The walk takes about 2 hours, and concludes at a point halfway between the Taverners Hill Light Rail stop and Lewisham Railway Station. Be sure to wear comfortable walking shoes and bring your hat and drinking water.
Meet: Taverners Hill Light Rail stop, 711 Parramatta Road (at the bottom of the hill where Parramatta Road crosses the Hawthorne Canal), 10.00 for 10.30am start
Cost: $5 payable on the day
Bookings: Mark 0409 617 778 or email walla@iinet.net.au
In the late 1800s, Lewisham and surrounding suburbs were desirable areas, but circumstance and political expediency rendered them less so during much of the ensuing century.
This loop walk visits the most historically interesting locations and houses in Lewisham. There is newly uncovered information about the people here including the successful convicts, the carcass butchers, the two women pioneers and the eight parliamentarians; and the failed Benedictine seminary, the 1870s ‘garden suburb’ and the 1848 ‘green belt’.
Mark Matheson is the author of Victorian Villas of Marrickville/Newtown (Marrickville Council Library Services, 1996). Despite the praise that publication received, and its ongoing appeal, Mark tells us that “it pretty much relied on secondhand information”, and since then he has spent the better part of a decade scouring municipal records and other primary documents to find out who made the decisions which shaped the local area. He has led many local walking tours showing how the topography of a place can so often dictate that decision-making.
Marrickville Heritage Society 