N G Malla
The red roofs of Bulanaming

acrylic on board
60 x 90cm

This is the scene from Tempe High School gates, looking across to Marrickville with its apartments, occasional church steeple and crane on the horizon. I read in this landscape the layers of recent history – Federation bungalows step down the hill towards a few remaining colonial sandstone cottages, before the rail line slices through the valley, screened by the green ribbon which pushes through to the Cooks River. On the other side, the endangered factories of Carrington Rd with their sawtoothed roofs, now producing more art than heavy industry, before Victorian and early 20 th century cottages shift to 1960s flats and the odd Grecian mansion marching up the hill. Just head down Illawarra Rd from Athena’s and you’re back to the river, where you can still lose sight of all of this, find solitude and deep time with the mangroves. As we ready ourselves for the next wave of residential development, what can we learn, save, celebrate from the past?