated, “Motorists are warned that at Frenchs Forest there’s a pothole travelling south on Warringah Road.” You can almost hear the insurance companies shuddering.
Column8@smh.com.au
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