Travel up through the bustle of migrant cafes, markets and gentrification along Sydney Road, and you’ll reach my suburb.
asserted
you → travel → suburb
It begins where you leave the inner north, and start seeing car dealerships and industrial backdrops.
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you → begin → dealerships
Here, where the roads really open up after the sandwiched streets of Brunswick, Coburg and Coburg North, you’ll find Fawkner.
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you → open → Fawkner
The blocks of land are bigger and there’s more peace and quiet.
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blocks → ’ → land
This is one of the big reasons I returned home.
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I → return → reasons
I had always lived a stone’s throw from the biggest cemetery in Melbourne, Fawkner Memorial Park, so I thought it was normal.
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it → live → Melbourne
I must admit, I couldn’t wait to get out of my suburb two decades ago.
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I → admit → suburb
But it wasn’t for the reason people might think.
uncertain
people → think → reason
Today, having returned to my family home, not only do I realise there’s a lot I didn’t know about Fawkner, but I now see that it was a little strange, having a childhood where death was a backdrop.
I abandoned Fawkner for what I thought was my freedom.
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I → return → Fawkner
At 22, I married and moved to the CBD.
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I → marry → CBD
Today, I don’t know how I lived there.
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I → know → ?
Two decades later I’m back in Fawkner, no longer married, rehabilitating and reconnecting with family and a part of myself I thought I’d left behind.
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I → ’m → myself
But it’s been lovely, rediscovering who I was within Fawkner and what Fawkner has become now.
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Fawkner → rediscover → Fawkner
Fawkner sits along Sydney Road after Coburg North, between the Western Ring Road, Merri Creek, and the Upfield train line and bike path.
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Fawkner → sit → Road
If you are a bike rider like me, it’s a great ride from the city, except one section along the cemetery that is a bit secluded.
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that → ’ → cemetery
I prefer not to ride it alone.
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I → prefer → it
I think of poor Mersina Halvagis every time, murdered in the cemetery visiting her grandmother when I was just a teenager.
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I → think → grandmother
There was a time when everything north of Coburg was considered rural and Fawkner.
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everything → be → Coburg
Then in the ’40s and ’50s, Glenroy and Hadfield were created on the other side of Sydney Road.
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Glenroy → create → Road
Fawkner Memorial Park, established in 1906, is now in Hadfield.
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Park → establish → Hadfield
But the gorgeous trees that line Sydney Road along the outer fence of the cemetery – and which blossom spectacularly in white come springtime – they belong to us.
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they → line → us
Fawkner has changed.
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Fawkner → change → ?
When I grew up here it was mostly southern European families like mine.
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it → grow → mine
There were also some elderly Europeans like my nanna, an older Polish grandmother who would sometimes babysit us.
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who → be → us
That generation has passed and newer migrant communities and their families have taken their place.
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communities → pass → place
As Brunswick and Coburg have become less affordable, those seeking the lifestyle of the north are choosing Fawkner, not only for its proximity to those suburbs where there is more to do, but for the easy access via the Tullamarine Freeway to Melbourne Airport (20 minutes) and the CBD (25 minutes).
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those → become → Airport
Fawkner now hosts a large Middle Eastern community, which established the Darul Ulum College and Fawkner Mosque.
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which → host → College
Some things remain the same.
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things → remain → ?
My local church, St Nektarios, and its hall where I was a student at the Saturday Greek school, sit opposite the cemetery.
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I → sit → cemetery
The church remains a religious hub for many Greeks in Melbourne’s north and draws a heavy crowd for Greek Easter celebrations that each year spill out onto Major Road for midnight Mass.
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that → remain → Road
Hundreds of candles light up the dark as the air is filled with chanting and song.
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air → light → chanting
St Nektarios was established in 1975 after many post-World War II southern European immigrants moved into Melbourne’s northern industrial suburbs and is a proud example of a community pulling together to establish themselves.
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immigrants → establish → themselves
From when I was a young girl, I remember families helping to paint the inside in a stunning Byzantine style right up into the dome.
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families → remember → dome
Architecturally, the heritage-listed building is recognised for its structural innovation, re-inventing classic Byzantine forms using modern, pre-cast concrete panels.
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building → list → panels
It’s been nice returning to Fawkner Leisure Centre, which has undergone big refurbishments, as have the surrounding facilities.
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facilities → return → refurbishments
There is now a yearly Fawkner fiesta, which I can see one day being much bigger and better – I hope the council considers investing more in it.
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council → be → it
At the southern side of Fawkner, the Charles Mutton Reserve sporting hub has been transformed.
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hub → transform → Fawkner
The 15-hectare site where I would have my athletics day with my primary school, St Matthew’s, now hosts Fawkner Netball Club with eight competition-grade netball courts.
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I → have → courts
It’s a short ride from here to the Merri Creek Trail bike path that will take you to Coburg Lake.
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that → ’ → Lake
A favourite place to visit is Alitalia Florist, run by Teresa, who has been there for 40 years.
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who → visit → years
…and 19 more, not listed.
The Aporia
