Finding Buddha

Blacktown/Seven Hills/Toongabbie on Sunday, 28 February 2021

A hot Sunday that I could be spending at the beach, but instead I’m street name hunting in Western Sydney. I have come to that stage where I’m more or less ticking off streets to add to the long list of female names as this is now going to be a part of my exhibition in April. I left quite early to be able to be back by lunchtime for other things. I ended up spending the whole day in the Blacktown area.

I start with Jane Street which is near the railway line at the backside of Blacktown College. There are some industrial estates behind high fences, among them the ‘Mortuary Embalming & Funeral Services’. Someone is sitting in their car with a running engine for the air conditioning and playing with their phone or maybe reading. Another car arrives and parks. Why do I think a group of tough guys will get out of the car? It’s only a young couple. Maybe they live in the nearby flats. I can’t see any shops. I must be on the wrong side of the track.

Blacktown has a long list of female names and I follow them strategically, identifying on the map where the clusters of these streets are. It never takes me to the centre of Blacktown but leads me to find more names in Seven Hills. On the way, I encounter a Buddha painting in Robina Street, next to a discarded bathtub.

And suddenly I’m in Toongabbie because of Cornelia Road. That’s the name of a friend. This area features names from ancient Rome. The main shopping strip seems to be in Aurelia Street, near the train station. There are mainly Indian shops. In Claudia Road, unexpectedly in the middle of suburbia, is a small shopping centre in a country town style. There is an IGA store and a Pizzeria with lots of people sitting outside and having lunch. It has a nice feel to it. At the corner of Valda Street, a group of old people sit together on the front verandah. An elderly couple, dressed in black, just left from there. I imagine it to be a wake.

Charlotte's Way

Charlotte Street, Ashfield on Sunday 21 June 2020

Charlotte was my mother’s name. The street is guarded by a church at the Alt Street end. It’s now a Yoga and Meditation Centre. I can’t find out what religion it housed before. At the corner is a small convenience store, named Mona Supermarket or otherwise Janati Food Store. The two signs live peacefully together. Next door is a 60’s block of flats. Several young men are moving a fridge from a truck into the building, shouting instructions to each other in Arabic. Cupboards and boxes are already in the forecourt. Next door a woman sits on a low wall crouched over her phone. Opposite are art deco apartments named ‘Charlotte’s Way’. The occupants of a downstairs flat have gone on a bear hunt, so it says in childish writing in the window next to a teddy bear.

There are different types of trees in the street, bottle brush, palm trees and gum trees among them. The street curves to the right and there is the Rochester Private Hotel in an old mansion-style house with some bland bungalows added to the property. It offers single and twin shared serviced rooms. That type of hotel is usually for single people, mostly men. There are a few grander-looking houses in this area in Ashfield. Another one is the Pitt Wood Mansion further along. A new, stylish apartment building is next to it, named Pitt Wood Village in gold letters. On the other side is the Presbyterian Homes for Aged Persons in a grey concrete block, next to the St Vincent Primary School. It turns out that Pitt Wood is a retirement complex, also belonging to the Presbyterian Age Care. Gold or grey, two classes of retirement options. 

Charlotte Street ends at the Ashfield train station with shops and cafés in old buildings. On the facades, you can read their many incarnations over time. One was ‘The Island Supermarket’, the words painted underneath the ornamented rooftop with a sense of permanence. Another sign on the awning lower down identifies the same shop being something ‘Polski’. Judging from the window posters, it now seems to be a mobile phone shop. A hairdresser and a jewellery shop are open, visit by appointment only. Both have quite a few customers. Coffee shops are all closed. It’s a cosy little area, looking inviting in the sunshine, but not many people around.