Frog Hollow - Cnr Of Albion Street & Riley Street - Surry Hills
Frog Hollow, at Albion and Riley Streets in Surry Hills, was long written up in Sydney newspapers as a dense lane-and-terrace pocket and later as a target for slum clearance. Contemporary photographs of the corner sit alongside digitised cuttings from the Australian Star, Sydney Morning Herald, Daily Telegraph and other papers. This post gathers those Frog Hollow images and press clippings.
Boy Has This Place Changed, Even Since I Was Young. This Is Where I Spent My First Christmas Alone After I ran Away From Boarding School In 1993.
I Was 15, It Was Christmas Eve & Both My Parents Had Bombed Themselves Out On Sleepers, Valiums, Rohypnols....
Whatever....
Needless To Say They Slept Right Through Till Boxing Day Night...
So There I Am In The Old Frog Hollow....
& It Was Really Quite Scary... I Met This Aboriginal Girl Who Lived In A Tent Like Thing In The Corner Of The Park Section...
For The Life Of Me I Can't Remember Her Name...
But She Was Homeless & I Remember She Took Me Under Her Wing That Night & We Got Drunk On Passion Pop.
She Took Me Right Around Kings Cross. I Got To Meet A Lot Of Working Girls & Other Homeless People..
I Remember Arriving Back To Queens Park Hilton About Lunchtime On Christmas Day Exhausted & Hungover. & That Was My Christmas 1992
A CLEVER CAPTURE.
At the sittings of the Quarter Sessions, yesterday afternoon, Henry Donnelly, David Harkness, William Harkness, and James Donnelly were arraigned on an indictment charging them with having, on October 8, at Sydney, broken into the dwelling-house of Luke Murrough, and with having stolen therefrom a purse and £81 6s 6½d in money. A second count charged the accused with receiving the property. It appears that on the date mentioned in the indictment, Luke Murrough, residing and carrying on business at 179 Palmer-street, went out for a day's enjoyment, leaving in the house at the time, concealed in the fire place, a purse containing 81 sovereigns. On entering in the evening, Murrough found that the house had been broken into, and the purse of sovereigns, together with several shillings in silver and copper and several articles of jewellery, were missing. Information was given to the police, and the matter entrusted to Senior-sergeant Pirie and Senior-constable Goulder. On the following morning, Henry Donnelly and James Donnelly were found in a house at "Frog Hollow," Surry Hills, and on being searched were found to have between them £20 in sovereigns. A woman named Mrs. Chairborough identified Henry Donnelly as the person she had seen jumping over the fence at the time of the robbery. William and David Harkness were subsequently arrested in a house in Palmer-street, Woolloomooloo, close to where the robbery was committed. A boy named Smallwood identified David Harkness as one of four persons he saw in the yard of the house at the time of the robbery. On being searched, the Harkness Bros. had between them £32 in sovereigns. When arrested, David Harkness offered considerable resistance, and he became so violent that Senior-sergeant Pirie had to let him go, and Senior-constable Goulder, after a long and exciting chase recaptured him, and conveyed him safely to the lock-up. For the defence a number of witnesses were called to prove an alibi. Counsels on both sides addressed the jury at length. Henry Donnelly and William Harkness were found guilty on the first count of breaking and entering, and James Donnelly and David Harkness of receiving, and the prisoners were remanded for sentence.
ALLEGED DISORDERLY HOUSE.
A young woman named Nellie Stewart was placed upon her trial at the Quarter Sessions yesterday upon an indictment charging her with having, on June 1 and on divers other days between that day and the present, at Sydney kept a common, ill-governed and disorderly house. Mr. Merewether conducted the case on behalf of the Crown, and Mr. C. Bull appeared for the accused.
The evidence showed that the disorderly house complained of was situated in Frog Hollow, off Riley-street, Surry Hills, that it was kept by the accused and was frequented by men and women for immoral purposes. Evidence to this effect was given by the police. The jury, after a short retirement, found the accused guilty, and she was sentenced to three months' imprisonment in Darlinghurst Gaol.
CITY IMPROVEMENTS.
ABOLITION OF SLUMS.
MANY STREET WIDENINGS.
The works committee yesterday afternoon approved of a minute by the Lord Mayor recommending the resumption of the area in the Surry Hills district known as "Frog Hollow," which was stated to be one of the few remaining insanitary areas of the city.
Mr. Weekes, city surveyor, was asked to report on this scheme from the city improvement standpoint, and also from the traffic aspect on the schemes that are before the City Council for the widening of York-street, Kent-street, Park-street, Liverpool-street, and Goulburn-street.
The committee yesterday also recommended to the City Council a proposal for the extension of Goulburn-street so as to secure a through street to the western suburbs to carry the heavy market traffic.
It was stated that the consent of the Governor-in-Council to the extension of Martin-place was expected before the end of this month, and it was recommended to the City Council that the city solicitor be instructed to take the necessary legal steps to prevent any new buildings being started on the resumption area of the new street in the meantime.
ALL "FINE SPORTS"
"Two-Up" Players Pay Up in Good Humor
"They are a fine lot of sports," commented a police officer who participated in the raid on a "two-up" school off Albion Street, Surry Hills, on Tuesday.
And they certainly looked a care-free 69 "sports" as they crowded the corridors of the Central Police Court yesterday, and added £138 to the revenue to the tune of a £2 fine each.
Mr. E. R. Abigail appeared for the men, and pleaded guilty, Mr. M'Mahon assessing the penalty at double the usual rate for men found playing a casual game of "heading 'em" in open spaces
The police describe the "school" as the most elaborate seen in Sydney.
The obvious entrance to the building was from Albion Street, or across vacant land off "Frog Hollow." But the players went by a devious route along a narrow lane off Little Riley Street, through a break in a fence, then through a door in a brick wall, leading to the basement of the adjoining premises.
The "two-up" ring was spread with thick carpets, which served to enhance the atmosphere of luxury and to deaden the sound of falling coins.
Seats with accommodation for 300 men were raised in tiers, to give all an unobstructed view of the game, and the general appearance of the basement was that of a small stadium.
Patrons were supplied with drinks and tobacco from a buffet in one corner.
BACK ALLEYS.
NIGHT TOUR.
Lord Mayor's Party.
Last night the Lord Mayor (Alderman Hagon), accompanied by Detective-Sergeant Sedgewick and Professor Wilkinson, president of the Institute of Architects, made a tour of inspection of the poorer living quarters of the city.
If the visit did not reveal any slums it certainly showed a remarkable jumble of narrow streets, small side-alleys, and close conditions of life for those residing in them.
The party went first to the old Rocks area, where the relics of the past are still to be seen in old houses, about which are crowded the small tenements, some in rows with dividing walls between, others detached but with a minimum of space about them. The stores have displaced a great many in the last few years, the result being that high walls often overshadow the houses, which are used by wharf-labourers, seamen, and others who make their living in connection with the shipping. To the suburban resident the tiny backyards with the washing on the line would represent the worst of cramped conditions, and the obvious rarity of the sun's penetration would perhaps be the most repellant feaure [sic]. In the vicinity of Miller's Point there were many such, hard and uninviting, yet close to the wharves and the city, and home for somebody.
From "The Rocks" the party went to Pyrmont and saw many old places built in the fifties or thereabouts, some of stone, rows of tenements, or single cottages that had perhaps once rejoiced in a garden of some sort, as evidenced by the remaining shrubs and a few dispirited-looking trees.
In Ultimo, at the back of Harris-street, the next quarter visited, the car stopped in a narrow street, known as Bulwarra-lane, in which two-storied houses filled one side in a long stretch, broken only by passage-ways of about three or four feet in width leading to small backyards, and from them more narrow lanes to right and left, having very much the appearance of a warren—"getaways" in the language of the police accustomed to pursuits in which the pursued, if he has a lead, can suddenly disappear. Still they could not be classed as slums. The people in them were well dressed, and declared that they were comfortable, and as comfort is largely a matter of comparison they would presumably be satisfactory.
As the car wound in and out of side streets and lanes, some of which were just wide enough to admit it, into parts of Chippendale and Redfern, the effect on the mind was of a tangle of tortuous thoroughfares, and as the party was taken into sections of Surry Hills and Woolloomooloo, avoiding the main streets, it became a passage through rows of uninviting, sinister-looking tenements, some with their doors opening on the road or on to sidewalks hardly wide enough for two to walk abreast. The last-named areas contain the homes of the fishermen, prawners, and others who have their boats in the bay, foreigners being in large proportion.
It is a surprise to anyone going in the night through these jungles of houses that they should be there in the city in such a huddle, particularly when there may be not very far away a broad busy main street, full of shops. Factories are gradually displacing them. The space is valuable, yet the people, no doubt, find them convenient for their mode of life. Children abound, playing in the front of their homes on the roadways.
One part through which the car twisted and turns bears the unsavoury name of "Frog Hollow," the obscure side dives being the scene of many a police chase in past times. The areas thereabout, according to the police, have improved greatly in the last few years. Some of the places were pointed out as having been unsafe in the old days for fewer than three or four policemen together to traverse, but now, clean swept and well lighted, one man can go through them with safety.
"It is a surprise to me that the places we have seen have existed so long," said the Lord Mayor on returning to the Town Hall. "The conditions in which some people live seem to me extraordinary. Yet the children look healthy, and are generally well clothed and happy; but it is the environment that makes the criminal. Considering the depressing circumstances of the two or three years, we did not see the poverty that one would expect."
CITY SLUMS
CONDITIONS IN "FROG HOLLOW"
In amplification of his previous reference to conditions in "Frog Hollow," Surry Hills, where there were to be seen "back-yards in front of houses," a picture of which locality appeared in last Saturday's "Daily Telegraph," Archdeacon Boyce writes, explaining that the houses were built against a bank of earth. They had no back-doors, and possessed only apologies for yards opening out into a lane ten-feet wide, running into a little crowded street only twenty feet wide.
"The buildings are very remarkable," Archdeacon Boyce adds. "The top storeys have no connection with those underneath, and have no yards, front or back. There are some balconies at the rear, where clothes can be dried. The front doors in these cases open out into Riley Street, which is wide and good.
"I quoted the lower portion of these buildings as a case in point in my remarks at a deputation to the Lord Mayor relative to congested areas in the city in which people had not proper and sufficient room."
EJECTMENT OF FROG HOLLOW RESIDENTS
The Commonwealth Government is taking proceedings against four residents living in Frog Hollow.
A Supreme Court order made in chambers against I. Agostini will enable the Government to take over Mr. Agostini's house and throw him and his wife and children on the streets.
The property is being resumed, according to the Government, "for important defence purposes."
The important defence purposes are, in this instance, leases of the land to the Royal Dutch Shell Oil Co.
The Shell octopus will not sign a lease of the land while any person is living on it.
Mr. Agostini has asked the authorities to privide [sic] him and his family with shelter before they are ejected.
They have refused to provide any shelter.
The authorities have offered Mr. Agostini £200 for his home and land as compensation for dispossessing him of his property. He is seeking £7000.
The other residents affected are Mr. M. Condon and Mr. F. Ashwin.
A notice appeared in the Common- [the clipping ends here]
FALL FROM BALCONY.
TWO PERSONS INJURED.
The spot in Surry Hills, known as "Frog Hollow," was the scene of a dual accident on Saturday night. Cecil Shields, aged 18, overbalanced and fell from a balcony.
Roy Smith, in attempting to save Shields, also overbalanced, and both fell to the bottom of the "Hollow," a distance of 30 feet. Shields was admitted to hospital suffering from concussion, and probable fracture of the skull. Smith was treated for a scalp wound.
FROG HOLLOW
Tales of the Early Days
CITY SLUM DOOMED
The works committee of the City Council has approved of the Lord Mayor's minute recommending the resumption of Frog Hollow. At the same time it was described as one of the few remaining insanitary areas of the city. Anyone with a sensitive nose would agree that this was no exaggeration. Parts of Frog Hollow are decidedly "high."
Frog Hollow is bounded on the north by Ann-street, on the south by Albion-street and a yard concealing a medley of old iron, carts, boxes, and scrapped hansom cabs in the last stage of dilapidation; on the east by Riley-street; and on the west by Little Riley-street, divers unchristened alleys and cramped backyards, and a variety of smells.
It has many entrances and exits; but from three directions it is approachable only by steep flights of stone steps, down one of which a young man fell on a Saturday night recently and fractured his skull. Frog Hollow is about 30 feet from the surface.
There is a terrace facing Riley-street, the rear portions of which form the first line of offence against the aesthetic sense of the Corporation.
There appear to be houses upon houses. It is a puzzle whether Evans-place is a street or a back lane. It is the only back lane to which the Riley-street terrace could lay claim, yet the unsteady wooden gates—whether they are back or front—are numbered, and each house, as well as having a front door opening right on to Riley-street, has a verandah and a balcony and other indications of a front entrance in Evans-place.
Even the out-buildings, which stand where the front lawns would be if front lawns were possible in Evans-place, do not rob this view of its aspect of a front elevation. It seems as though the architects, determined to save space, have jammed another house under the iron-railed roof of each of those in the terrace facing Riley-street.
The effect is that there is a house upon a house, with one backyard at the front door, and the other on the roof.
The average frontage of Frog Hollow residences is about 20 feet, and there are few yards in which a cat could be swung without brushing its whiskers on the kitchen door or the back fence.
There was one yard in which a rat could be swung. As a matter of fact, a rat had been swung there. It landed on the tin roof of a little shed, and stayed there. Rigor mortis had set in, and at a hasty glance it was impossible to say whether death was due to violence or natural causes. A closer examination was inadvisable. The rat appeared to be one of the sources of Frog Hollow's many odors.
LOST ITS FROGS
Frog Hollow has no frogs. Long ago they migrated. Some of the oldest inhabitants can remember when a little stream ran across Riley-street, having come from the direction of the Busby pump in Paddington, and rippled down through the area that has become "one of the few remaining insanitary areas of the city"—to put it very mildly.
In those days there were frogs in Frog Hollow, and then it was given the name that still clings to its confusion of narrow alleys, crammed houses, stone steps and smells.
Perhaps when the council's plans are complete, and Frog Hollow looks more like a bit of Sydney, when the children have somewhere to play and the backyards do not end a few feet away from the doors, it will be re-christened.
Many of the older policemen remember Frog Hollow when it was not the quiet place it is to-day. It has done its best to live down a shady past, but when old hands gather and exchange reminiscences, tales are still told of desperate fights with notorious men.
Between 1895 and 1904, says a well-known police officer, Frog Hollow was one of the worst localities in Sydney, and a policeman had to be prepared for a fight every night. It had bred some of the most desperate and dangerous criminals that the police could recall, for in those days most of the daring men favored Frog Hollow with their residence.
NIGHTLY FIGHTS
Push-fights were a nightly occurrence, and no policeman was safe on the beat alone. Down around the "Rocks" at about the same period a policeman was not exactly popular—he was welcomed generally with a brick or bottle—but the men of Miller's Point were gentlemen in comparison with those of Frog Hollow.
"Nearly all those who lived there were of the criminal class," says this officer. "One family reared in one of those lanes contained some of the most notorious criminals. The whole family served many sentences for daring highway robberies. Many policemen were badly knocked about there from time to time."
In those days, he said, the enforcement of the liquor act was a difficult job. So long as the licensees kept someone on the lookout for the police, it was almost impossible to catch them selling after 11 p.m. Consequently, the general time for emptying the hotels in the Frog Hollow quarter was about 2 a.m., and it was usually at about this time that the pushes began to look for trouble—among themselves, if there were no rivals about.
Constable McCormack, who has since retired, can tell some exciting stories of Frog Hollow. On one occasion he was tackled by one of the pushes, and had to fight his way through them. The constable was badly injured, and of his assailants, one known as "Tinkie" Lardner, suffered the worst. Lardner died, and at the inquest the coroner declared that no blame could be attached to McCormack.
McCormack is remembered as a quiet and unassuming officer; but it is generally agreed that he was a "surprise packet" in a rough-and-tumble.
Among the other notorious men with whom McCormack had to deal was one, the leader of a gang, whose boast it was that no man in the force had ever arrested him single-handed. He had never been known to go quietly to the police station. Like the scene of his activities, this man has reformed, and is now living a respectable life.
Frog Hollow Again.
At the Central Police Court yesterday, Rubie Healey, Kate Wiley, Joseph Dalzell, and Ellen Nicholson were charged, on remand, before Mr. W. Johnson, S.M., with having stolen £49 in gold, and 20s in silver, the property of Thomas Williams. Detective West produced £40 8s 9d, which he received from the Newcastle police. The evidence was to the effect that prosecutor came from Bathurst and was taken to a house in Frog Hollow, near Riley-street, and he alleged that while there the money was taken from him. Accused were in the house. After hearing the evidence his Worship committed the accused for trial at the Central Criminal Court, the prisoners Nicholson and Healey being allowed bail.
HOUSES UPON HOUSES
A section of Frog Hollow, Surry Hills, which the City Council has decided to resume. It is described as an insanitary area—and it is. The picture shows the view from Evans-place, and it is hard to say whether these are the front or back entrances to the lower houses.
Insult To Workers
"Frog Hollow," as it is known locally, in the heart of the Surry Hills district, where thousands of workers have their homes, is considered by the City Council a suitable site for an incinerator. Its real purpose should be a beautiful park for the children of this congested area.
Lost his job, slashed hand
Shortly after telling his mother that he had lost his job, a 22-year-old Surry Hills man slashed his hand today and ran from the house.
Central Ambulance men followe da [sic] trail of blood for a quarter of a mile, and found the man lying at the foot of some steps in Frog's Hollow, a well-known part of Surry Hills, in a pool of blood. His condition is not serious.
THE MOVING PICTURE SHOW
[cartoon heading]
All English
"Isn't Billy Hughes a darling!" said Amelia.
"All the Welsh are," said Peter. "Didn't they invent eisteddfods?"
"Oh, but how can he be Welsh?" she protested; "didn't he say at the Empire dinner: 'Self-government and the institutions of free government are the heritage of the English alone. Neither the Scotch, the Welsh nor the Irish have the rudiments of these things!"
"Heavens! Then he's a traitor to the gang!" Peter thundered. "How dare he go back on the Welsh rabbit, the Welsh Fusiliers, the Cymric, 'Ich Dien,' leeks and Taffy's famous beef-bone?"
"Oh, but the English have inherited all those," said Amelia.
"Well, what about the Scotch?" Peter asked; "have they no rudiments? Malted barley, bagpipes, cabers, haggis, the Loch Ness Monster, kilts, the jokes about saxpence, thistles, oatmeal, the sword dance, Burns and golf? Are these not institutions? Is Annie Laurie an English institution?"
"Go on—you've inherited too much Scotch this morning," said Amelia.
"Getting up my courage for the March," Peter admitted. "You see, I hope to meet Billy there and ask him if he is not himself an inherited Rudiment."
March of Change
There is a proposal afoot to convert the area of Surry Hills, known as "Frog Hollow," into a fine modern sports arena.
"Sic Transit!" said the Count de Main, and broke into a bitter lament:—
"Frog Hollow's lanes were bonnie,
When early fell the dew,
And beer by cart and lorry
The byways trundled through—
The murk came trundling through
To aid the midnight glee
Till i' the sma' hours sorry
We laid us doon to dee!"
"Don't make me cry!" said Weary Willie, taking up the chant:—
"Frog 'Oller's air was meller,
With 'ops an' 'owls, an' cries,
A bloke would stalk a feller,
Where deep the shadder lies—
Where thickest shadder lies
Wiv a bottle in 'is 'and
To 'it 'im on the smeller
An' rob 'im—oh! 'twas grand."
"That's just how you would recall it!" said the Count, jamming Willie off the air and continuing:—
"Frog Hollow! Oh, Frog Hollow!
To think you modern grow—
That Neon lights should follow,
Nocturnes of years ago!
Romance of long ago
I shed a tear for you,
And [illegible: line half cut off at the join between clippings]
Where played we pak-a-pu!"
Question Answered
Should aldermen pull up objectionable tram lines in order to get a good "box-on" going with the Transport Board? Peter referred this question (which arose from a threat made by Alderman Shannon over the proposed balloon loop at the foot of Phillip-street) to Dorothy Dix.
Her reply is:—
"Better not. For one thing, they are firmly rooted, and when pulled up make a frightful mess of a road, and, in accordance with a long-standing national custom, must be replanted after the usual sacrificial victims, pedestrians and motorists, have been offered to Moloch. My advice to Alderman Shannon is to let sleeping tram-loops lie; but they can be buried in situ quite easily by the council making an over-night snap decision to build a snappy tip on the site and stock it with angoras."
Horse Or Jockey?
"Sam Heapy, an English jockey, who has been riding in Belgium for 33 years, has just ridden his 2747th winner," said Peter, meeting Beedelhaupt on the tram.
"Ay bane gompletely onable to understand," said Beedelhaupt, "why der rich men pays tausends und tausends of qvids vie der Horse Sales instead of goin' to ein Creche an' buyin' a liddle Shockey mit pandy legs."
Why not? Peter himself has often had the same notion. Why own a racing stable at all? And why go to races and bet on other people's jockeys? Peter is now saving up to buy one good, reliable jockey of the Heapy breed to race at all important meetings. Anybody with a stable can then supply the horse provided Peter is guaranteed the odds to the value of half the prize money.
Ramsay Forgets Himself
British newspapers (writes Dr. Archibald Grubb) are discussing the visit of the Italian Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Dr. Suvich) to London, for the purpose of discussing Italy's cotton industry in Abyssinia.
The "Daily Times," in an editorial of profound dignity, regrets that the Prime Minister (Mr. Ramsay Macdonald) has not risen to the occasion and gone to Italy, instead of giving the Italian Minister the trouble of such a long journey to London. "Such a great traveller to conferences abroad as Mr. Macdonald," says the editorial, "would not, we feel sure, if he had been in robust health, have let such an opportunity pass."
It is reported in the "Evening Mail" that the Shriek of Huggamugga proposes to visit London to discuss the quota on camels. "Surely," says the leader-writer, "Mr. Macdonald surely cannot be so discourteous to the Shriek as to refuse to fly at once to Watathiss, the capital of Huggamugga, and confer with him on this momentous subject."
A PLEA FOR FROG HOLLOW RESIDENTS.
To the Editor.
Sir,—It is somewhat with trepidation that I request you to insert this short letter in your journal, feeling that your space and my time may be used with no possibility of result to the benefit of those concerned, as I have found the Shire Council slow to act and loth to recognise the importance of opinions expressed by outside ratepayers or from private channels or sources, and rather rapid in acting on inside suggestions from among the chosen representatives of the long-suffering ratepayers.
But I feel also that the time has arisen when the Councillors should be forced to recognise the outstanding needs of many of those who, year in and year out, contribute to the upkeep of the Shire and receive no benefit at all in the immediate locality in which they live (or exist, I might say), and suffer in silence. And I take up my pen on their behalf, in the faint hope that my still, small voice may possibly reach the sacred sanctuary in Mann St., and be heard to some small measure by the conservative occupants.
To come to my main theme. I wish to draw the attention of the Council in general (and particularly the F man) to the fact that for many a long year, scarcely a tap has been done to improve the lot of a few humble owners in the locality of Frog Hollow. Their streets there are famous for holes which are big enough to establish a very efficient town water supply, and are, to all intents and purposes, absolutely untrafficable, and are certainly dangerous. True, there are only a mere handful of dwellers there, but there are an enormous number of people who annually pay a good amount in rates and who should receive a little consideration for such payment. If the Shire would only make a small portion (say, one street) reasonably trafficable through the centre and join up with George Street, near Peek's Point, it would constitute a great improvement, and provide a fairly good alternative route to Terrigal as a short cut. I am sure also that it would greatly enhance values and lead to buildings on this land which, of course, would bring in more rates. It is only reasonable, because Frog Hollow owners are taxed for electric light, and have not received a particle of consideration for years.
Perhaps Cr. Mobbs may happen to scan this column and come across this croak, and even if he cannot at present see his way clear to give us the consideration we really deserve, that he will keep the matter in the fore-front for early attention.—Yours, &c.,
A HUMBLE FROG.
SYDNEY SLUMS MUST GO
Removal Imperative, Lock, Stock and Barrel, Says Archdeacon Boyce—Strong Approval for Sunday Times Campaign
CLEANSING WORK A PAYABLE PROPOSITION
IV.
"Three-quarters of the work required for the elimination of the slums of Sydney has been done, but the undone quarter is a standing disgrace to our civilisation. In the slums there is no chance for the moral and physical health of the children, nothing but the degradation inseparable from life in the congested areas."—Ven. Archdeacon Boyce.
Our exposure of the conditions prevailing in the slums of Sydney continues to arouse considerable interest and some controversy.
An alderman of the City Council objects to the word "slum," although he admits the existence of congested areas and hovels in which a great many people live in unhealthy and degrading circumstances. It does not appear to us to matter very much what word is used. It is, however, beyond dispute that there exist in Sydney to-day narrow lanes and courts which are a blot on a modern city; and overcrowded, unhealthy, dilapidated homes which are a menace to the community, and are the breeding-grounds of vice, crime and disease.
We have been accused of describing the poor occupants of such wretched dwellings as criminals, and of casting an undeserved slur on the respectable residents of certain thoroughfares. We have done no such thing. Based on information supplied by the police, whose business it is to know of these things, we have referred to certain thoroughfares as the resort of criminals, and we have pointed out that the continued existence of such undesirable housing conditions as we have described tends to encourage and assist vice and crime. The truth of both these statements is undoubted, but this does not mean, nor have we stated or implied, that every person living in these places is vicious or criminal.
It is now desirable that everyone, and especially every public man, who desires to remedy a most serious evil, should join hands in endeavoring to institute a reform which is as urgent as it is necessary. This is not a party question, and should not be made the basis for the bandying of words or the introduction of minor side issues.
In a review of the work of widening the streets of Sydney, Ven. Archdeacon Boyce said that, when the Royal Commission on city improvement sat in 1908, there was no lack of evidence as to the necessity of beautifying work, street widening, etc., but not a word was said about the abolition of the slum areas. He applied to be permitted to give evidence on the existence of slums, and showed that in the area bounded on one side by Elizabeth-street to Albion-street, by Liverpool and Oxford streets on one side, by Riley-street on the east, and south to Albion-street, in the Wexford-street neighborhood, there were 16 streets of under 12ft wide, and a number down to 8ft in width.
The yards were less than 10ft square, and in these were the water-closets used by the occupants of the houses. The new road practically did away with Wexford-street, but in many of the streets mentioned by him the conditions as in 1908 obtain, and boys growing to adolescence sleep in the room with their parents and their sisters. This is the condition in some of the slum areas of Sydney to-day.
A Paying Proposition.
In 1918 the Social Reform Committee of the Church of England waited on the then Lord Mayor, and urged the completion of the abolition of the slum areas within the city. This movement was suspended during the strenuous period of the war, but in 1918 it was considered the great danger from without was passed, and it was time to do some cleansing work at home. It was stated then that the City Council would have to be invested by the Government with greater powers than it had, and that in any case the money for such a proposition as the elimination of the slums was not available.
It was pointed out that the cost of resumption would not be high, as most of the properties could be resumed at a reasonable price, and reconstruction would enhance the value of the sites, and leave a margin above the cost of resumption. In the opinion of the Ven. Archdeacon, the areas should be resumed without consideration of cost, and all the slum districts swept away—lock, stock, and barrel. Three-quarters of the work required has been done, but the undone quarter is a standing disgrace to our civilisation. There is no excuse for delay, says the Archdeacon. The responsibility rests with the City Council.
Council Pledged to Work.
In 1918 a deputation waited on the Council and made the abolition of the slums a matter to be considered in connection with the elections of that year. In effect the Council was returned with a mandate from the ratepayers, and the abolition of slums should have been made a matter of urgency, to be dealt with at once. It is not denied that there has been much improvement work in the course of the last few years, notably in the Rocks area, in Chippendale, Blackwattle Bay, Wexford-street, parts of Surry Hills, the lanes off Sussex-street, and in some other parts of the metropolitan area.
A question asked, commented the Archdeacon, is: Where do the people evicted from the slum areas go? No trouble has arisen out of the destruction of the slums. When the greater portion of the work was effected houses, it is true, were more plentiful than now, and many of the former sum [sic] dwellers went to the suburbs along the Illawarra line, and it is unquestioned that, in the open spaces, the pleasant surroundings, the absence of congestion and the freer life were highly beneficial, from the moral as well as from the health standpoint.
Frog Hollow
One of the places specially brought to the notice of the City Council in 1918 was Frog Hollow. The houses there are built in an extraordinary way, and in the opinion of the Archdeacon, there is nothing in Australia just like them. The upper storey of the places opens on Riley-street, the two lower storeys are a basement and a ground floor, with small, if any, backyard accommodation. At the front doors are tiny yards in which the sanitary conveniences are, and the exit is by way of a 10ft lane, which leads into a 20ft street. It is urgent that such places as these should be dealt with—in some way. By utter abolition for choice.
"We can never be sufficiently thankful to Sir George Reid," said the Archdeacon, "for his Act, which made it illegal for any street to be less than a chain wide. Before that they could be any width, at the will of the landowners."
Robin Hood Lane
Why the City Council allows Robin Hood-lane to remain as it is is a mystery to the Archdeacon. The trouble that it has occasioned in the run of years, and the tragedies that have occurred in the neighborhood, are known to the aldermen, and known well to the people at large. There are whole areas wherein nothing but complete reconstruction will be of the smallest use.
There can be no healthy life in these places.
No room for the little children to play.
No chance for their moral and physical health.
Nothing but the degradation inseparable from life in congested areas.
Eighteen Lanes Should Go
At the present time there are, in Woolloomooloo alone, 18 lanes which should be closed to human residence. Some of these are not more than 10ft wide, some of them under 20ft. People at the upper windows of houses in these lanes can sit and talk to the people opposite, and there is no privacy. "At the time of the first proposal for the widening of William-street," said Archdeacon Boyce, "I opposed it, holding that the slum areas in that section should be got rid of first. The scheme was a most expensive one, and while I approve of the beautifying of the city, I could not support the proposal for splendid, wide streets, while within 200 or 300 yards, hidden away, were these squalid slum areas.
"The proposal suggested to me the making clean of the outside of the cup, or platter, while the unseen part was ravening with filth.
"There should be no beautifying main streets until these slum areas are done away with. The morality, health, and right living conditions of the community are of primary importance, and should stand before the mere remodelling of the streets of the city.
Beautiful Sydney
"I say that Sydney is more beautifully situated than any great city in the world. We should be able to claim that it is not only clean and fair without, but lovely and splendid within.
"I would like to say," said the Archdeacon, in conclusion, "that Mr. Holman has been most sympathetic with us in this movement for the elimination of the slums. At all times he has stated that the Government would help in all ways in this much-needed reform of the living conditions of the people. The interest of the Government in the matter has been amply evidenced."
