OLD NORTHERN ROAD
By Christine Stockman
When considering a ‘My Street’ story, I wondered what I could write of my little road in Galston? So here are my ideas and recollections of living near Old Northern Road in Dural, where I grew up.
Old Northern Road has a rich history and is the main road between many places. It is now very busy, but back in the early 1950s, when my parents moved in, it was much quieter, especially in the middle of the Monday to Friday weekdays.
You see, most were market gardeners here, so they left early and returned home each evening. Some days people played cricket on the road in the midday period. Can you imagine that?
When my brother and I were in primary school at Dural Public, we walked, of course, and Mum could watch us all the way there. Also, as young children, we often, in the summertime, sold China Pears on the roadside.
They were 6 pence each, and we loved talking to our customers and receiving the money. Dad also had plant stalls out front, especially at Clivia time, in September and October. I’ve run plant stalls there also and found them successful.
We had a rather funny incident (well, funny, when now remembered) in the early 1960s.
We then owned a pet kangaroo named Mickey. She had grown over the 3 years we had her and jumped over her 6-foot high fence one Sunday. We had to run after her up the road to retrieve her. The chase was so exciting for my brother and I.
We did finally catch her and bring her home. We decided it was then time for Mickey to rehome to Garth Moreland’s Kangaroo Park in New Line Road.
Over the years, we did have a few accidents out front. One car hit our north corner fence and took it out. The driver was not seriously hurt, and our wire fence was later rebuilt. The cement fence a few houses north had a much worse accident into it. That driver was taken by ambulance to the hospital.
In 1987, Council bought the front strip of our land, for road widening, one day. It was 2005 that work finally started, and our fenceline was moved back. We, therefore, had the benefit of the extra land, without owning it, for nearly 20 years. Nowadays, especially since Cold, we have so many people walking the path, and we often receive lovely comments about the big trees out front and our colourful and neat garden.
So, would I like to live there permanently again? To this, I say “Yes”, because of the garden, but “No” because Old Northern Road is ‘way too busy.’
If you would like to share your street story please email me, [email protected]
