Doris Meilak celebrates 50 years of Christmas lights tradition on Cumberland Rd, Greystanes

For 50 years, the Christmas queen of a western Sydney neighbourhood has bedecked her home with a glorious tangle of lights. Meet the local icon and other stalwarts keeping the tradition alive.

As the festive season draws near every year, Greystanes’ Christmas queen clambers to the summit of her double-storey brick house on Cumberland Rd and begins festooning it with thousands of fairy lights.

There’s barely an inch that isn’t adorned with decorations, from the new pastel fairy lights dripping from the garage to the reindeer and snowmen props mixed with giant spheres of pink hydrangeas in Dolores Meilak’s prized garden, which was recently crowned Sydney’s best at the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW competition.

At 73, Mrs Meilak, better known as Doris, is celebrating a milestone 50 years adorning her homes on Cumberland Rd, having decorated her former single-storey abode before moving to current two-storey house with her family in 2000.

It’s a tradition that has inspired neighbours over the years and helped the street become a magnet for light lovers.

Her favourite is the nativity scene filled with statues from her birth country of Malta.

Doris Meilak with her striking Christmas lights display at 72 Cumberland Rd, Greystanes.

“I love doing it for as long as I can manage to do it because the people, the community, the kids, the families and my family, they just say ‘Mum, continue it’.

“Every year I say this may be my last year, but I continue.

Doris Meilak’s award-winning garden transforms into a Christmas display in December.

The display is a labour of love for Doris Meilak.

“Even back in Malta, we used to have the nativity … we’ve always done something.’’

Mrs Meilak’s dazzling masterpiece is also an individual project that usually means she rejects her husband’s offer to help.

When the lights fade on January 6, a piece of Mrs Meilak spirit dims too.

“The light at night gives me courage,’’ she said.

Another eye-catching property at 113 Cumberland Rd, Greystanes.

A charming attraction at 70B Cumberland Rd.

“When the lights go off after the 6th of January, it feels like a darkness has fallen and I truly feel it after a week.’’

As she casts her eyes on the opposite side of Cumberland Rd at the gold shooting star, she recalls fellow Christmas lights trailblazer George Dimech, a neighbour who died this year.

When she saw the star for the first time this year, she was delighted “George is still around”.

His wife Josephine, son Frank and daughter-in-law Amanda have ensured the tradition continues, an easy task thanks to Josephine and George’s 27 grandchildren, 40 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.

Like her longtime neighbour Mrs Meilak, the nativity scene is what gives Josephine the most pride.

The early years involved her crafting a nativity scene with boxes of Corn Flakes, but many figures are now ornate statues that occupy the window of the home.

Frank and Amanda Dimech, Josephine Dimech (sitting) and Chantelle and Cohen Smith keep the Christmas lights tradition alive on Cumberland Rd.

Amanda said a 26-year-old man strolled past recently and could still recall seeing the star for the first time as a two-year-old in his stroller.

“It’s something you don’t forget even as kids,’’ she said.

The family and other residents of Cumberland Rd are still bracing for the peak period to hit usually the week before Christmas.

“Christmas Eve is bedlam, absolute bedlam,’’ Amanda said.

Originally published as Doris Meilak celebrates 50 years of Christmas lights tradition on Cumberland Rd, Greystanes