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| Yesteryear |
In the beginning...
You'd barely recognise Eveleigh when you look at the historical photograph's scattered around the former workshops that maintained and then built NSW growing fleet of steam trains in the late 19th century.
Today the site houses some major corporations (Commonwealth Bank, Mirvac and the 7 Network) is also houses the CSIRO Data 61 (Data Science and Engineering Division) as well as many technology based companies. But prior to all this, it was seen as one of the world's best engineering workshops.
Construction on the workshops started in the early 1880's, on a site that was approximately 60 acres bounded by Newtown, Alexandria, Redfern and Chippendale. The main purposes of this site was to service and repair of existing locomotives but also manufacturing of rolling stock, such as carriages and wagons.
In 1908 the site began to produce steam locomotives and by this time more than 3,000 workers were employed by the workshops, it was the main centre for railway services in the state. By the 1930's many services were expanded (or relocated) to Chullora and Clyde depots. Modernisation of the fleets to electric trains meant the site became obsolete and attempts to upgrade were futile. The site's purpose gradually declined and it's operations ceased in 1988.
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| Train ride in history |
Flash forward to 1995. The site, under the the creative guidance of the NSW Government and local Sydney Universities is transformed into the Australian Technology Park, a hub for technology and scientific research and development. The focus being on educational opportunity integrated with both private and public companies to improve and strengthen Australia's global tech presence.
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| Retaining the past |
In 2015 the site was acquired by Mirvac (a multi-billion property investment and development company). Development of the area continues today and the site offers commercial, housing, recreational and hospitality opportunities. The site retains many old buildings as a nod to it's humble but important beginnings and holds heritage status due to importance to Australia's engineering past.
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| Tree houses are a favourite of kids (both big and small) |
History and culture are important to how we move forward but what we learn from the past is just important. With this in mind, the reason for my latest blog comes from my visit to the rooftop garden situated on top of Yerrabingin House, home to Mirvac in South Eveleigh.
In a garden, high above a rooftop.....
Yerrabingin was founded in 2018 by Christopher Hampson and Clarence Stockee, both Aboriginal descendants who are passionate about their people, celebrating and sharing their culture through various educational opportunities. Together, with the garden acting as a conduit, they have developed a space that not only delivers landscape design principles but programs that are accessible to both the public and private sectors.
Both men have an extensive background in Environmental and Cultural Heritage Management as practitioners and educators. Their idea to disrupt the 'norm' when it came to Aboriginal disadvantage and apply the practices of generations of indigenous people in modern landscape design principles and collaborations.
The rooftop garden was the first project launched by Yerrabingin, after more than a year's collaboration with Mirvac and various community stakeholders. The result is a world-first indigenous rooftop farm that is set up to offer more opportunities for their people to use or learn about their specific skills as well as using the space to promote environmentalism, education and entertainment opportunities.
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| Multi million Dollar Views |
The garden, although small in size, is quite inviting with it's crushed granite path. The garden beds are packed with many natives species, some that generally don't get much of a chance in modern design. Like many of Australia's vegetation communities, the rooftop garden is made up predominately low shrubs and ground covers but this is also dictated by the aspect.
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| Meet the Locals - a mix of Native Shrubs & Groundcovers |
In it's short history the garden has grown over 2,000 edible, medicinal or culturally significant plants. The elevation of the site and the garden beds themselves have lent to somewhat of a trial and error planting - somethings worked that weren't expect to and vice versa. The result is productive garden with culturally significant plants that are supplied to local restaurants and cafes and in turn have encouraged the use of "bush foods" both locally and internationally.
The garden space also lends itself to social and team building events as well as food and drink making courses, all designed to explore the use of lesser know ingredients, that have had much history with Indigenous Australians, but are now becoming more significant to modern communities.
Recently Yerrabingin was awarded the Delicious Outstanding Native Producer by Australia's top chefs and the Australian Institute of Horticulture because of their innovative design and contribution to educational opportunities.
Aussie As Ingredients
The popularity of native ingredients has been driven by enterprises such as Yerrabingin and the need for local flavors to set us apart on the world stage. Australia's Indigenous ancestors have know about the benefits of these plants for many generations and it is the need for this information to be passed on that has allowed the broader community to be able to enjoy these ingredients in more recent years.
Once confined to high end restaurants and hard to access food wholesalers, many native ingredients are finding their way into our supermarkets or being added to our favourite dishes and beverages. Many of us know about plants such as the Macadamia Nut or the heavenly Lemon Myrtle but some of the lesser know things you once wouldn't have know about/be able to find are gaining popularity.
Did you know about such ingredients as Wattle seeds? with their somewhere between coffee and chocolate flavour can be easily added to your next baking adventure. How about the crunchy texture and savoury flavour of Salt Bush? it's leaves that can easily be introduced to your next salad. Or even the Mountain Pepper? that can add a native zing to your next pepper squid.
You can find so much info on native bush foods online, from what plants to grow (and where to buy them - local council nurseries are a great place to start), where to buy processed ingredients and delicious recipes (I have found SBS Food a great source of ideas). If you have the time and can grow or source the ingredients, I suggest giving them a go. It will open a world of new flavours and at the very least a great reason to try something new, (native) variety is the spice of life!
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| Tasmannia lanceolata - Mountain Pepper |
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| Tetragonia tertagonoides - Warrigal Greens |
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| Wattle Seeds - whole and ground |
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| Atriplex nummularia - Old Man Saltbush |
Since I began this blog the world has changed a bit to say the least. The globe has been partially shut down for weeks now and we are all adjusting to a new "normal". I think we can take a lot from the ideas organisations like Yerrabingin and people like Clarence and Christian are promoting - that getting back to basics, having more of a community based outlook will help better sustain our future.
There hasn't been a better time to get into the garden, be you an amateur or expert gardener and try something with a bit more local flavour. Utilise plants and ingredients that are more suited to our conditions and looking to our own backyards before venturing too far. We all complain that we are too time poor but things like pandemics can be a blessing in disguise - time to reset and identify things that matter more and that we can work differently to help us move forward.
