Long-time Schofields resident speaks out about suburb’s transformation
THE thing that drew Brian and Verna Mackenzie to Schofields in 1980 is keeping them there despite encroaching development and a dwindling sense of community they once relished.
Rouse Hill
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THE thing that drew Brian and Verna Mackenzie to Schofields in 1980 is keeping them there despite encroaching development and a dwindling sense of community they once relished.
“We were living in Petersham and renting,’’ Mr Mackenzie said.
“We were driving back from a dog show at Kurrajong Heights and thought it was very nice and rural. It was ‘doable’ to where I was working (in Meadowbank).
“We have thought about putting the house on the market but the problem is what we do in retirement. My wife plays in a band and we do dog training.”
The Grange Ave residents live on the fringe of the Schofields town centre boundaries, which incorporate more streets within an 800m radius of the train station after the State Government revised it this month.
But they know their 101-year-old house is not immune to change.
“You can’t stop State Government planning mentality to change their mind to your detriment,’’ Mr Mackenzie said.
“At the end of the day they can’t stop putting multistorey apartments across the road from us.
“Our plan when we moved into this house was to live and die here.
“We love the area; now we’re not so sure. We were considering moving to the country. It’s depressing.”
Mr Mackenzie, a retired boat builder and self-funded retiree, has slammed the government for the way the suburb — where the couple raised their two sons, now 46 and 40 — has declined.
“It’s becoming an urban slum and that’s not being denigrating because they’re not matching the infrastructure to what they’re doing here,” he said.
He said he accepted urbanisation but “we always expected a quarter-acre block”.
“That was the standard in those days,” he said.
The sense of community is something Mr and Mrs Mackenzie, 63 and 62, also miss.
When the couple bought the house for $34,500 in 1980 they quickly enlisted in community groups.
“We joined the local bushfire brigade but I joined when there were three families of the brigade and three generations of families in Schofields,’’ Mr Mackenzie said.
“The joke is you had to be here 30 years not to be a blow-in. Now we’re seeing people moving in and then they’re back on the market again.”