Urban Village autumn 2018

urbanvillage.com.au | Edition 04 | Autumn 2018

PLUS Head to Surry Hills (Returns for 2018)

1978

Mardi Gras remembered

Surry Hills Pub Dynasty Kelly Hargreaves on three generations behind the bar

Quarterly, for those who live, love, work, visit & play in Surry Hills & Redfern

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Contents

Issue #04 Autumn 2018

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Innovative cocktails with The Clock Hotel's adventurous barman

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The heroes and villains of Sydney’s architecture with Eoghan Lewis

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Mardi Gras 2018 celebrates 40 years of revolution

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New vet clinic Vets on Crown on striving to be more than your average vet

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Kelly Hargreaves reflects on The Shakespeare started pub dynasty of Surry Hills

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HumanNature - exploring humanity's role in a time of environmental crisis.

Editor Lachlan Colquhoun Staff Writer Tess Scholfield-Peters, Contributors Dean Bentick, Luca Ward, Tim Ritchie, Paul McMahon, Peter English, Fiona McIntosh, Peter Morgan, William Yang, Katie Mayor Design & Layout walterwakefield Publisher Leigh Harris Cover Kelly Hargreaves Cover Photo by Dean Bendict/Inlighten Photography All Enquiries Tel: 02 8218 2163 Email: info@urbanvillage.com.au Office: Ground Floor, 483 Riley Street Surry Hills NSW 2010 ISSN 2208-6242

Urban Village is published under licence and with the support of the Surry Hills Creative Precinct to foster communcation, innovation and networking between the business community and residents in Surry Hills, Redfern and the surrounding neighbourhoods of inner Sydney.

Encanto Pisco . Amaro . Papaya . Lime Stone & Wood Pacific Ale “It’s the perfect synergy between spirit and beer in an unexpected way.”

Henry Hammersla, AHA NSW Bartender of the Year and The Clock Cocktail Bartender The Clock Supports the Responsible Service of Alcohol

Heads Up

Your guide to Surry Hills this month

The Museum of Love & Protest at NAS Gallery Photo: Peter Morgan

An eastside autumn PAGE 36

The galleries and art spaces of Eastside Sydney have combined their artistic flair and eclectic exhibition prowess into a ‘best of’ art tour.

Also look out for...

The Flying Nun The Flying Nun creative program for kids at ESCAC – join in art making Sunday Sessions or be delighted with Christa Hughes’ new show “The World According to Farts”.

Book now! Visit

brandx.org.au

4 | Urban Village

Moonlight Cinema December 1 – April 1

Spanish Film Festival April 17 – May 6

Sydney’s favourite summer activity, the Moonlight Cinema, returns showcasing both new releases and cult classics. Head to

Presented by Palace Cinema, the 21st annual Spanish Film Festival returns in April. Head to spanishfilmfestival. com for venues and session times.

moonlight.com.au for full program guide and details.

Sydney Comedy Festival April 23 – May 20

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week May 13 – May 17

The annual extravaganza of hilarity returns to our city throughout April and May. With local and international comedy icons and new talent, there will be something for everyone at this year’s Sydney Comedy Festival.

The city’s glamorous and stylish come out for the most important week in Sydney’s fashion calendar. Keep an eye out for the street style, the rising stars in Australian fashion and the location catwalks around the city.

natural fibres, handcrafting and sustainability. with pieces from australian and international makers. a core collection of planet’s own designs in solid australian hardwood, handwoven carpets and soft furnishings made with textiles from around the world, as well as ceramics, daily essentials and paintings from ernabella.

114 commonwealth street, surry hills 02 9211 5959 planetfurniture.com.au monday - friday 10:00 to 5:30 saturday 10:00 to 5:00 sunday 11:00 4:00 Urbanto Village | 5

painting: ngayuku ngura by michelle lewis 2017

finding yourself at home...

Seen & Heard Around Crown...

Sydney’s lockout laws were loosened for the 40th Mardi Gras parade. What do you think?

I think the laws should be relaxed. Those tragic acts of violence you see are isolated incidences, and of course I feel sorry for the victims but should it be for the whole community to suffer? I don’t think so.

— Lou, business owner It’s the first Mardi Gras where gay marriage is legal, everyone’s celebrating, you can’t just cut it off when it’s such a big night for so many people. I understand why the lockout laws are there, they do minimise violence, but I think there will probably be an explosion of people wanting it changed for good after this.

I only go out occasionally so for me it means I can stay out longer and go to different places because who wants to be stuck in the same place all night? If we can prove ourselves and behave, hopefully we can get them loosened a little bit for good.

— Molly, local

— Dody, local

I think it’s really good because it shows that the government has respect for the occasion.

— Charlotte, local

We’re not from Sydney but we love it. It’s definitely a move in the right direction.

— Josh and Simon, Perth outof-towners 6 | Urban Village

It’s my first Mardi Gras here in Sydney, but I think it’s good.

For the gay community and everything, I think it’s definitely worth it.

— Lorena, new Surry Hills resident

Urban Village | 7

Local Review

Cocktail heaven at The Clock 470 Crown St, Surry Hills clockhotel.com.au

Barman Henry Hammersla behind the bar at the Clock Hotel. Photo: Luca Ward.

The Clock Hotel offers some of the most innovative cocktail experiences in Sydney and is now the “playground” for one of the city’s most adventurous cocktail barmen.

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enry Hammersla says that his favourite moment as a bartender is the look of “unexpected delight” on someone’s face when they taste a drink for the first time.

“When someone sees a drink on a list and I convince them to try it and it's better than they thought it would be, that's the moment when its all worth it,” he says.

Hammersla has an infectious enthusiasm for his craft.

He’s been at The Clock for just over a year and in that time has taken charge of the Whisky Bar, a unique space where customers can choose between over 200 different Whiskys from around the world, and also representing the booming Australian whisky scene.

Along with the gin bar on the balcony and the extensive cocktail list, Hammersla makes the point that The Clock is “so much more than your local pub” because of its commitment to “adventurous alcohols.”

“I love whisky because its so flexible and malleable,” he says.

“The Australian whisky scene is amazing now, and we are bringing that to The Clock with whiskys from great producers in South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia.”

Hammersla started his career in cocktails in Melbourne and then worked for private functions to put himself through an acting course in Western Australia. It was there that he learned a lot about the cocktail craft from expatriates returning to Perth’s entertainment scene after periods overseas.

“I learned a bunch of stuff there that I probably would have had to go overseas to learn,” he says.

Today, he is passionate about making the Whisky Bar at The Clock a destination for people who are looking for “premium drinking experience” and who are interested in “the story of what is in the bottle.”

“I think we are changing the way we drink and it's not so much about what the alcohol does to you, it's about the experience of tasting and enjoying it,” he says.

Along with the Balcony Bar, which specialises in Gin, he Clock is a significant destination for cocktail lovers, in addition to its traditional role as one of Surry Hill's best all round pubs and sports bars.

“Really, you can get whatever you want in this one place,” says Hammersla.

“You can get high echelon cocktails in two bars, a sports bar, great food, and of course you can bring your dog.

“Not many venues can boast all that.”

8 | Urban Village

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Experience matters 410 Crown Street, Surry Hills | ch.com.au Urban Village | 9

Local Business

CROWN STREET GROCER 365 Crown St, Surry Hills

Joe in front of the Crown Street Grocer.

Photo: Tess Scholfield-Peters.

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The corner institution that serves coffee till late and sources Italian produce you can’t find anywhere else.

By Tess Scholfield-Peters

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wner Joe was in the pub game before he decided to switch to the family business of groceries. He and his family have owned Crown Street Grocer just six months shy of a decade, and like all longstanding local business owners, the streets of Surry Hills today are very different to those he knew when he first arrived.

“Ten years ago this whole area was derelict, it was all busted down, blacked out windows,” recalls Joe. “We redeveloped it all and have really brought the street together.”

It’s easy to guess Joe’s Italian background from a quick glance at the grocer. Imported mineral waters and soft drinks line the shop front, and in the aisles are jars of hard to find pasta sauces, pastas and, in the deli section, an array of cheeses imported from Italy and France.

“We try to source products that no one else has,” says Joe, “that’s what makes us unique.”

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It’s easy to see why the grocer has become a neighbourhood institution over the last decade. Its spot in the very heart of the suburb, on the corner of Crown and Foveaux streets, makes the grocer a perfect meeting point for locals.

“We open at ten to five every morning and serve coffee till 7pm every night,” says Joe, who sites their long opening hours as a main point of difference from other grocers in the area.

The grocer’s longstanding relationship with the Salvation Army is another point of difference. Every week they provide the Salvos with sandwiches for their year eleven and twelve program, and they run a barbeque once a month for all the kids.

“We’ll be here for a long time, that’s definite,” says Joe. “Being here and serving the people. That’s what we like doing.”

Urban Village | 11

Local Profile

STEPHEN LUNNY

Cooking with Community

Stephen Lunny inside the Surry Hills library. Photo: Supplied.

Stephen Lunny always used to think of himself as a “cooking waiter.” Today, through his work at the Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre, he is also an important lynchpin in the local community.

He spoke with Lachlan Colquhoun.

T

here is something about food and kitchens. The act of cooking together and then sharing the food has always been a positive, and even therapeutic, part of the human experience.

It is a concept which the Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre, and community worker Stephen Lunny have embraced as they have built something special at the SHNC Community Café over the last six years.

“I’m always bouncing away in the morning trying to get to work early,” says Lunny, a local who has lived in Surry Hills for two decades after arriving from NZ. “I really do love my job and I wouldn’t want to do anything else. Its very satisfying running programs that help people help themselves and which they really enjoy.”

It is a job which Lunny has largely built up and created for himself, in response to community need.

Orginally, he was spending one day a month at the SHNC a part of a collaboration with TAFE, but that has built up to an all consuming and meaningful role running a number of hospitality based courses in the Community Café.

“We partner with the Booby Goldsmith Foundation and run a 10 week program for people living with HIV,” says Lunny.

“Then there is a program we do with Oasis for vulnerable families, and right now all the participants 12 | Urban Village

come along with babies under one year old, and the Mum’s cook with me and we share a lunch together.”

Then there are other programs for young people, funded by the Community Drug Action team, which focuses on drugs and the law, nutrition, blood borne diseases and healthy relationships.

The kitchen works its magic in many ways. Not only does it provide healthy eating, it is a place which fosters friendship and community, and breaks down barriers of isolation.

It educates on many levels, and also trains people.

Lunny talks with pride about program participants who have surprised themselves by going on to full time jobs in hospitality.

“We are always doing something different and we fill our programs basically because people like coming to them,” says Lunny.

“Central to all this is the kitchen. Its great when it is activated up and up and running.

“Not many neighbourhood centres have such a wonderful kitchen and we make the most of what we have.”

The Community Café is open to the public on the first Saturday of every month (the same day Surry Hills Markets) from 10 am to 3 pm. Its on the first floor of the Neighbourhood Centre. Devonshire Teas are a speciality.

SAARDÉ

THERE’S A PROVERB THAT SAYS ‘ONCE YOU NEED LESS YOU WILL HAVE MORE’ This is typified behind the doors of Saardé, a store offering lifestyle products imported from Turkey, all made with a conscience and made to last. The direct translation of Saardé says it all, its meaning, ‘simply adorned’.

Founded seven years ago by Verity and Shenol Kizek, they’ve recently moved their business from St. Peters, into their naturally lit and open space in Surry Hills.

Their love for one another eventually extended to their love for eco-friendly, sustainable and reclaimed Turkish wares. Their initial inspiration came from one of their biggest selling products, hand loomed Turkish towels, made from 100% Turkish cotton. The Turkish family that creates these towels hold a special place in Verity and Shenol’s heart.

Verity explains, “The mother and father got sick, so they had to sell their looms. Their community helped support them, and eventually the son restarted the business. With the orders we’ve made, they’ve been able to repay back their community.”

There’s no doubt that Sardé is one Turkish delight you’ll enjoy discovering.

SAARDÉ 3/276 Devonshire St, Surry Hills www.saarde.com

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Urban Village | 13

Jamesons Strata Management

Paul Culbi outside the Ideal Space office. Photo: Inlighten Photograpy.

Taking away the Strata headache

T with strata title, owners need to navigate an

o effectively manage any apartment building

increasing burden of financial administration and compliance. Based at the coworking Ideal Space, Jamesons Strata Management takes the headache’s away for owner’s corporations in and around the Surry Hills area.

When people buy into apartment buildings a big part of their lives is decided by the Strata Committee, but the reality is that very often the people on the committee lack the time or the expertise to handle all of the tasks involved.

It was to service this need that Jamesons Strata Management was founded on the north shore back in 1963. The company has a long heritage and a major track record in the strata business, and expanded over the bridge to Surry Hills about three years ago.

Paul Culbi has been in strata management for about 10 years, but three years ago he saw an opportunity to come to Surry Hills and bring Jamesons into the area.

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Today, he is a partner in what is still a family owned business, and he and his eight staff work out of Ideal Space in Riley Street to service local clients, not just in Surry Hills but in neighbouring suburbs as well.

“We saw an up and coming area and a community we wanted to be a part of,” says Culbi.

“Ideal Space is also great for us because it helps us expand our network and just keep up with what is happening in terms of the businesses in the area.”

Culbi’s clients are management committees of multi dwelling businesses which need advice and assistance in areas such as insurance, financial management and administration and also a growing burden of bylaws and compliance.

A recent trend has been for Strata Committees to drive sustainability in their buildings, and Jamesons has expertise in advising in this area too.

“Our expertise is as administrators and facilitators for Strata Committees,” says Culbi.

“This can often be quite complex, and we are here to take the headache away for building owners.”

CULLACHANGE

IT ALL STARTED WHEN ROSEMARY WAS ASKED TO DYE JUST ONE PAIR OF JEANS PINK From jackets to pants, to sofa cushions and curtains, CullaChange can change the colour of anything. Owner Rosemary Wright, manages the only business of this kind in Australia.

Rosemary started out renovating property and it was her love of transforming something old and tired into new and bright that got her started. Then one day, she got a phone call from a local manufacturer, Time Sportswear, asking if she could dye a pair of jeans pink. One pair turned into 100, and ever since, CullaChange has been garment dying.

It was also through CullaChange that Rosemary met her partner David.

She was leasing a colour dying warehouse St. Peters and David owned a neighbouring welding business.

Rosemary recalls fondly, there was electricity in the air the moment they met, literally; “I had an electrical issue, and David came over to help me.

CullaChange is a customer-friendly business, they send out an information packs detailing the services they provide, and with it, a reply paid envelope. All you have to do is pop what you want dyed in the envelope, and they’ll do the rest. Simple as that.

So next time you want to breathe new life into your wardrobe, consider a colour change instead of a change of clothes.consider a colour change instead of a change of clothes.

CULLACHANGE 216 Devonshire St, Surry Hills https://cullachange.com.au/

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Urban Village | 15

Richard Hedger - Telling Tales. Photo: Supplied

Introducing The Flying Nun

by Brand X East Sydney Community and Arts Centre (ESCAC) is a new 2-storey building on the corner of Burton and Palmer Streets in Darlinghurst.

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ormerly known as Heffron Hall, the City of Sydney has rebuilt the site as a rehearsal studio and performance space for local artists.

East Sydney Community and Arts Centre (ESCAC) is managed by Brand X, who have been making space for Artists in Sydney since 2005. They work with Developers and Local Councils to transform empty spaces into cultural destinations. Their work includes FraserStudios and L3 Central on the site of the old Kent Brewery in Chippendale and the TWT Creative Precinct in St Leonards.

Brand X have recently launched The Flying Nun program which showcases performance outcomes from creative residencies at ESCAC. This is an opportunity for the public to be the first audience to witness new work fresh out of the rehearsal room. The program celebrates the fringe, alternative and contemporary counter-culture of Sydney.

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The Flying Nun program gives artists an affordable stage in which to share their new creative ideas with an audience, while providing the residents of East Sydney with a venue that invites the public to witness a new idea being brought to life.

Performances include the ultimate avant-garde variety show curated by Jay Katz and Miss Death called “The Experiment”, a surreal image and sound-based version of Alice in Wonderland called “No Wonderland” and Christa Hughes new children’s show “The World According to Farts and Other Extraordinary Sounds of the Human Body”.

The Flying Nun is Brand X’s homage to the work of Sister Carol Pedersen who established the D4 Darlinghurst program at Heffron Hall from 1978-1986.

Her self-help activities have been honoured in the service Brand X gives to the arts in Sydney.

Find the full program of events at brandx.org.au

SUSTAINABLE SALON

THE IDEA OF STARTING A SALON THAT WAS BASED AROUND NON-TOXIC SUSTAINABILITY Diego Padilla has always dreamt of moving to Australia and in 2002 he packed his bags, said adiós to Mexico City, and g’day to his new home, Australia.

A trained hairdresser, obtaining sponsorship wasn’t difficult and Diego settled in quickly. Fast forward to 2014, and Diego and new business partner Zoran, came up with the idea of starting a salon that was based around non-toxic sustainability.

Diego explains, “My grandfather had a farm where he grew all these amazing crops. He never used pesticides, or any harmful chemicals, and so I thought, why can’t we apply the same idea to a hairdresser’s?”

In 2015, he did just that and the Sustainable Salon was born. The product range Diego uses is non-toxic, cruelty-free, and contains no nasties.

As a bonus, it gives better results than normal salon products.

While you’re waiting for the hair dye to kick in, sit back and enjoy some bliss balls that Diego has made himself, and maybe even a glass of organic wine or beer. It’s obvious he hasn’t lost any of that generous hospitality that Mexicans are so famous for.

SUSTAINABLE SALON 54 Waterloo Street, Surry Hills www.thesustainablesalonsydney.com/

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Urban Village | 17

Melissa Soncini officiating a same sex ceremony. Photo: Supplied

Local Profile:

Melissa Soncini Celebrating Everybody’s Love Hearing couple’s love stories gives Surry Hills marriage celebrant Melissa Soncini “goosebumps.” She explains more to Lachlan Colquhoun.

A

fter being a marriage celebrant for just on ten years, Melissa Soncini recently conducted her first same sex marriage.

“When I had to say that marriage is between two people I couldn’t continue speaking because there was such a huge roar in the room,” she says.

“It was such a party and it was very special to be a part of it. It was a Tiki/Hawaiian/Love Beat theme, and the mood was so happy and electric.”

Soncini says the couple she married on this day have a similar story to many couples who are now contacting her.

“So many of them say they have been with their partner for 15 years, or 30 years, and now the law has caught up them and they want to get married,” she says.

“I am just so pleased that we can now celebrate everybody’s love.”

Soncini originally had a career in finance, but decided to leave that behind after she had small children and had a “light bulb moment.”

“Part of my finance job was in training and I came to love public speaking,” she says.

“And then my husband is in the wedding industry, so now I get to combine two things that I really love.

It’s the best thing I have done in my life and I’ve never looked back.”

No two weddings are the same, she says. There is “no template.”

“Its not like I turn up and speak for an hour then grab a glass of champagne and go,” says Soncini.

“I meet with couples at least three times so I can understand their relationship and their story.

“There is a lot of time in writing the ceremony, and we always have a dress rehearsal, usually on site, to calm the nerves.”

Many of these initial meetings take place in local Surry Hills cafes or over a glass of wine at the “Cloffice” (her name for the Clock Hotel because its an extension of her office) or at the Dolphin further down Crown Street.

“I just love what I do,” she says.

“One of the best feelings is looking out and seeing former couples I have married at other people’s weddings.

“And then I love bumping into people and meeting their babies, its just so exciting to be a part of their story.”

Contact Melissa Soncini at https://marriagecelebrantonline.com/ 18 | Urban Village

VIVID SHOP

I GREW UP WITH COLOUR, AND I LOVE IT, AND I LOVE IT IN HERE. EVERYONE THAT COMES IN, THEIR FACES IMMEDIATELY LIGHT UP. Popping into Vivid is like stepping onto a white cloud as it passes through a rainbow. The space is lit naturally and complemented by the shop’s namesake colours and eclectic range of goodies. Colourful dried flowers hanging from the walls ringing small spaces off like art frames.

Vivid shop’s colours reflect and embody the character of owner Rajani Enderby. Originally from Malawi, Rajani made the move to Australia when she was 21. Growing up, Rajani remembers a store that was also well known for its colour and varied products, “I grew up with colour, and I love it, and I love it in here. Everyone that comes in, their faces immediately light up.” That store clearly left its mark on her.

Rajani worked at Vivid, for seven years before deciding to make it her own, buying the business for herself in 2015. Since then, she has expanded the space to include two pop-up stores. Currently one is occupied by an art gallery, and the other, by a florist who specialises in dried flowers.

If you’re on the search for that unique present, you should definitely start in here.

VIVID SHOP 558 Crown Street, Surry Hills www.vividshop.com.au

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Urban Village | 19

Mardi Gras 2018.

Celebrating 40 years of evolution This year’s Mardi Gras is an important milestone which enables the LGBTQI community to measure how far it has come, and also how far it has to go. Lachlan Colquhoun reports.

T

erese Casu admits that in planning for Mardi Gras this year, organisers had a Plan A and a Plan B, dependent on the outcome of the Marriage Equality Plebiscite.

The Mardi Gras chief executive said that in the event of a successful “No” vote, the whole mood and tenor of the parade would have been very different.

“There was one plan without cake, and one with cake,” she said.

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“It would have certainly been a stronger, and angrier, political message if the ‘No’ vote had succeeded.”

With ‘Yes’ triumphant and marriage equality now a legislative reality, the mood was lifted and the parade plans changed for the better.

“Many people changed their floats accordingly,” said Casu.

“We had marriage floats, and there were Indian Bollywood themed floats which were wedding based.”

Yes we have marriage equality but there are so many things yet to achieve. Let’s celebrate what we have but let’s not stand still.

— Terese Casu The fact that Plan A (based on a ‘Yes’ victory) triumphed over Plan B plays into the theme of ‘Evolution’ which marked the 40th anniversary of Mardi Gras.

It enabled the LGBTQI community to assess the progress made since the first event in 1978, which culminated in arrests and police action and prompted an official apology two years ago.

Not that Terese Casu believes the struggle for social justice is over. Far from it.

“Yes we have marriage equality but there are so many things yet to achieve,” she says.

“Sure, let’s celebrate what we have but let’s not stand still. There are still a lot of people in community who haven’t experienced equality and may not, and of course marriage is not an issue for everyone.”

So how does she think Mardi Gras will celebrate its half century, in ten years time.

Revellers at Mardi Gras in 1983. Photo: William Yang

Mardi Gras Creative Director Greg Clarke and CEO Terese Casu.

Photo: Supplied.

“I think it will be all about family by then,” she says.

“The Rainbow Families event has been part of Mardi Gras for a few years now, and in ten years time I see a much greater family orientation as more children come into community.”

One key event in Mardi Gras this year was the Museum of Love & Protest exhibition at the National Art School, which ran up until March 4.

The exhibition was a pilot for what a permanent museum for Mardi Gras might look like, if one were ever to be created.

It took a historical and archival look at the 40 year history of Mardi Gras through a unique collection of objects, from posters and photographs through to party dresses.

There was also a replica of the famous Captain Cook costume which Malcolm Cole wore in the 1988 Mardi Gras parade, combining a protest for gay rights with indigenous outrage at the Bicentennial Celebrations.

The exhibition was an important part of honouring the spirit of the “78ers” whose original spirit of defiance helped create the event.

Urban Village | 21

“Love and protest were part of the original day in 1978, the day had both,” says Susan Charlton, the exhibition’s curator.

“The two things have always existed as part of Mardi Gras and there is always part and protest going on together.”

Charlton says curating the exhibition was like “being invited to do a float for Mardi Gras about 40 years of history.”

“It was also a way of honouring the people who have been collecting this material,” says Charlton.

“I’ve visited so many people with rooms in their house where if you open the door all these amazing dresses pop out, so I’ve been looking at decades of posters, videos and DVDs and lanyards from all the parties.

“Its like a gift from the community and one that has gone back to the community.”

Let’s hope that from this exhibition a more permanent fixture of remembrance and celebration of Mardi Gras might come to fruition.

22 | Urban Village

THE POTTERY SHED

HE DISCOVERED HIS PASSION FOR BEING A TEACHER, A ROLE MODEL What do the US Military Police and the world of pottery have in common?

Joe Darling and The Pottery Shed.

A native Californian who spent time stationed in harsh former West Germany as a US Military Police officer, today Joe’s world is a bit more fragile, revolving around pottery and clay that is as rich and diverse as his own story.

Sadly, what led Joe to pottery was him losing both his parents at a young age. In the days of orphanages, Joe was sent to one in Fontana, an area infamously known for being tough. Joe attended the local school, where hands-on skills were the focus. Joe remembers, “the teachers embraced me, like parental role models. While there I learned to do pottery and silversmithing. That’s where it all started.”

From student to teacher, Joe came full circle, teaching pottery at Darlinghurst Public School. Here, he discovered his own passion for being a teacher, a role model. Joe developed and refined a curriculum that ensured he would impart learnings with both clarity and simplicity. And this is how Joe teaches his students at The Pottery Shed today.

THE POTTERY SHED 7 Nickson Street, Surry Hills www.thepotteryshed.com.au/

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Urban Village | 23

SAMPLE COFFEE

REUBEN MAY RUN SAMPLE COFFEE IN SURRY HILLS, BUT HE’S NEVER TOO FAR FROM ETHIOPIA, KENYA, COLOMBIA AND HONDURAS Every morning, an ever growing crowd of coffee appreciators congregate and bow at the altar of Sample Coffee, a nook in the wall café that bestows such caffeinated goodness that regulars keep coming back.

Owner, Rueben Mardan began as a barista twenty years ago, and it didn’t take him long to realise that he had an interest in the nuances of the different beans he was turning into caffeinated elixir, soon he was hooked. “Not because of the caffeine, but because there is so much involved in the process. The journey of the coffee bean is a big one - the origins of the beans; the roasting process; and of course, how to make the perfect coffee”.

The coffee bean journey has taken him all over the world - to Ethiopia, Kenya, Colombia and Honduras. He takes pride in the strong relationships he has with his overseas suppliers, and he makes sure that all his beans are ethically sourced with good working conditions for pickers and growers.

Proof that at Sample, it doesn’t just stop at coffee.

SAMPLE COFFEE Shop 2, 118 Devonshire St, Surry Hills samplecoffee.com.au/

24 | Urban Village

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MOHR FISH

STEPHANIE AND ISAAC CHAT ABOUT FRESH AND CRISP FISH. THERE’S A LOT MORE INVOLVED THAN YOU MIGHT THINK Established in 1992, Mohr Fish was named after husband and wife team, Hans and Jenny Mohr. The Mohrs had a vision of bringing restaurant-quality fish and chips to the Surry Hills area, but without restaurant-quality prices.

Twenty-six years on, Mohr Fish has long established itself as not just a local icon, but also a Sydney one too.

When Hans retired, niece Stephanie, and her husband (and chef), Isaac decided to continue the Mohr Fish tradition, including their popular bouillabaisse.

Says Stephanie, “Everyday we’re at the fish markets, everything is fresh and high quality. Testament to that is that we have locals phone us up to make sure we have some bouillabaisse left over for them. During winter they line up out the door for it.”

And still keeping a watchful eye over everything is Hans Mohr, who occasionally pops in to make sure the quality is up to his high standards. If their unique flavours and handmade tartar sauce is anything to go by, Stephanie and Isaac are definitely doing Hans proud.

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Urban Village | 25

The Shakespeare is an absolute gem, and I feel so lucky to be a part of it.

26 | Urban Village

Kelly Hargreaves inside The Shakespeare Hotel.

Photo: Inlighten Photography.

Meet the Surry Hills

Pub Dynasty

The Hargreaves family have been publicans in Surry Hills since 1975, first at the Shakespeare and now including the Strawberry Hills. Urban Village’s Lachlan Colquhoun sat down with Kelly Hargreaves, proprietor at the iconic “Shakey”, to talk about the pub’s past, and its future.

O

n any given day in Surry Hills there might be three generations of the Hargreaves family working in the neighbourhood’s pubs.

Down at the Strawberry Hills on Elizabeth Street, matriarch Margaret Hargreaves runs the show, but you might have your drink poured by one of her grandchildren.

Up the hill a little on Devonshire Street, Margaret’s daughter Kelly is the boss at the Shakespeare, where she’s not averse to wandering the bar and picking up the empty glasses as she chats with the drinkers.

The Shakespeare was the family’s first foray into pubs, and under their ownership it has become a Surry Hills and Sydney icon, hosting a unique clientele of actors, journalists, skaters launching a new magazine, locals from the public housing and a new wave of start up entrepreneurs, all of them drinking happily together.

“It was the 1975 recession which started it,” explains Kelly.

“My father’s real estate business had been badly hit for a time, and we had some relatives in the hotel business in the city and when the Shakespeare came up for sale they knew about it and suggested that it might be something for us.”

Not only do the Hargreaves family run the Shakespeare, but they have also lived there.

After buying the pub the family, including all four kids, lived upstairs for a period as they rode out the worst of the recession and Margaret threw herself into a new role as publican.

“Surry Hills was pretty rough back in 1975, it was still very working class and there were a lot of warehouses and factories,” says Kelly.

“So Mum has taken this place through so many different permutations, and they’ve changed with the area, but the pub is still in many ways the same as it was when it first opened its doors in 1879.

“When we moved in there was still a “Ladies Lounge” and a Swiss chalet hut kind of thing, while the frontbar didn’t quite have sawdust on the floor but it had that rough feel.”

Urban Village | 27

The late Ray Hughes, the revered gallery owner from Devonshire Street, used the Shakespeare as an extension of his office for many years, famously holding court in the front bar.

Actors from Belvoir Street are regulars, sharing bar space with locals such as 93 year old Jack from the public housing across the road, who celebrated his 93rd birthday at the Shakespeare recently, complete with birthday cake.

Mel Gibson dropped by the other day, and Geoffrey Rush has been known to dine upstairs.

Little wonder that another well known, and well heeled, thespian wanted to buy the place and asked Margaret to name her price, but she wouldn’t sell.

“It’s an incredible mix of people,” says Kelly.

“You might be a tradie or live in the public housing and you might be sitting next to someone from a tech start up, but everyone has a conversation and everyone is treated with respect.”

Kelly attributes the fact that there “is never any trouble” at the Shakey to the strong female presence not only of her mother Margaret, but Nora the barmaid who has been there for around 40 years.

“Nora was an Irish slip of a girl in her 20s when she started with us, and she’s now become so closely identified with the place,” says Kelly.

“She could write a book from what she’s seen here. But she keeps the whole place under control, she knows everybody’s name and everybody’s drinks and some people come here just to say hello to her.”

The Hargreaves family added to their portfolio in 1994, when they bought the Strawberry Hills “sight unseen” and matriarch Margaret moved down the road as publican, leaving her daughters in charge at the Shakespeare.

Kelly lived overseas with her family for around 20 years, but decided to step into the family business when she came back to Sydney and has been at the Shakespeare for nine years.

28 | Urban Village

The exterior of The Shakespeare Hotel.

Photo: Inlighten Photography.

The pub is still in many ways the same as it was when it first opened its doors in 1879

Urban Village | 29

Photo: Inlighten Photography.

Around 2010, the Strawberry was closed for 18 months or so as it underwent a major $6 million renovation, realising Margaret’s vision of creating one of Sydney’s great destination pubs.

Not many people who go to the Strawberry, however, would know that the carpet is a replica of the design at the State Theatre in Market Street.

“We heard there was some fantastic carpet at the State Theatre,” says Kelly.

“So one day we drove by and Mum circled the block in the car while I ran inside and took a photo of the carpet, and we sent off to some carpet makers and they had it made up for us.”

As for the Shakey, Kelly has just overseen a renovation of the upstairs dining areas, with new paint over the Joe Furlonger mural of naked men, painted in the 1990s.

She sees the current disruption as the “calm before the storm” and says its an opportunity to prepare for the future.

“We feel very optimistic about Surry Hills, and we think its only going to get better,” she says.

30 | Urban Village

Photo: Inlighten Photography.

“We hope its going to get a real boost from the light rail, but at the same time retain its X factor.

“That is why we are investing in the pub now.

We are focussing on getting ready so when the construction of the light rail is over we are good to go, ready and open for the new business we hope will come.”

On the family dynasty, Kelly Hargreaves is equally passionate. Her dream is that members of the third generation of the family will take over both the Shakespeare and the Strawberry Hills, and continue to family’s near half century of history in Surry Hills.

“Mum will never retire, and I am also incredibly passionate about this,” she says.

“The Shakespeare is an absolute gem, and I feel so lucky to be a part of it.

“Mum would never sell it. It would be like selling the loungeroom of our house, and we just wouldn’t do it.”

Her hope is that the next generation of Hargreaves feels the same way, and the family tradition can continue.

We feel very optimistic about Surry Hills, and we think its only going to get better

The main bar inside The Shakespeare Hotel.

Photo: Inlighten Photography.

Urban Village | 31

Local Review

BARBERIA 323 Crown Street, Surry Hills Barberia.com.au

The inside of the Barberia salon.

Photo: Supplied

A fixture on Crown Street for 25 years, Matt and Cheryl Clarke have raised a family and run their business from the same location. Look for the wall mural on the terrace opposite Crown Street school next time you need your hair done.

By Lachlan Colquhoun

M

att Clarke jokes that he and his partner Cheryl have raised their three kids in their hair salon on Crown Street.

The configuration of salon and home makes the Barberia unique, as does its longevity as a business which has a real connection to its community.

Not only that, but they now regularly cut the hair of two generations of customers families, people who started coming years ago and whose kids now come too.

It has also influenced the economics, and in the customer’s favour.

“I always say we are Noah’s Ark of Hairdressing,” says Matt.

“We do two of everything. Bankers, Supreme Court judges, out of work musicians and IT start up entrepreneurs.”

He is being self effacing of course. Many well known celebrities from the world of music, film, finance and law have their hair cut in the unisex salon on Crown Street with the retro barber’s chairs, on the ground floor to the three level terrace which also serves as the family home.

“We have a very eclectic clientele and we have a very close relationship with them,” says Matt.

“Many of them have become our friends, and doing their hair is just a great catch up. It’s become just like a private club, although we are looking for new members all the time!”

32 | Urban Village

“Because our overheads are low, because we also live here, we are able to keep our prices down,” says Matt.

“We don’t have the bells and whistles of some salons, like cheap champagne and receptionists, because we just want to do a good job and establish those relationships.”

The Barberia is not in the “business of forcing people to come back early so we can enrich ourselves” and neither is it interested in “upselling” to clients with product or services.

“Our haircuts grow out really well, and we pride ourselves on that,” says Matt.

“We have people come back after six months saying that people are still complimenting them on their hair.

“That might be a bad business model for us but on a personal level that is very satisfying.

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Urban Village | 33

Your neighbourhood

Architecture tours for urban enthusiasts

Surry Hills Library on Crown Street.

Photo: Luca Ward.

Sydney’s architecture has its heroes and villains, and Eoghan Lewis and his colleagues would love to show them to you.

By Lachlan Colquhoun

E

“We start with Waterloo because it’s a conversation about gentrification, and the tours all have a narrative which plays out,” says Lewis.

“A city is the creation of the people who live in it, so its also an expression of us and who we are,” he says.

“Waterloo is like Redfern was ten years ago, and Redfern is like Surry Hills was ten years ago so it’s all about getting a snapshot of that process.

oghan Lewis studied architecture and then moved to Berlin in the early 1990s, where he developed a fascination with cities.

“In Berlin back then it felt like everyone was experimenting with what they city could be, and I see a little bit of that happening now in Sydney, so we like to talk about the city as an incubator and as a laboratory.”

Today, Lewis combines his private architecture practice with some teaching but also in leading guided tours of Sydney’s architecture and urban design.

With two colleagues he offers around 80 tours per year, some of them on foot and some on bicycle and describes them both as a “critique and a celebration” of Sydney.

The tours take around three hours each, and vary between tours of the Opera House and Harbour to a “three suburbs tour” which takes in Waterloo, Redfern and then Surry Hills. They are run along “fault lines” in the city design to prompt discussion.

34 | Urban Village

“We talk a lot about governance and the role of the City of Sydney in activating and replenishing the city with a sustainability agenda, and of course the politics of the relationship between the city and the State Government and where they clash.”

Lewis believes that the City of Sydney, in recent developments like the Prince Alfred Park Pool and the Surry Hills Library, is leading a revival of the city.

Despite limited financial resources, he sees the City as making a significant contribution to the publicly shared environment.

His hero, without a doubt, is Jorn Utzon, the Danish architect who designed the Opera House and was controversially sacked mid construction in 1966.

Utzon’s brave vision for the project and Sydney and his Socialist world view of public buildings and public space strike a strong chord with Eoghan Lewis, who is keen to move from private to public commissions in his own work.

“Utzon’s story is the great story of our city,” says Lewis, who welcomes what he says is an architectural and design “renaissance” underway in the city, inspired by some of the same principles which drove Utzon.

The city, however, has some catching up to do if it is to achieve its potential.

Interviewed by the Sydney Morning Herald in 1992, Utzon said: "Sydney could have been an architectural laboratory; there would have been 10 or 15 buildings just as fabulous as this if we had stayed there. Of this I feel sure."

Looking at the Opera House today, and how it compared to much of the rest of Sydney, we can only ponder the opportunity which was lost in sacking Utzon, who was set to apply for citizenship when he was sacked.

For more information about the tours, go to www.sydneyarchitecture.org or email info@sydneyarchitecture.org

Surry Hills Library on Crown Street. Photo: Luca Ward.

Urban Village | 35

Kwementyaye (Max) Stuart 1932- 2014, Harley Oliver 2017

The Museum of Love & Protest at NAS Gallery Photo: Peter Morgan

The Art and Theatre Precinct

of Eastside Sydney It’s probably unsurprising that the city’s creative folk spill out into the urban neighbourhoods that border the CBD, and when it comes to the vibrant worlds of art and theatre, the Inner East – or ‘Eastside Sydney’ as we like to call it – plays host to more than its fair share of venues and shows.

Here Wild Spin of the World blogger and Bondi Beach Radio host Katie Mayor highlights some of the best.

Sydney East Art Walks The galleries and art spaces of Eastside Sydney have combined their artistic flair and eclectic exhibition prowess into a ‘best of’ art tour of Eastside including Surry Hills, Kings Cross, Potts Point, Woolloomooloo, and Darlinghurst. Four to five times per year, a group of up to 18 local galleries and institutions, including the sandstone architectural gem National Art School (NAS) Gallery which also has workshops and a lively event program, Stanley Street Gallery (who also have a cracker exhibition on now called Hitters, Grapplers and Strongmen), Artspace, Firstdraft and Australian Design Centre to name a few, open their doors for an immersive art experience through the neighbourhood. Their March art walk is officially part of Art Month and is called the East Sydney Precinct Night.

Biennale comes to Woolloomooloo Biennale is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated cultural events on the Sydney calendar, and this year the festival will be heading to Woolloomooloo, where it will be exhibiting at Artspace under the Biennale theme of 36 | Urban Village

By Katie Mayor

Superposition: Equilibrium and Engagement. Artspace, housed in the iconic Gunnery building on the Cowper Wharf Roadway, will be presenting a major work by one of the world’s biggest names in art, dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. His work Crystal Ball is aimed at provoking onlookers to focus on the current humanitarian crisis.

Alongside the work of Weiwei will be a host of other artists, including a video project from Michael Borremans of Belgium, a large fresco by Indian painter Tanya Goel, as well as pieces by Vietnamese artist Tiffany Chung and China’s Geng Xue. The nearby Art Gallery of NSW is also worth a wander, as it will be housing a 45 year retrospective of the festival, in the BIennale Archive.

Theatre Precinct When the sun sets over the city, Eastside is where the theatre scene lights up the stages of Sydney. Darlinghurst and Kings Cross play host to some of the most vibrant playhouses in the city. The award-winning historical building of the Eternity Playhouse on Burton Street is home to Darlinghurst Theatre Company, whose National Play Festival is in full swing this March. In the belly of World Bar in Kings Cross lies Blood Moon Theatre, responsible for the highly acclaimed Hidden Sydney and Kings Bloody Cross. Add to that local favourites like Belvoir in Surry Hills, Griffin Theatre Company in Darlinghurst, and Bakehouse Theatre Company in Kings Cross and it’s easy to see why this area is now considered a lively theatre precinct.

Urban Village | 37

Surry Hills & Valleys Telling the Stories of People in Our Community

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Mel Winnell. Photo: Tim Ritchie.

Mel Winnell: Community Worker Streetlevel

38 | Urban Village

S

urry Hills is home. It’s a place where I spend most of my time. It’s where I work, live, socialise all on the one street even. I wasn’t sure if I’d love the move here from the south coast but I’ve found it very vibrant and diverse. I like the busyness more than I thought I would. I enjoy observing people.

I love that Surry Hills is close to the city but has also a village feel. You see people you don’t know, but you see them so regularly and it feels like you know them.

I hang out at the gym, the pub, cafes and church.

That’s where I find community. Some people say that development is stripping Surry Hills of its culture and others find that the development is good. So, I hear both sides.

Working here at the centre, the gap between the people we see at work and some of the professional more affluent people becomes visible and that’s a challenge. I feel part of both those communities but I feel sad about the gap and frustrated. It would be nice if there was simple solution but there is not.

We try not to work out of a welfare mentality here. As a team, we realise the importance of community in healing, growth and transformation.

This is a place where people are safe and they can be who they are and they are accepted. People can grow and we ourselves grow as well. So this is my community, it’s not just my job. We try to empower people rather than just give handouts.

I love seeing people come out of themselves.

They come in apprehensive and not sure about being involved. Then I see them move to coming in regularly and also this becomes a place they can participate in. I love seeing what people are

capable of with some encouragement and feeling valued. I also see wider systemic things we face with our community that we can’t change as easily. So, we like to celebrate the small wins.

We know it’s not always the fact that people move forward because people go forwards and backwards. You’d like to be able to fix things but it’s not always so easy. So as a team we are supportive of each other and we encourage each other. Self-care for us is huge.

I have a medical condition that is a life-long thing.

It changed where I was heading in work and it was a wakeup call. Having a condition like this can give you a reason to just give up or you can take it as a wakeup call and do what you need to do. My condition has made me realise what is important in life and think about what doesn’t matter. It has been hard but I can also see that it has shaped me. I now realise that life isn’t all about me. I have a desire to see others grow and I feel more compassionate about people. I am grateful.

What we do isn’t who we are. I have realised how important family is and community. Whether you are living on the street or in a high paying corporate job, life is more about sharing with others and putting others first.

About www.surryhillsandvalleys.com We are four storytellers whether through art, photography or written word, who want to create a space for giving voice to the stories of the inhabitants of Surry Hills. Surry Hills has a history of storytelling. We hope that the stories that are told will bring about community in our neighbourhood especially during this time where Surry Hills is going through so much change.

We want to represent the diversity of the people in our community so we can increase learning from and respect of each other.

To read more profiles, visit www.surryhillsandvalleys.com

Urban Village | 39

New Vet on Crown

Dr Rahmani in his clinic. Photo: Luca Ward.

537 Crown St, Surry Hills 02 9133 1300 • vetsoncrown.com.au

The new vet clinic and hospital at 537 Crown Street is “striving to be different, but in a good way.”

Lachlan Colquhoun called by for a visit.

D

r Nima Rahmani is a very youthful looking 39 years of age, but he says he aged around ten years from the stress of his veterinary exams.

This was no ordinary situation. Dr Rahmani emigrated from Iran around 12 years ago after passing practising as a vet in his home country since 2003, but to resume his career in Australia he had to pass rigorous exams set by the Australasian Veterinary Boards Council.

Not only were the exams, both theory and practical, onerous and difficult but they were expensive, and to pay for them Dr Rahmani took a job in catering at Sydney Airport, only four days after arriving from Iran.

40 | Urban Village

And to add another layer of stress into the equation, his visa status and right to stay in Australia was dependent on passing the exams.

“I was told only 11 percent of candidates pass the exams at their first attempt, so I was very nervous,” Dr Rahmani says.

As it happened, he was the only one of his cohort who did pass the exams and his dream of becoming a vet in Australia was realised.

Then it was off to regional Australia, to Corowa and to Albury, where he not only worked with cats, dogs and household pets but also with farm animals.

He also learned something which perhaps not many other Australians can recall: that Australian Federation in 1901 was proclaimed at Corowa on the Murray River.

“I feel very privileged to have spent that time there,” says Dr Rahmani. “Those moments after working all day on a farm, having a cup of coffee with the farmer on his porch and watching the amazing Australian sunset were wonderful.”

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Moving then to Sydney, Dr Rahmani pursued what he believes is his specialty as a “small animal” vet, and spent six years at a practice in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs.

He wasn’t the owner but fully ran the practice, including the business side.

It was an experience which created the ambition to operate his own veterinary practice, so when he and best friend Omid Sadeghpour saw the premises at 537 Crown Street up for lease, they did their homework and decided to take the plunge.

Rahmani and Sadeghpour had met in the library at Sydney University around ten years ago and became firm friends. Although not a vet, Sadeghpour is a scientist with a PhD in Public Health and is a director at Vets on Crown.

“We always loved coming to this area and we thought that in terms of vets, it was underserviced and that we could do something good here,” says Sadeghpour.

Jeans before dyeing

Dye .... don’t buy!

For his part, Dr Rahmani has a real passion for doing something different and extraordinary at Vets on Crown.

“I do into this thinking that there are some bars in this industry, and that animals and owners deserve better,” he says.

Vets on Crown comprises not just the clinic and hospital, but boarding facilities and grooming, where Surry Hills pets can be pampered with the latest “microbubble” skin treatment technology for straight out Japan.

“I love animals of course but when you are a vet you understand that not only are you helping the animals, you are helping people too,” says Dr Rahmani.

“We really are going for something a bit more than the average vet would offer.”

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02 9310 7766 216 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills 2010 www.cullachange.com.au Urban Village | 41

Leigh Richardson of OrderMate. Photo: Supplied

OrderMate

Feeding the hungry with software

L

eigh Richardson says OrderMate is in the business of “connecting hungry diners with restaurants through great software.”

Started in Melbourne around 15 years ago, OrderMate has had a presence in Sydney for four years and up to 500 restaurants in the city now use its point of sale ordering software.

Just as OrderMate is based in Surry Hills, in the Office Space, many of the restaurants using the software are in Surry Hills.

If you have been in a restaurant in Surry Hills and staff have served you with a tablet based ordering system, then its likely they would have been using the OrderMate solution.

“Our core business is hospitality based point of sale,” says Richardson, who is national sales manager at OrderMate.

“We offer touch screen and tablet based computer systems and back ordering stock systems, as well as all the reporting tools.”

The point of sale is just one part of the business, however. OrderMate also offers a web based ordering platform, which is an alternative to the likes of Uber Eats and Menulog. Restaurants can integrate with their 42 | Urban Village

own systems so that orders are routed through to the appropriate area, such as the kitchen.

“This is a self service application which is hosted on the restaurant’s website and which they can brand as their own,” says Richardson.

Of Surry Hills, Richardson says the decision to locate here was a great fit for OrderMate.

“It’s the right mix of everything for us,” he says.

“It’s close to the CBD but not in the CBD, and there’s a high density of feed business and the standard is very high.

“When we meet clients at the Office Space, they have a perception of walking into a highly styled environment that aligns itself with the calibre of venue we want to work with, so that is definitely a value add for us.”

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www.acmeframing.com Urban Village | 43

The Cleveland Street house. Photo: Tess Scholfield-Peters.

CRICKET HISTORY UP FOR SALE A Cleveland Street home was once a cricket bat workshop which reportedly made bats for Don Bradman, as Lachlan Colquhoun reports.

W

hen Virginia Hall moved into her Cleveland Street home back in 1978, there was some strange old equipment lying around.

Out the back of the house, in a detached studio/ workshop, there were pieces of wood which other locals told her were patterns for the production of cricket bats.

In the front room of the house was a big glass cabinet where, she was told, the bats were displayed for sale.

“The house dates from the 1870s and was originally a bakery,” says Virginia.

“But we also learned that from around 1905 to the 1960s the house and workshop were used by the Dye family who made and repaired cricket bats.”

44 | Urban Village

Virginia contacted Urban Village after our earlier story about the Moore Park Cricket competition, which is perhaps the oldest park cricket competition in Australia, dating from 1897.

On any given Saturday in summer several dozen games of cricket would have been in progress along South Dowling Street and opposite the Bat & Ball Hotel.

The Dye’s cricket bat business would have been very handy for these players, but it also served a more distinguished clientele.

“One of the locals around here is sure that the bats were also used by Donald Bradman,” says Virginia.

This claim, while difficult to confirm, could well be true. Bradman played the early years of his cricket in NSW before moving to Adelaide.

Although Bradman was later associated with the Sykes bats (ultimately taken over by Slazenger), it entirely possible that he did have a Dye bat in his hand at some point in the time he spent playing in Sydney, between 1928 and 1936.

One of the most famous photographs from the ill fated 1915 Gallipoli campaign shows ANZAC troops playing cricket in break in the combat, and of course Australian troops were also stationed in Egypt and France during WW1.

A Sydney Morning Herald article from November 27, 1941, confirms that several other famous cricketers used bats made by the Dyes, a father and son business, in the Cleveland Street house.

It is entirely possible not only that Donald Bradman used a Dye bat made in Cleveland Street, but that one of the locally made bats is also being used in one of WW1’s most iconic images.

“Mr Dye, senior, made bats for such players as the Gregory’s and the Donnans,” the SMH article says.

“Victor Trumper also had a Dye made bat. For years a bat used by that stylist Charlie Gregory was in his modest shop window.”

While obviously of a high standard and used by top class players, Dye cricket bats also played an interesting role in World War 1.

According to the SME article, the Comfort Funds charity, which the public donated to and which supported Australian troops, also purchased a number of the Dye bats which were sent to troops overseas for use in their leisure time.

As for Virginia, she is selling her home after 40 years in Surry Hills to move closer to family in Concord.

The bat workshop, and the former bakery, is now a self contained studio with off street parking at the rear of the house.

“There have always been so many interesting people living in this area, right from the time we arrived here,” says Virginia. “But its time for me to move on.”

Meanwhile, the house at 514 Cleveland waits for a new chapter in its humble, but fascinating, life.

Urban Village | 45

HumanNature

Tom Griffiths, Professor of History, Australian National University Photo: Supplied.

International experts explore humanity's role and responses in a time of environmental crisis.

T

he Australian Museum invites us to reflect on and learn about the environmental change surrounding us through their 2018 lecture series HumanNature. HumanNature: The Humanities in a Time of Environmental Crisis will investigate increasingly present crises such as climate change, mass species extinction, Indigenous dispossession, racism and the excesses of capitalism.

The lecture series will discuss the relationship between our human activity and its role in shaping the earth and its future possibilities.

“The Australian Museum, in partnership with UNSW Sydney, Macquarie University, The University of Sydney and Western Sydney University, has gathered some of the world’s best scholars working at the intersection of the humanities and science

46 | Urban Village

to explore the role that we can play in addressing some of the most pressing global challenges of our time,” says AM Director and CEO Kim McKay. The series will draw on insights from history, literature, philosophy, anthropology and related disciplines to explore how the humanities can tackle our most imminent environmental changes.

AM Creative Producer Tanya Goldberg says the global impacts of environmental change and crisis can often feel distant from our daily lives. “HumanNature challenges that remoteness, showcasing not only the depth of expert knowledge that is tackling these problems but the breadth of its applications in how we understand the crises facing our world and their possible solutions.”

WHAT:

HumanNature: The Humanities in a Time of Environmental Crisis

WHEN: Once a month from February to October 2018 WHERE: Australian Museum, 1 William Street, Sydney TICKETS: AM Members: $16 | General: $20 | Concession: $18.

Bookings recommended: australianmuseum.net.au/landing/human-nature/ Tickets at door subject to availability.

LECTURE SERIES PROGRAMME 15 February TIME: Radical Histories for Uncanny Times

12th July PLANT: Feminist Botany for the Age of Man

Tom Griffiths, Professor of History, Australian National University

Catriona Sandilands, Professor of Environmental Studies, York University (Canada)

AM Eureka Prize winner Tom Griffiths discusses the historian’s craft and its importance amid profound environmental and social change. Griffiths will explore how Australian understandings of the past have shaped our environmental possibilities.

Join Catriona Sandilands on an adventure into the fascinating worlds of plants. Sandilands draws on diverse relationships between women and plants to outline a feminist botany that unsettles the “Anthropocene” as the centre of attention.

8 March EXTINCTION: Gifts of Life in the Shadow of Death

23rd August KINSHIP: American Dreaming is Indigenous Elimination

Deborah Bird Rose, Professor of Environmental Humanities, UNSW Sydney Prize-winning author, Deborah Bird Rose investigates how gift-giving is central to life at a time of mass extinction.

23rd April CLIMATE: Cultures of Climate Mike Hulme, Professor of Human Geography, University of Cambridge (UK) Mike Hulme explores the ways climates are changed, blamed, feared and redesigned, amid the politics of climate change.

24 May LIFE: Living Biological Objects on the Pedestal Oron Catts, Director of SymboiticA, the Centre of Excellence in Biological Arts, The University of Western Australia

Kim TallBear, Associate Professor of Native Studies, University of Alberta (Canada) Kim TallBear considers the strange intersections between nature and the lives and deaths of Indigenous peoples in the United States. TallBear highlights how anti-racism movements are co-constituted with the doctrine of Indigenous elimination.

6th September CAPITAL: Work, Cheap Nature, and the Violence of Real Abstraction Jason W. Moore, Associate Professor of Sociology, Binghamton University (USA) Join Jason Moore as he explores capitalism and the roots of today’s planetary crisis, arguing that both are grounded in a history of putting nature and people to work.

Biological arts pioneer Oron Catts explores the possibilities that emerge when art meets biology and asks: What is life?

18 October COUNTRY: Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe

14th June GARDEN: Taupata, Taro, Roots, Earth: the (Indigenous) Politics of Gardening

Award-winning author and Bunurong/Tasmanian Yuin man, Bruce Pascoe re-examines the notion of pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians as hunter-gatherers and retells Indigenous history, arguing that it is time to take a new look at the past.

Alice Te Punga Somerville, Associate Professor Maori and Indigenous Studies, University of Waikato (NZ) Alice Te Punga Somerville explores the history of gardening and activism among Indigenous peoples in the Pacific region.

Urban Village | 47

Vince Frost delivering a talk at the Golden Age Bar and Cinema.

Photo: Paul McMahon Photography

Insight by The Office Space 2018 Business Talk Series

N

ow in its fourth year of production, Insight by The Office Space is a business talk series that brings together innovative entrepreneurs and business leaders to explore burgeoning topics and reveal the secrets of their success under a monthly theme.

Insight is hosted on the last Tuesday of the month (with the exception of the women’s March high tea event), in the Golden Age Bar and Cinema. Enjoy a free welcome drink and canapes from 5:30, ahead of a 6-7pm Insight panel interview in the cinema.

Traversing all aspects of business across the fields of design, film, innovation, technology, finance and marketing, the sell-out program has featured speakers such as actor, Susie Porter; dual Archibald-winning artist, Del Kathryn Barton: Qantas industrial designer, David Caon; producer, Jan Chapman; graphic designer, Vince Frost and City of Sydney Counsellor, Jess Scully.

For program information or ticket sales, please go to www.theofficespace.com.au/blog

With 90 guest speakers over the last three years, there has been no shortage of inspiring, insightful, revealing and surprising moments. This year’s line up again raises the bar, and will feature City of Sydney CEO Monica Barone, journalist Hugh Rimmington, fashion designer Alexandra Smart and Theologist Dr Karina Kreminski.

Insight proudly supports the Sydney Community Foundation (SCF) with full proceeds from ticket sales going directly to the SCF Business Incubator for disadvantaged women. In 2018, the Foundation’s influential “Conversations or Change” event series merges with the popular Insight event program to give greater voice to contemporary issues relevant to all of us who live local in Sydney and beyond.

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For more information, please contact Naomi Tosic at naomi@theofficespace.com.au or 02 8218 2100.

The Insight 2018 Program Feb 27 The Future of the Workplace Mar 22 Women in Business Apr 24 The Business of Words May 29 The Business of Brand Jun 26 The Film Business Jul 31

The Business of Cryptocurrencies

Aug 28 The Business of Marketing Sep 25 The Business of Design Oct 30 The Business of Innovation Nov 27 The Business of Ethics

EAT. DRINK. STAY Madison Hotel • Gt’s Hotel Royal Exhibition Hotel madisonhotel.com.au • royalexhibition.com.au • gtshotel.com.au Urban Village | 49

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CROWS NEST & SURRY HILLS

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Introducing the World’s Best Office*

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The 14th Annual Sydney Comedy Festival is here!

The 14th annual Sydney Comedy Festival returns in 2018 delivering to us all the laughs, talent and sidesplitting hilarity we’ve come to expect from this absolute “comedy behemoth,” as Festival Director Jorge Menidis calls it.

“We set a brief that was simply to make it bigger, funnier and unmissable, and that is exactly what I believe this year’s festival delivers,” says Menidis.

The Sydney Comedy Festival Gala will kick of the festivities, where across three big nights and four venues, an impressive line-up of comics will give us a taste of what’s on offer over the month-long extravaganza.

Our city welcomes renowned international talents Urzila Carlson (RSA/NZ), David O’Doherty (IRE), Jason Byrne (IRE), Daniel Sloss (SCO) and UK stars Ross Noble, Stephen K Amos, Jonathon Pie, Paul Chowdhury and Jamali Maddix; as well as US performers Michael Che, Shawn Wayans, Tom Segura and Ari Shaffir – and this is only a handful

of the international talent you’ll find performing around the city.

Just some of the Australian crowd favourites joining the line-up are Kitty Flanagan, Aunty Donna, Matt Okine, Tom Gleeson, Doug Anthony All Stars, Cal Wilson, Fiona O’Loughlin, Joel Creasy and Lawrence Mooney.

This year the FRESH program invites us to see an exciting line-up of 12 emerging comedians, and for the first time, the Festival brings to us South African All Stars, featuring the very best of South Africa’s comedians.

With all this plus a fun-filled children’s program on opening weekend, there’s a show to give every Sydney-sider a good giggle.

From fresh-faced new talent to veteran comedy icons, this year’s Sydney Comedy Festival is set to be bigger and funnier than ever. The Festival runs from April 23rd to May 20th at venues across the city.

For more event information and tickets, visit www.sydneycomedyfest.com.au.

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CHOOSE YOUR NEW IDEAL OFFICE LOCATION

with

Flexible lease terms Great fit outs Café and bar facilities  483 Riley St, Surry Hills  94 Beattie St, Balmain  66 Goulburn St, Sydney  20A Danks St, Waterloo  321 Kent St, Sydney

To book a tour or have any questions, please call Simon 0434 254 411 or email: simon@idealspace.com.au

www.idealspace.com.au 54 | Urban Village

Surry Hills Community Cafe Monthly Community CafĂŠ across the road from Surry Hills market!

(Above the Library) Specialising in Devonshire teas, Morning and Afternoon Tea and Lunch with vegetarian and gluten free options available

Open 10am-3pm 1st Saturday of the Month shnc.org | facebook.com/SurryHillsCommunityCafe

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AKA The Sydney Filter thesydneyfilter.com

-F-I-L-T-E-R-

201 Albion St Surry Hills

MODERN & CONTEMPORARY ART

By Fiona McIntosh

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ow this would present a far more intriguing experience than the one usually on offer when navigating border control: to be met by Brian Eno and either his music, possibly Ambient 1: music for airports 1978, or one of his prints, like Agate (2016) which pulses with colour. Both would invoke a warmer welcome than the officialdom and scrutiny at customs.

The works by Eno were featured in the group exhibition Strange Customs at -f-i-l-t-e-r, a gallery recently opened gallery in Surry Hills. In its recent summer show, exhibited artworks were categorised as ‘declare’ or ‘nothing to declare’ and hung against the brilliant red and green hues of these bureaucratic pathways.

The premise for the exhibition was the suggestion of mobility of goods, ideas and cultural customs, all of which are in constant global flow. I think the idea of mobility was really more of a creative excuse to introduce –f-i-l-t-e-r-‘s particular modus operandi to its new Sydney audience, than the thematic considerations of the particular artists and artworks.

The artists –f-i-l-t-e-r- is showing are British, well known and held in high regard internationally: Damian Hirst, Tracey Emin, Antony Gormley, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Rachel Whiteread, Howard Hodgkin, Anish Kapoor, Julian Opie and Michael Craig-Martin, to name a few. Co-Director, Dr Ian Geraghty, lived and

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studied in London at the same schools where these renowned artists studied and taught, and knows well his way around the London art scene to source works for Sydney collectors.

Generally these artists’ works are well-known to Australian audiences, with most of them having been exhibited here in major institutional exhibitions or public installations. Gormley has a significant installation Inside Australia based at Lake Ballard in remote Western Australia; Emin has visited Australia many times and has a permanent public artwork, The Distance of Your Heart (lots of tiny bronze birds) scattered around the northern end of the Sydney CBD. Publicity follows Hirst’s controversial practice.

Whilst these works are wonderful to experience, it is rare that any of us has the capacity to buy and house such large-scale pieces. This is how –f-i-l-t-e-rcame into being: directors artist/critic/conservator Dr Ian Geraghty and art collector/businessman Peter Maddison, recognised an opportunity for the Sydney market, for art works by leading international artists to be made available, in a way which is accessible, affordable and easily displayed in a domestic environment. –f-i-l-t-e-r specialises in small multiples, mostly works are on paper, prints in limited editions to be specific.

Antony Gormley Track II 2016 Etching ed 25 34 x 26.5 cm (sheet) Signed, numbered and dated in pencil, verso.

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When I visited –f-i-l-t-e-r- to see Strange Customs, Damien Hirst’s luminous butterfly prints from the series The Souls together with a number of scratchy etchings by Tracey Emin, a pair of photogravure etchings by Jake & Dinos Chapman and a couple of others were in the red “nothing to declare zone”. Not that they have nothing to declare: Tracey Emin’s work is rooted in the most personal and strident of declarations.

Michael Craig-Martin has a foot in both camps, hung on both red and green walls, with his prints of motifs of everyday objects emboldened in vivid colour schemes. I did chortle at the irony here, given his encounter with the actual Australian customs in the late 70s. His seminal work, An Oak Tree (which, incidentally, Damian Hirst cites “the greatest piece of conceptual sculpture”) was barred entry into Australia because it was deemed ‘vegetation’. The fact that the actual artwork is not an oak, but a glass of tap water on a glass bathroom shelf with an adjacent text citing a semiotic argument as to why it is an oak tree, was missed by the over-zealous local customs officials. The work was subsequently given the green light and permitted entry to the country. It then found permanent residency when it was acquired into the collection of the National Gallery of Australia.

Seek it out when you are next in Canberra.

Opening next will be a solo show of recent works by Cornelia Parker, another leading British sculptor who has shared the stages with the other Young British Artists. She was included in the 2008 Biennale of Sydney with a video work at Cockatoo Island, but other than that, little of her tremendous body of work has been seen here. Her work is about the “potential of materials – even when it [appears] they’ve lost all possibilities”, when they’ve been blown up, steam-rollered, shot at or thrown off cliffs. Large-scale survey exhibitions of Parker’s work are currently being scheduled for major museums around the world which will definitely be worth watching out for.

In the meantime, her show at –f-i-l-t-e-r- will offer a good introduction into her provocative practice.

The Cornelia Parker exhibition opens on 10 March and runs through into April.

Cornelia Parker Coffee Pot Hit by a Hammer 2015 Polymer Photogravure etching ed of 20 66 x 54 cm Signed, numbered and dated in pencil Damien Hirst The Souls IV - Loganberry Pink / Raven Black / Silver Gloss 2010 3 colour foil block ed 15 72 x 51 cm (sheet) Signed and numbered in pencil Michael Craig-Martin Objects of our time - 4 wheel suitcase 2014 Silkscreen ed AP/1 50 x 50 cm Signed and numbered in pencil verso.

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MARCH/APRIL/MAY NEIGHBOURHOOD LISTINGS FOOD Vegan Carnival, March 10 at Annahata Massage & Wellbeing

Mark Dubner: Recent Sculptures in Steel, Latex and Plastic, March 16-20 (opening Fri March 16, 6-8pm) at Duckrabbit, Redfern

Pizza + Wine, March 15 (ongoing event, see website for dates), at Cake Wines Cellar Door

Art Jam: Live Music, Blank Canvas, March 22 at Cork and Chroma.

Oysters + Pinot Gris, March 17 (ongoing event, see website for dates), at Cake Wines Cellar Door

Family Paint: Make a Monster, March 25 at Cork and Chroma.

International Women’s Day x WOHO/PorkStar Autumn Cookout, March 18 at Porteno Events

Cornelia Parker limited edition artworks at Sydney Filter Gallery, March (check website for dates and details).

I dream of Pork, March 22 at Bishop Sessa

Yulia Pustoshkina: Imagine as if…, April 25 – May 1 at m2 Gallery

Annual Good Friday Feast, March 30 at the Soda Factory

DRINK Mardi Gras Celebrations, March 5 at the Winery A night with new Belgium, March 7 at Dove and Olive Lark Hill Wine dinner with Wine Maker Chris Carpenter, March 8 at Bishop Sessa Irish Whisky Fair, March 10 at the Wild Rover Vina Incognita: Taste the Unknown, March 10 at Bishop Sessa Mezcal Mini Fest, March 11 at Tios Cerveceria Irish whisky cocktail class, March 15 at the Wild Rover Paddy’s Day at the Wild Rover, March 17 at the Wild Rover Six Point Brewery is back! March 29 at The Noble Hops

ART Fresh Hell by Drew Bickford, March 1-24 at Flinders St Gallery Food Waste: Unpacking the Rubbish Bin, March 7-11 at m2 Gallery Paintings and Drawings by Lucy Vader, March 7-31 at Michael Reid Gallery

MUSIC Brekky Boy/Yutrio/Godriguez, March 8 at Venue 505 Amistat Nostalgia EP launch, March 16 at Venue 505 The Truth Seekers, March 16 at Hibernian House Disco 3000! A Modern Soul Affair, March 16 at the Bat and Ball Nights of Leisure, March 17 at Café Lounge The Vampires, March 17 at Venue 505 Night Time Drama: electro and techno, March 17 at the Flinders Funk Engine 5 Year anniversary, March 23 at Venue 505 Summer Dance Festival, March 25 at National Art School Cellar Door 2nd Birthday ft Amp Fiddler, March 30 at Cake Wines Cellar Door

THEATRE Single Asian Female, February 16 – March 25 at Belvoir St Theatre Story Club 2018, March 5 – April 9 at Giant Dwarf Theatre The Golden Years, March 8 at Tom Mann Theatre

Out of the Gallery – Gustav Klimt Golden Tears, March 10 at TAP gallery

Comedians Talk Over Art, March 9 at Golden Age Cinema and Bar

Australian Design Centre Maker’s Market, March 10 at 115 William St, Darlinghurst

It’s the News, March 9 – April 23 at Giant Dwarf Theatre

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Send us your event lists for the next edition and online to info@surryhills.org

A Likely Story – Marching On, March 11 at 277 Goulburn St, Surry Hills

Glass Blowing Workshop with Mark Elliott, March 24 at 107 Projects

Film Trivia, March 13 at Golden Age Cinema and Bar

Sydney Palm Sunday Rally for Refugees, March 25 at Haymarket

Vaginal Spray: Feminist Stories, March 14 at 107 Projects Queerstories 2018, March 16-May 4 at Giant Dwarf Theatre.

Tech Savvy Seniors, April 3 at Surry Hills Library

Act Four presents Channel 8, March 22 at Tom Mann Theatre

WEEKNIGHTS FOR LOCALS

10 Comedians for $20, March 24 at the Bat and Ball

Mondays: Movie Mondays at The Soda Factory

No Standing. No Dancing. March 28 at Giant Dwarf Theatre

Tuesdays: Trivia Tuesdays at Dove and Olive

Sami In Paradise, April 1 – 29 at Belvoir St Theatre

Wednesdays: Ribs Night and $12 Whisky Sours at The Clock

Get Her Outta Here, April 19 at 107 Projects James Veitch, Dot Con (UK), April 23-24 at Giant Dwarf Theatre John Kearns – Don’t Worry, They’re Here (UK), April 24 at Giant Dwarf Theatre The Bear Park, April 26-28 at Giant Dwarf Theatre The Sugar House, May 5 – June 3 at Belvoir Street Theatre Dilruk Jayasinha: Bundle of Joy, May 11-12 at Giant Dwarf Theatre

Thursdays: Jazz, Blues, Vibe and Groove at Forresters Fridays: Live music at Cake Wines Cellar Door

LOOK OUT FOR Moonlight Cinema Summer Season, December 1 – April 1 Spanish Film Festival Australia, April 18-May 6 Sydney Comedy Festival, April 23-May 20

MISC EVENTS

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia, May 13-May 17

Surry Hills Market, first Saturday of every month at Shannon Reserve Mental Health First Aid Course with Fiona Price, March 8 at ACON Surry Hills Live Model Painting, March 9 at Tap Gallery Life Drawing with Barenaked Studios, March 9 at The Muse & Co National Day of Women Living with HIV in Australia, March 9 at the Neighbourhood Centre, Surry Hills Blak Markets, March 11 at NCIE Redfern Premiere screening of The Book, March 15 at Golden Age Cinema and Bar Mindful Meditation Workshops, March 17 at the Neighbourhood Centre Brenda Liu Salsa and Bachata Workshop, March 23 at Connection Studios Sydney

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Expert Advice Locally Supplying goods to customers ?

– don’t rely on Retention of Title (ROT)

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t is surprising that we still come across suppliers, including wholesalers, who are not using the security registration system available under the Personal Properties Securities Act (PPSA) in order to protect their retention of title trading terms. Retention of title, simply means that title to the vendor’s goods does not pass to the purchaser until they are paid for in full.

Suppliers commonly retain title in goods they have sold until they are paid for, under their standard terms of trade. This is a very basic form of credit control. Retention of title, is well known by lawyers as being problematic, in circumstances where stock, if it is not kept by the customer or used in their business, is usually allowed to be on-sold in the ordinary course of their business to third parties to generate income to pay for the stock.

Retention of title still exists, but the PPSA and Corporations Act 2001 have made this mechanism a far less attractive method of security for suppliers. Retention of title clauses are deemed to be “securities” and must be registered to be effective. If they are left unregistered on the Personal Property Register (PPSR) they will normally have no effect if there is a formal insolvency appointment to the buyer. If there is no registration, a liquidator or administrator of your customer can take the goods and sell them without recourse to you.

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The good news is that your interest as the unpaid supplier can be registered on the PPSR as security interests called Purchase Money Security Interests (PMSI)- often referred to in the trade as a “Pimsy”.

The government PPSA website offers user friendly help about PMSI and how to register them: see www.ppsr.gov.au.

Some key points to note about a PMSI are: • They must be registered before the stock is delivered; • They are not defeated by earlier registered general security interests, if a bank or some other lender has registered a general security interest over the customers assets; • A one-off initial registration can be done for each buyer/customer; • They are for commercial dealings, not sales to end consumers; • PPSA offers useful enforcement rights.

To obtain the benefit of a PMSI, you should know how to both obtain the signing by the buyer/customer of the appropriately drafted trade agreement and to then do the timely PMSI registration. There are technical rules to follow and simple mistakes can lead to invalidity of the registration.

In a recent case in the Supreme Court of NSW (OneSteel Manufacturing Pty Ltd – Administrator Appointed) the Court held the registration of a security interest in a significant equipment lease to be defective because the Australian Business Number (ABN) was recorded on the PMSI, not the Australian Company Number (ACN). That mistake cost the leasing company not only its rights to the asset, but the significant costs of the litigation.

In another case, following the insolvency of large engineering company (Forge Group), the Receivers appointed by the creditors of Forge Group who were seeking to recover the company’s assets to pay their debts and costs, were forced to apply to the NSW Supreme Court to attempt to obtain control of $50 million worth of gas turbines that GE (the owners) leased to the Forge Group, but failed to secure with a PPSA registered charge. GE lost the case.

In another example of an owner losing title to its own goods, albeit worth significantly less than the gas turbines, the owners of a food vending machine situated in the premises of a company that has been placed into liquidation, lost its claim the liquidator. For the sake of the small fee required for the registration of the owners PPSR interest in the machine, the liquidator would have been required to hand back the vending machine to its owner. Instead, the liquidator was free to sell the machine.

If you supply goods on credit, you should review your credit policies and documentation. Surry Partners regularly assists clients on how to establish effective Pimsys and how to enforce them.

Peter English is the director and founding partner of Surry Partners Lawyers www.surrypartners.com.au

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YOUR CHANCE TO

WIN $ 100 EVERY DAY Every day we’re giving away $100 to spend at fantastic places in the Surry Hills Devonshire Street Precinct*.

Head to devonshirestreetprecinct.com.au to enter.

*See www.devonshirestreetprecinct.com.au/termsconditionsfor full terms. Open to NSW residents over the age of 18.Entrants may enter as many times as they like provided that each entry is unique. Competition opens 05/03/18 at 01:00 AM and closes 29/04/18 at 12:00 AM. Winners drawnweekly from 12/03/18 to 30/04/18 at 680 George Street Sydney, NSW 2000. The total prize pool valued at up to$5,600 (incl. GST). Winners notified by email within two days of each draw. The Promoters are The Surry Hills Creative Precinct Incorporated (ABN 72 943 676 123) of Ground Floor 483 Riley Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010 and Transport for New South Wales (ABN 18 804 239 602) of 18 Lee Street Chippendale NSW 2008. Authorised Under: NSW Permit No. LTPS/18/22217.

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