Sir Nicholas Shehadie is a former Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney who grew up in a Lebanese family in Redfern. In his interview he remembers his childhood and many aspects of inner-city life including social life, sport, Orthodox and Maronite churches, and local characters and businesses. In the excerpt below he recalls an experience of the Great Depression in Redfern.
What I remember about the Depression, we shared food. We had two bakeries in Redfern. There was Jones’ Bakery in Walker Street and there was Lovelies [?] in Morehead Street and we as young kids used to help distribute the bread down at the paddock to the people who’d line up. And that’s what I remember mainly about the Depression, handing out bread from the back of a cart free to some other people.
What’s the “paddock”?
Well, it was just a vacant allotment just down the road, down on the other side of Redfern Street in Walker Street. Halfway down the hill there was an open block there and they used to assemble down there.
