In Carlton People and Social Change fifteen women and men recall aspects of their lives in Carlton in the nineteen sixties and seventies. The original tapes and transcripts of these interviews are held in the Carlton Library, Rathdowne Street. Peter Hoadley' is a pseudonym.
In 1969 the Carlton Association, an energetic and significant resident action group, was first formed. It rose to prominence not only because it campaigned on a variety of issues which expressed problems faced by people living in Carlton, but because those issues represented tensions experienced by urban communities throughout Melbourne. Perhaps the initiatives came first from Carlton dwellers because of the high numbers of new inhabitants both from abroad and from rural and urban Australia, who arrived to view the scene with fresh eyes. For Carltonites, the Association provided the opportunity to have a voice in the shaping of their living conditions which were under pressure from a variety of directions.
The Carlton world looked different to individual people, of course, depending on the social group to which people belonged. There were those whose families had lived in Carlton for decades, including the Jewish community which was established before the Second World War. There were others who had made their houses in the new, high rise Housing Commission blocks which were built on Rathdowne and Lygon Streets. Large numbers of new migrants, Italians and Greeks predominantly, rented or bought the small, cheap Victorian cottages. Students, too, shared board in the old houses, attracted by the low costs and the proximity to Melbourne University. And from the early sixties, increasing numbers of middle class professional people, usually young couples, attracted also by the cosmopolitan and varied style of the suburb, began to buy old houses, and restore their Victorian character. It was this group which spearheaded resident action.
Some of the people involved in the Carlton Association speak here of their lives in Carlton, and why they undertook the campaigns which emerged over demolition of houses, over freeway plans, over alienation of parklands. Many others have different aspects of Carlton to describe: adjustment to strange ways for migrants, the first years of the feminist movement, eviction by the Housing Commission, the anti Vietnam war movement, neighbourliness or loneliness. Norm Gallagher of the Builders Labourers' Federation tells of his crucial activities in preserving parks and buildings for Carlton people's use and enjoyment.
These two decades were a significant period in Carlton's history. Tho stories of these fifteen informants begin the task of recovering the experience of those decades as witnessed by the suburb's inhabitants.
Research: Elizabeth Stafford, Annemarie Law and Pat Grimshaw
Written by: Pat Grimshaw and Elizabeth Stafford
Edited by: Pat Grimshaw and Katie Holmes
Layout and design: Katie Holmes
Cover design and graphics: Catherine Gleeson
Photography: Elizabeth Stafford and Annemarie Law
Thanks to Princes Hill School Park Centre, Ann Clendinnen and Biddy Williams, for accommodating and sponsoring us; and to Delys Anderson, Ted Barrett, Norm Gallagher, Roger Grimshaw, Trevor Huggard Filomena Lacorcia, Chris Lee, Richard Malone, Shirley McLaren, Jean Pappas, Amy Phillips, Lillian Plotkin, George Tibbits, Val Wilson and Peter Hoadley. Thanks also to the staff of the La Trobe Library for their patience and assistance in our search for photographs, Coburg Library for the use of recording and transcribing equipment and Les Gray and the National Trust for permission to reproduce photographs. Barson Computers provided a computer, Co Design ergonomic chairs, and CEP the funding to make the project possible.
Copyright: Carlton Forest Project 1988. This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher.
Photos on pp.5, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 35, 39, 46, courtesy of the La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria.
Copyright for photos, pp. 5, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 35, 39, 46, La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria.
p.3. Courtesy, Margaret Fallshaw
p.5. The Melbourne Times, 27/10/1978 La Trobe Library Collection, State Library of Victoria.
p.7. Courtesy Trevor Huggard.
p.9. Courtesy Trevor Huggard.
p. l 1. Elizabeth Stafford, Carlton Forest Project.
p.l3. Courtesy Church of All Nations.
p.l5. Elizabeth Stafford, Carlton Forest Project.
p.l7. Courtesy Trevor Huggard.
p.l9. Courtesy George Tibbits.
p.21. Elizabeth Stafford, Carlton Forest Project.
p.23. Elizabeth Stafford, Carlton Forest Project.
p.25. Elizabeth Stafford, Carlton Forest Project.
p.26. E. Graeme Robertson,Carlton, National Trust Inner Suburban Series, Rigby, 1974.
p.27. The Melbourne Times, 4/12/1974, p.3, La Trobe Library Collection, State Library of Victoria.
p.28. The Melbourne Times, 31/1/1973, p.8, La Trobe Library Collection, State Library of Victoria.
p.29. Les Gray, Carlton, Sun Books, 1973.
p.30. Elizabeth Stafford, Carlton Forest Project.
p.31. The Melbourne Times, 31/10/1973, p.l, La Trobe Library Collection, State library of Victoria.
p.32. The Melbourne Times, 12/3/1975, p.3, La Trobe Library Collection, State Library of Victoria.
p.33. The Melbourne Times, 13/8/1975, p.7, La Trobe Library Collection, State Library of Victoria.
p.35. The Melbourne Times, 19/9/1978, p.6, La Trobe Library Collection, State Library of Victoria.
p.37 Elizabeth Stafford, Carlton Forest Project.
p.38. Courtesy Trevor Huggard.
p.39. The Melbourne Times, 16/5/1973, p.l, La Trobe Library Collection, State Library of Victoria.
p.40. Elizabeth Stafford, Carlton Forest Project.
p.41. Les Gray, Carlton, Sun Books, 1973.
p.42. Elizabeth Stafford, Carlton Forest Project.
p.43. Les Gray, Carlton, Sun Books, 1973.
p.44. Les Gray, Carlton, Sun Books, 1973.
p.45. Elizabeth Stafford, Carlton Forest Project.
p.46. The Melbourne Times, 29/5/1974, p.2, La Trobe Library Collection, State Library of Victoria.
CARLTON FOREST GROUP:
Catherine Gleeson
Katie Holmes (coordinator)
Annemarie Law
Elizabeth Stafford
Marie Sturt
Printing: Printing Services, The University of Melbourne, Vic.
Publisher:
Carlton Forest Project
C/o Princes Hill School Park Centre,
Arnold St., Nth. Carlton, Vic.
ISBN: 0 9587922 6 7
0 9587922 5 9 (for series)