| Larry Schwartz |
| IN THE semi-autobiographical `My Brother Jack’, George Johnston has his protagonist muse from the rooftop at the sight of a plain of dull red rooftops, rectangles of lawn, ribbons of asphalt and cement. He counts nine cars being washed and polished. Hedges are clipped, lawns trimmed, beds weeded and the lobelia and mignonette tidy in their borders, “no matter what desolation or anxiety was in their hearts, or what spiritless endeavors or connubial treacheries were practised behind the blind neat concealment of their thin red-brick walls”. In this memorable indictment of suburbia, Johnston has Meredith compare an obsession with cars and gardens in the “respectable” suburbs to a “fetish” with keeping doorknobs polished in the slums. These days the slums of Johnston’s era are an often gentrified inner urbia; the outer suburbs way beyond East Brighton, where the author and his first wife lived, have thinner brick veneer walls. Whether portrayed by Graham Greene as a “sinless, empty, graceless, chromium world” or Cyrill Connolly as “the incubator of apathy and delirium”, suburbia has long been targeted by the scribes. Its image softened by the likes of `Neighbours’ or Spielberg’s `ET’ and `Close Encounters of the Third Kind’, according to a recent article in the London `Independent’, for women “the suburban dream has become a nightmare of isolation”. A study co-authored by Dr Kevin O’Connor, of Monash University’s department of geography and environmental science, found newcomers to Melbourne’s outer suburbs encountered problems related to lack of services, employment opportunities and unexpected costs. However, reports on outer suburban Melbourne from the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) and an imminent study from the Brotherhood of St Laurence suggest the experience here is less bleak. The spread of suburbia continues apace, in some shires two to three times greater than elsewhere in Victoria, according to the Monash University report that talks of people “forced beyond the fringe to achieve their dream”. Among those edging outwards are those who can no longer afford rents closer to the city. But a big proportion are young families attracted by larger, newer houses than they might otherwise afford. A study by the Brotherhood of St Laurence, due out in the next few months, compares inner suburban Melbourne with the outer experience. Senior research officer, Tim Gilley, says interviews with 146 mothers of young children in Cranbourne and Melton Shires, the Bellarine Peninsula as well as Ballarat, revealed that mothers were generally happy with the areas as places to bring up young children. The women in the discussions valued the fresh air, the quality of housing. They were happy with services, with the major exception of public transport. Most disadvantaged were low income families which did not have two cars. Where the man took the only car, the women were stranded. THE WOMEN who took part in the Brotherhood of St Laurence study cited as a disadvantage the cost of keeping in touch with family when charged an STD rate for telephone calls from outlying areas such as Merinda Park, Cranbourne. Many of the women were concerned also at the lack of after-hour medical, chemist and other services. The more outlying complained about the length of time it took emergency services, such as police and ambulances, to respond to calls. However, Mr Gilley says they were mostly impressed at the friendliness of neighbors, the feeling of safety and picturesque scenery. In one part of Cranbourne several lamented that the larger it became, the less friendly it was and some wanted to move further out. A common theme for home-buyers among the women was “value for money” in housing compared to Melbourne prices. Their houses were often new and in good condition with three or four bedrooms and large back yards. Though they indicated the four areas were good places to bring up young children, Mr Gilley says there was a general concern at a lack of facilities for teenagers. “Cranbourne is a nice place to live with young kids but the future of our kids is uncertain,” one of the women said. `Beyond the Fringe’, a 1993 report by Kevin O’Connor and John Jackson, of Monash, tags 14 shires “the fringe”. These include Cranbourne and Pakenham to the east; Broadford and Yea to the north; Gisborne and Romsey the west. The report notes that with improvements to highways, it can now take 50 minutes to drive 65 kilometres from Romsey to the CBD; just 40 minutes the 55 kilometres down the Hume Highway from Broadford to the Ford factory at Broadmeadows. Cars and dual-carriage highways such as the Calder and South Gippsland offset the disadvantage of distance from family, old friends and work. The Brotherhood of St Laurence report tallies with the image that came out of an Australian Institute of Family Studies paper published last year which found the level of neighborliness much higher in outer suburban Berwick and middle suburban Box Hill than inner Melbourne. Families in Berwick and Box Hill were more likely than inner Melbourne to know a neighbor well enough to approach them with a request. “It is interesting to note,” researcher Helen Brownlee wrote in the August 1993 issue of the institute’s publication, `Family Matters’, “that around two-thirds of families in both Berwick and Box Hill, but only half the inner Melbourne families, felt that they knew a neighbor well enough to have a talk with if they were `feeling down’.” The Parkers. IT IS just a few years since Ian and Cheryl Parker, both 34, would wake to a lowing in the paddock where their collie Ruffin chased the cows. Now they’re more likely to hear the buzz of lawnmowers than a moo. With the help of relatives, the Parkers were building a pool and extension when we visited. They would have been in for a lot more work had they opted for a house such as the old one in East Bentleigh they rented after they were married. “We wanted a gleaming new home,” says Cheryl. In 1985 they followed two of Ian’s brothers to get value for money. Cheryl remembers the loneliness until she met mothers after daughter Rebecca, six, and later Ashleigh, three, started kindergarten. Since then she has found friends among other young mothers. A plumber, Ian Parker spends 35 minutes each way to work in Abbotsford. He says his family could not have managed without two cars. Rebecca attends the local state school, Ashleigh is at a kindergarten. Cheryl says she will enrol her daughters at private schools unless local secondary schooling improves. They rarely venture to the city. They went to a John Farnham concert recently, checked in at Rockman’s Regency for weekend away from the kids, take the children to see the Myer windows at Christmas. The Parkers and neighbors closed off the court in Endeavour Hills for a communal barbecue last Christmas. The adjacent court did the same. Cheryl jokes that with a new pool they’ll probably cop being hosts this year if its hot. The D’Costas. LEE and Patricia D’Costa bought a house in Keysborough after migrating from India eight years ago. They live opposite the Parkers with children Rochelle, six, and Reece, three. Before coming here, they had lived in Bombay and Bahrain. The D’Costas relish the undulating hills, space and views from the large relatively new home they moved into last June. “There is a very neighborly atmosphere out here,” says Patricia. Most facilities were close. There was even a centre with a creche for the kids while mothers attended craft and other classes. A computer systems analyst in Camberwell, Lee says they are probably closer to friends made here in the last nine months than those made in five to six years in Keysborough. He says it takes him half-an-hour to travel the 25 kilometres to work, a colleague living just 18 kilometres from the office in Mitcham 45 minutes. Lee jokes that the children are so close to the Parkers on the upper side of the court, they might as well install a flying fox between the two houses. The couple say not for a million dollars would they swap for relatively cramped inner suburbia. A neighbor has chooks and, with paddocks minutes away, the place has a semi-rural feel to the D’Costas. “I feel like an alien in the city,” says Patricia. “One of the country bumpkins. They know you come from the bush.” The McNeills. IN NARRE WARREN, carpenter Ian McNeill, 38, rises at 4.30am to drive his ute to the station in time to get the 5.19am train in time to reach work at Broadmeadows by 7am. A friend told us that with all the travel, they have nick-named him “Grumpy”. Across the way from his house, a sign said: “Secure your Block on Stage Four Now”. Way over yonder a mock Tudor. Across the road, cows were grazing in a paddock soon to be cleared for dwellings. The Scottish-born carpenter moved in six months ago with partner Annette and their infant son. He says the future of eight-month-old James was the main reason for the move. He had brought the three- bedroom brick veneer “to give him (James) a start in life”. Before that they had lived in a flat in Prahran. A new neighbor and long-time friend, Billy Millen, originally from Belfast, joked that the old Wild West stagecoach, Wells Fargo came through here twice a week. He believes the place needs a decent pub. He had been to one in the vicinity but the people there looked too much like the intergalactic aliens in the bar scene in `Star Wars’. It was hard getting used to the infrequency of buses, says Mr Millen, who drives Jane to the station to get a 7am train to work each weekday. “The only thing to say is it’s a wee bit far out”. “You can’t get much further out than this,” says Mr McNeill. “On a clear day, you can see Sydney Harbor Bridge from the kitchen window.” My wonderful life in the suburbs LIVING where I do has its disadvantages. “Binglebridge?!” inner urbanites say in a way that chips away at the sizeable chip already on the shoulder. There is a romance about the bush, even of squalid bohemia where you can at least pretend to be an artist. But say you come from Binglebridge and you detect in the glaze of inner eyes, the image of boring block upon boring block. Yobos wielding mowers. Dumb dogs. Fast kids. Loud cars. They look at you as though the earth is flat and Binglebridge’s residents teetering at the very edge of the abyss. Boring people leading tedious lives … I came to the outer suburbs with my own preconceptions. I thought there’d be a lack of ethnic diversity. Then found my neighbors include migrants from Russia, Poland, Italy, Greece, Hungary and the United States. There’s the occasional dinky-di there too, of course. We all get on well, like one big happy calamity. When we sat down to a traditional American thanksgiving dinner with the Califorians next door recently, the gratitude was partly for being in Binglebridge. At the bus stop each morning the blokes talk music, not John Farnham but the blues – the music of black suffering. Conversation veers from Albert to Freddie to B.B. and back again. At night, the sound you mistake for cats is likely to be the whine of a slide guitar. There are many ways of assessing the merits of the place you live. Go out in search of the nearest decent cappuccino. Measure the distance on your odometer – the fewer the kilometres the better placed you are. I use that test myself sometimes, all the way from distant Binglebridge into Lygon Street. Last weekend, however, I sat down with a few neighbors to deliberate on alternative measures. On a scrap of paper we drafted an admittedly skewed list: Cheaper housing. The obvious one. For the amount of money you’d pay closer to the city you are likely to get a newer house on a larger block and pay lower rates. This in an area of generally better air quality and, in some cases, country views. Shops are more accessible because it is often easier to find parking. A choice of good public schools. Also, because many “mid-line” fee structure private schools are located in the outer suburbs, there is a more affordable alternative to government schooling. Family unity is bolstered. Lower property prices increase the likelihood of different generations living in the same neighborhood. In outer suburbia you are likely to have equal access to the city and recreational facilities beyond the metropolitan area. You may be just an hour’s drive from the snow or the surf or the mountains. Dual-carriage highways and express trains make travel comparable to people who live in suburbs closer to the city. A cautionary note. In creating this list, we hoped to entice inner yuppies and boost property prices in Binglebridge. In my mind’s eye, I see myself, as the exodus intensifies and outer suburban house prices soar, packing to move closer to that coveted cappuccino. THE SUNDAY AGE, 08-May-1994 |
Larry Schwartz Writer 