Secret Suburb: Convicts, mafia, kids playgrounds, Italian motorcycles and festivals weave fabric Sydney’s Five Dock
THIS little slice of Sydney’s inner west has Iron Cove on one side, Canada Bay on the other, and plenty to intrigue people in the middle, as you will see.
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This little slice of Sydney’s inner west has Iron Cove on one side, Canada Bay on the other, and plenty to intrigue people in the middle, as you will see.
Livvi’s Place at Timbrell Park: Along the bike path of Henley Marine Drive just before you hit the Bay Run is a sizeable playground with inviting equipment and the usual array of active kids and attentive parents. The tidy landscaping and lively butterfly sculpture near the entrance may grab your attention, but otherwise it looks like any other playground — which is half the point.
Thanks to a grant from Touched by Olivia Foundation, this lovely area has been made into an inclusive play space, accommodating children of all ages and abilities. But unless you knew what was modified, you’d probably never notice. Like the oversized slide, it’s suitable for an adult to accompany a child that may not be able to support himself, or just for friends sliding down holding hands. Then there is the elevated sand box, designed to be easily accessible from a wheelchair but to others it’s just another seat. ‘We want this to be a community place where people cab play together, side by side, with no barriers,” explains Justine Perkins, the foundations co-founder. So, in a roundabout way, Livvi’s Place has shown that by being different, we all get to enjoy things in the same way.
Livvi’s Cafe: It’s all fun and games …. until someone needs coffee. Fortunately, Justine Perkins, founder of Touched by Olivia Foundation, had the good sense to set up a coffee outlet adjacent to the inclusive playground she collaborated on at Timbrill Park. Established as a social enterprise, the cafe, which opened in July, will provide opportunities for disabled adults, helping them to transition into the workforce. “We can’t stop helping people because they grow up,” says Justine. “Here we help develop confidence which is all part of being inclusive.”
Start of The Convict Trail (Parramatta Road and Great North Road): It’s a bit ironic that the starting point of an infrastructure project once considered vital to Sydney’s progress is now buried beneath bitumen along Parramatta Road. Back in 1825 in what is now Five Dock, a band of convicts, many in iron leg chains, began construction on the 240km trail that would connect Sydney with the Hunter Valley. Under the guidance of Governor-appointed surveyors, the often 700-people a day crew produced remarkably high quality work — noteworthy because of the harsh conditions and unskilled workforce. Unfortunately, upon its completion in 1836, water passage had taken over as the main mode of transport, so the Great North Road rapidly fell into disrepair. But as testament to the magnitude of the project and the historical significance of its labour force, what has not already been covered up by progress is now heritage protected and recognised as part of The Convict Trail Project.
Peter Dodds McCormack — former headmaster of Five Dock School, wrote and composed “Advance Australia Fair”: Whether it makes you swell with pride or swear for forgetting the second verse, the Australian national anthem owes itself to a bus ride and a Scottish immigrant. In 1878, Peter Dodds McCormick, a schoolteacher and former headmaster of Five Dock Public School, was returning from a concert of National Anthems when he began to lament Australia’s omission in the set. By the end of his journey, he had written the first verse of Advance Australia Fair, which would officially become our anthem in 1984 and a nation would forever ponder the meaning of the word “girt.”
Mafia hotspot
Ask about a suburb’s best kept secret and you expect to be regaled with tales of god-sent pastry chefs and celebrity hideaways, but in Five Dock, you’re bound to hear hushed chatter of the area’s Italian mafia ties. Seems some of those whispers were given a bit of merit when former Italian MP, Francesco Forgione published Mafia Export in 2009, expanding on the Camorra crime-syndicate account from Roberto Saviano’s book (and subsequent movie) Gomorrah, pointing to the Inner West suburb as a foothold for Australian expansion. Speculations continue of course, but for now the only traction that secret has is through the power of the caffeinated rumour mill.
Ducati Owners Club of NSW — first meeting in Five Dock in 1976
As she sped past, Gary Peters, then a 16 year-old in the 1970s knew he was in love. Desperate to get a better look and learn more, he ran after her, determined to meet up at the next light. That’s when he knew he just had to have her — a Ducati 750 GT motorcycle. In an era when flashy bikes were making an appearance, the subtle power and sophisticated silhouette of this Italian beauty was winning the hearts of the devout minimalist. So, in 1976 when three equally smitten guys in Five Dock put out the word to start up a Ducati Owners Club, Gary signed up. Now, 400 members later, the group has outgrown the backyard meeting space but return annually to Five Dock during the Ferragosto Festival — Sunday, 17 August this year— to join in celebrating the splendours of Italy.
It’s time for salami
Forget winter and so long spring, in the Mirarchi family there are two seasons: wine making season and salami making season. In March, it’s Domenico’s turn with the grapes but come the first full moon of winter, Maria’s salamis take the reigns — like they do in many Italian families. For centuries, farmers worked by lunar cycles, the winter moon indicating the end of the harvest and the ideal time to cure meats, but today that’s more a signal for family gatherings and pending delicacies. And throughout the colder months, Maria will oversee this process many times as friends and relatives come by to make their own batch of salami, first seasoning the meat and stuffing the sausages, then leaving it to cure over the coming months … just in time for wine making season.
The History of Five Dock:
It’s not quite known when Five Dock got its name just that after 1805 it started appearing that way on paper more likely than not, because of the five natural indentations along the Parramatta River that looked like docks. In 1806, Governor King granted the land to military surgeon John Harris who named it Five Dock Farm, which he then sold to Samuel Lyons, a former convict who by this time had become a wealthy and prominent citizen
In 1836, Five Dock got its first ferry service, “the Emu” which helped boost its population, but it wasn’t until the tramway system in 1890 that the area truly started to grow. Around that time and up through the 1930s, a significant number of Italian immigrants, specifically from the Aeolian Islands, (a volcanic island group off the coast the North coast of Sicily) moved to the area. Now, every August, Five Dock holds its annual Ferragosto Street Festival, paying homage to the influences that the Aeolian people have had on the Five Dock community.
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