Central to Green Square Walk
Thursday, 6th July 2023
The group met at a Central station at about 9.30am.
Participants- Chris, Peter, Yvonne, Helen, Richard, Colin and Natalie.
Along the way-
*Some of us arrived a bit earlier and had a look at the new connecting walkways joining the south and north ends of Central Station-looks very good! Yvonne and Peter pointed out to Natalie and Colin an interesting but small display of artefacts that had been discovered during the construction. It is at the far end of the walkway at the south end.
*Morning tea at Central.
*Walked around to view what was left after the fire and demolition of the hat factory near the station. There were huge timbers beams left that hopefully will be used somewhere in the future.
*Then up to Prince Alfred Park. The playground, swimming pool, tennis courts, huge fig trees were all there but no ice rink. Wikipedia says an ice skating rink existed behind the pool from 1959 to 1997.
*Walked along some quiet streets through the suburbs of Surry Hills, Redfern, Waterloo and Alexandria to Green Square noticing some lovely houses. (Strawberry Hills is apparently an “Urban Place within the suburbs of Surry Hills and Redfern. Green Square is also a locale not a suburb at a five-way intersection where the four suburbs of Alexandria, Zetland, Waterloo, and Beaconsfield meet.)
*We admired Star House c1882 previously known as Star Hotel which has been renovated and now used as a commercial enterprise. The star on the front façade at the top of the roof line is still prominent.
*Some of the old buildings in Redfern such as the PO and old Court House, looked splendid in the bright sunshine.
*Walked through Redfern Park and discovered some interesting sculptures.
*We passed by Mt Carmel Catholic church and school complex with a mural about Eileen O’Connor who lived for 29 years. It is worth looking at her story on the internet to understand why her mural is there.
*We noticed that George, Pitt and Elizabeth Street continued through the suburbs from the CBD to Green Square.
*At Waterloo Park we had glimpses of two interesting building at Green Square.
*Colin took us into a side street, Retreat St, where there was a Chinese temple and housing for elderly Chinese members of that community. We had a lovely chat with a local gentleman who explained the significance of the temple. Here is some more information -Yiu Ming Temple in Alexandria was built 1908-1909. It is one of the oldest surviving Chinese temples in Australia. Globally it is a rare intact example of a traditional Chinese village temple farm. The houses adjacent to the temple were retained to be leased at low rents to new arrivals or the elderly community members.
*On arriving at Green Square we had a few choices for lunch and settled on MacDonalds. It has been a while for most of us so we had to learn how to use the digital ordering system. The chips are still thoroughly enjoyed by us all.
*We finished lunch and departed about 1.15pm. Some went back to Central via train and Natalie and Colin continued walking to Erskineville Station, another 2km.
Time taken 9.30 to 1.15-just under 4 hours
Distance-about 5km, although many of our digital devices recorded a longer distance!
.
Thursday, 6th July 2023
The group met at a Central station at about 9.30am.
Participants- Chris, Peter, Yvonne, Helen, Richard, Colin and Natalie.
Along the way-
*Some of us arrived a bit earlier and had a look at the new connecting walkways joining the south and north ends of Central Station-looks very good! Yvonne and Peter pointed out to Natalie and Colin an interesting but small display of artefacts that had been discovered during the construction. It is at the far end of the walkway at the south end.
*Morning tea at Central.
*Walked around to view what was left after the fire and demolition of the hat factory near the station. There were huge timbers beams left that hopefully will be used somewhere in the future.
*Then up to Prince Alfred Park. The playground, swimming pool, tennis courts, huge fig trees were all there but no ice rink. Wikipedia says an ice skating rink existed behind the pool from 1959 to 1997.
*Walked along some quiet streets through the suburbs of Surry Hills, Redfern, Waterloo and Alexandria to Green Square noticing some lovely houses. (Strawberry Hills is apparently an “Urban Place within the suburbs of Surry Hills and Redfern. Green Square is also a locale not a suburb at a five-way intersection where the four suburbs of Alexandria, Zetland, Waterloo, and Beaconsfield meet.)
*We admired Star House c1882 previously known as Star Hotel which has been renovated and now used as a commercial enterprise. The star on the front façade at the top of the roof line is still prominent.
*Some of the old buildings in Redfern such as the PO and old Court House, looked splendid in the bright sunshine.
*Walked through Redfern Park and discovered some interesting sculptures.
*We passed by Mt Carmel Catholic church and school complex with a mural about Eileen O’Connor who lived for 29 years. It is worth looking at her story on the internet to understand why her mural is there.
*We noticed that George, Pitt and Elizabeth Street continued through the suburbs from the CBD to Green Square.
*At Waterloo Park we had glimpses of two interesting building at Green Square.
*Colin took us into a side street, Retreat St, where there was a Chinese temple and housing for elderly Chinese members of that community. We had a lovely chat with a local gentleman who explained the significance of the temple. Here is some more information -Yiu Ming Temple in Alexandria was built 1908-1909. It is one of the oldest surviving Chinese temples in Australia. Globally it is a rare intact example of a traditional Chinese village temple farm. The houses adjacent to the temple were retained to be leased at low rents to new arrivals or the elderly community members.
*On arriving at Green Square we had a few choices for lunch and settled on MacDonalds. It has been a while for most of us so we had to learn how to use the digital ordering system. The chips are still thoroughly enjoyed by us all.
*We finished lunch and departed about 1.15pm. Some went back to Central via train and Natalie and Colin continued walking to Erskineville Station, another 2km.
Time taken 9.30 to 1.15-just under 4 hours
Distance-about 5km, although many of our digital devices recorded a longer distance!
.