Secret Suburb: Creating masterpieces, indoor grinding and revealing ghostly adventures in Sydney suburb St Leonards
YOU may think St Leonards is just another stop on the rail line. But, get out and explore and you will find a whole world of hidden treasures. Here we uncover a few of its secrets.
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YOU may think St Leonards is just another stop on the rail line. But, get out and explore and you will find a whole world of hidden treasures. Here we uncover a few of its secrets.
Paint with Pete
It takes a bundle of energy and a bucket of optimism to teach five naysayers that yes, they can indeed paint. But after a three-hour workshop and a Monet later, Pete forgoes the “I told you so” and accepts the thanks from his group of recent converts. Of course, these students aren’t producing perfect reproductions, but the point it that they are producing something recognisable — and for the people who started off saying they weren’t artistic, this is a pretty big accomplishment. “It’s simple,” says Pete. “We sketch an outline of the largest parts and within those 30 seconds, you can already see that some of them are starting to get what’s going to happen. It wonderful to watch.” Pete also uses the same technique to teach guitar, but mastering one skill is enough for this week.
Basement Skate
It’s skateboarding, but not as you know it. Well, technically, the skateboarding part is the same but at Basement Skate, you can forego visions of delinquents hopping railings and draining pools, this place is all about the sport …. and the community. Although it’s the largest hardware shop in Australia, it’s the indoor mini ramp that sets it apart — as well as the movie nights, product launches and volunteer programs. They’ve got the stock, facilities and credentials suited to neophytes and pros alike, but it’s the stream of kids that pass the racks of colourful boards to get to those ramps that speaks to the soul of this place. “We get to know the kids’ parents,” says Graeme “Kanufi” Akhurst, “They come in and watch and they know we’re looking after them.” Essentially, Basement Skate is kind of like a superhero — busting one stereotype at a time.
In Tune Music
Rattle off any type of “wind” joke and Glenn Clark of In Tune Music will have the punch line out before you can say “blow.” He’s heard them all but if it’s from one of the young kids trying out these wind instruments for the first time he’ll laugh along. “I’m lucky,” says Glenn, “I get to play everyday and the kids remind me of how it was when I was in school, just realising that this is what I wanted to do.” It’s not just kids that appreciate his work; people come in looking for spare parts, like The Eagles’ saxophonist who needed a piece while touring Sydney. There’s also those wanting to repair a hidden treasure from grandma’s attic. One of his favourites would be when then daughter of legendary entertainer Bobby Limb, walked in and wanted his saxophone cleaned before it went on display at the Powerhouse Museum. A polished piece of history.
Nilgiris Restaurant
The proliferation of cooking shows has managed to set a pretty high benchmark for causal home cooked meals friends. For the culinary challenged who prefer recipes with plenty of pictures, hosting a dinner can be downright terrifying. That’s where Ajoy Joshi of Nilgiris Restaurant comes into play. Yes, you’ll prepare a tasty Indian meal but you’ll also learn about the hot, sweet and bitter spice combinations that make it so tasty and why adding chilli in the summer months makes you sweat so you cool off or warm up in the winter months. Ajoy explains preparing French food, it’s about tasting but with Indian food it’s about smelling and wafting “If you tasted the whole way through, your palette would go to sleep and you wouldn’t taste anything in the end.”
The Moody Chef
With a name like that, you’d expect to hear “No soup for you!” bellowed from the counter. (Seinfeld reference for you young’uns.) Curiosity will pull you in, but the Miami Beach meets country chic decor and gregarious staff will keep you around. “Yes, the chef can be moody” says restaurant manager Graeme Allen nodding at the kitchen with a sly grin, “but that’s just during work hours.” It’s a practised line, but with that smile, clearly happy beats moody any day.
Royal North Shore Hospital (Museum)
Next time you get the thumbs up from your physio, say a quiet thanks to Jimmy, a donated skeleton that was used for teaching purposes until the introduction of plastics in the 1950s. “Jimmy” stands behind glass at the RNSH museum, staring down anyone who dares question his contribution to medical science. He’s just one of many relics that, although archaic looking, served its purpose — just like the clunky rotary phone mounted on the wall.
Historical Ghost Tour
If only every history lesson had the lure of ghosts, museums might just trump mobile phones over the school holidays. Sceptic or not, Sydney Ghost Tour founder, Daniel Phillips’ engrossing tour of the formerly convict-populated areas around RNSH and Gore Gill Cemetery, blend documented history with tales of hardship, corruption, and despair. Add a tiny whisper of eerie insinuation and you’ll be squeezing in tight. But don’t worry, the Victorian woman dressed in black is reportedly a shy ghost.
Sister Mary MacKillop’s original burial site at Gore Hill Memorial Cemetery
Fascinating and cemetery aren’t words you’d normally hear together, but then you’d not have heard about the statue of Australia’s first saint, Mary MacKilllop at Gore Hill Cemetery. You’d be forgiven for thinking that’s her final resting place, however, after her demise, thousands of people made pilgrimages to her grave, helped themselves to a bit of blessed dirt and essentially brought about the beginnings of an accidental exhumation. Not very restful at all, so she was reinterred in a North Sydney chapel. Fascinating.
History of St Leonards
It’s a long story, but essentially the suburb is named after the English statesman Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney of St Leonards and all of North Sydney originally fell under that name.
The epicentre of St Leonards has pretty much always been the railway station — today it’s a main stop on the Northern Line, and is surrounded by an abundance of eateries catering to the major offices building. In the 1890s, it was the last stop on the North Short Line and when commercial interests sought to extend it was met with a lot of resistance. As local historian Daniel Phillips explains, “political opponents called it ‘a railway from nowhere, to nowhere’ trying to portray it as a comfortable ride for the established elite of the North Shore.” But as with any city growing in numbers, resistance is futile and Sydney continued to grow across the harbour.
Size: 4,467. Distance from CBD: 5km. Size: 0.8 square km. Languages: 46% speak English, followed by Chines, Mandarin and Cantonese.
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