Land battles: Hardy-Gallagher Park

 

Just south of the Brunswick border is a small tract of bushland, a bocce court, a railway station with no train line, a children’s playground. This enchanted pocket of parkland is the meeting place of a number of intertwining stories. It used to be part of the Inner Circle line. The station building is now a Neighbourhood House. The bocce court is a memorial to an adventurous Italian immigrant, but the park itself owes its existence to a struggle and confrontation between the community and short sighted interests.

Hardy-Gallagher Park is named for the two community activists who successfully coordinated community opposition to the construction of a factory on railway land, once the Inner Circle line stopped operating. At least one mistake did not lead to another.

 

This year, a few months before the State election which was held on 29 November, I happened to see a film with footage from the 1971 community campaign. In the background one can see very ordinary looking houses, cottages and the train line and signals. People walk over empty, uninteresting stretches of land. How wonderful for us now that they could imagine a park there! The election this year was won, I believe, on another land issue – citizens of Melbourne did not want their wonderful Royal Park destroyed by a highway project that would only lead to more cars and less public transport. Just the themes exemplified by this little park.

I am not sure where to find footage of the black bans and protests of 1971, however my internet research has only just begun. Already I have found out a lot about the Inner Circle line and the Outer Circle line and the organisations which keep the heritage of these public transport facilities alive. Inspiration for the many movements that have been active this year in the fight against the East West Link. Over the decades, the belief continues:  in public transport, public land and space for people to rest and meet in the midst of a dense city. Over the generations, activism continues.

Contact me with any information about the history of the Black Bans. Looking forward to hearing from you.