In this Place - A public artwork for Lenah Valley

Tell your story

• Sheep

  by Ingy, about 7 years ago

  I have been living in Greenway Avenue for over 10 years now. The original part of our house was built in 1916 so has turned 100. Over those years everyone who has lived in the house has added a bit to it. I particularly thank the people before me who moved the toilet inside from its outhouse building (in the 1990s I believe!). People may know our place because we have a sheep in the front garden, quietly sitting their all day (she is two dimensional) but she reflects a past. Our house was there when most of that part... Continue reading

• Letter from Elizabeth Longo

  by alex, about 7 years ago

  I have many happy memories of Lenah Valley stretching back to 1945.

  Mum, Dad and I lived with Nanny and Auntie at 26 Doyle Avenue. There were three notable houses in the block on which we lived; Miss Dorothy Wilkinson lived in the family home on the corner of Waverley and Doyle Avenue; the Cruikshank home was on the other side of the road and was an English-style home, with a beautiful garden designed by Edna Walling; and the third big house was a double story white house on the corner of Doyle and Greenway Avenues and was owned by... Continue reading

• Letter from Mary McKinlay

  by alex, about 7 years ago

  I am a 6th generation Tasmanian and was brought up at Newlands Avenue, Lenah Valley in the 40’s and 50’s.

  Connolly’s the Grocer used to come to the house for the grocery order on Tuesdays and deliver groceries on Thursdays. Rabbit man used to come around on a horse and cart. Rabbits were 6d each or 1/- pairs. Dickie baker the milkman used to bring the milk each morning and pour into our container.

  All the children in the street used to play together on the road as there were very few cars around. Hopscotch, riding bikes... Continue reading

• A Hundred Years in Carlton Street by Pat Griffiths

  by alex, about 7 years ago
  A hundred and three years ago in 1914, newly weds Philip Griffiths and Ethelinda Archbald settled into their home in Arthur Street New Town. There they brought up their family of five children.
  
  The house had a drive made of old cobbles which led to stables built over one of the entrances to a coal mine. Coal was found in the area from Mount Stuart to Giblin Street. They closed in the late 1800's due to poor quality and flooding.
  
  Highlights of the 1920's were the name change to Carlton Street Lenah Valley in 1921 and... Continue reading

• Valley by Diane Briggs (McFarlane)

  by alex, about 7 years ago

  I love this valley.

  'You who have not loved her, you will not understand' - apologies to Dorothea MacKeller for using the words of her wonderful poem but they apply so aptly to my feelings about this place.

  Tucked away so securely under the protective gaze of the mountain, this valley is special for me.

  A suburb of the Capital City, nestling adjacent to the Wellington Park reserve, it has the best of both worlds – city conveniences and bush retreat.

  Silver clear waters flow down the side of the mountain, rippling over pebbles and boulders, through the bush and... Continue reading

• Tall Poppy by Diane Briggs (McFarlane)

  by alex, about 7 years ago

  In the 1940's and 50's the double decker trams used to travel as far as Giblin Street. They were wonderful!
  
  

  Tall Poppy

  Proudly commandeering

  the middle of the road

  she endeavours
  

  to stay on track

  venturing on her

  rattling stop start journey

  to and from the city

  holding up traffic

  swallowing and disgorging

  ticketed strap-hanging passengers

  conducted by an orchestration

  of overhead bell-pull instructions

  sending her once more on her way

  swaying to the ch-chink ch-chink ch-chink

  metallic rhythm of wheels

  conveying her double deckered splendor

  towards the next stop

  and the net stop and the next stop
  

  and finally

  ... Continue reading

• Lenah Valley Lament by Diane Briggs (McFarlane)

  by alex, about 7 years ago

  I have lived in my current house in Girrabong Road for 34 years and the wallabies have never been a problem until the last three years. What has changed?

  
  

  Lenah Valley Lament
  
  

  I've done my bit

  all Summer through

  and fed the wallabies

  and the kangaroo

  with luscious lettuces

  and succulent silverbeet

  and Black Russian kale

  which they really love to eat.

  Now I'm kept awake all night

  with the thumping of their feet

  as they hop along the path

  to access my back garden

  where they munch away at will

  with never a 'beg pardon'.

  I'm really getting sick... Continue reading

• Lenah Valley Butchery by Diane Briggs (McFarlane)

  by alex, about 7 years ago

  Mr Willey lived in Courtney Street too and was the local butcher. Campbells had the grocers which is now Salamanca Fresh, and O'Neals had the grocers shop which is now the florist. Mr Forster was the newsagent.
  
  

  Lenah Valley Butchery
  
  

  I feel the sawdust still.

  Scuffed toes of school shoes

  poking patterns,

  creating childhood castles in the air,

  waiting for Mr. Willey

  to wrap the weekly order,

  written on the back of an envelope

  in my Mother's hand,

  bold and beautiful,

  as she was then

  when she was young

  and I was young,

  and brains and tripe

  were on the... Continue reading

• Planted in Common Ground by Diane Briggs (McFarlane)

  by alex, about 7 years ago

  I grew up in Courtney Street in the 1940's and 50's and have wonderful memories of that time. I wrote this poem one day after sitting at the Ampol service station looking across at the japonica behind the doctors surgery and realising that I had known it for 70 years.
  
  

  Planted in Common Ground
  
  

  I know you so well Japonica

  You have been
  

  growing there my whole life;

  weaving your branches

  through that wire fence;

  poking your thorny blooms
  

  out on to the footpath

  catching on
  

  my childhood cardigans;

  flowering through
  

  my blossoming
  

  into adulthood;

  overgrown
  

  and neglected

  through my... Continue reading

• Anacanthe Park Lenah Valley and surrounds by Attila Borzak

  by Attila Borzak , about 7 years ago

  I was born in 1966 and grew up as a child in Lenah Valley, lived on Brushy Creek road.

  you can see Ancanthe park from Dads house which as a kid in early 1970s could see the whole park and Lady Franklin museum now the trees are huge of course.

  I remember the local council put down a brown coloured tar surface in the park for the first time in early 70s so me and my friends had to test it out with our skate boards of course and we were impressed.

  also remember many trees been planted in Ancanthe... Continue reading