“Connections, Characters and Commerce’ – Smith Street Summer Hill #2

We are contemplating running this event again later on in the year if we have enough people interested. If you would like to register a desire to participate in this event later in the year please email events@ashfieldhistory.org.au with the subject ‘Smith Street Walk’, your name and preferred time/date.

A guided walk to flesh out the characters, places and events that contribute to our heritage of Smith Street, Summer Hill. This event is part of the Australian Heritage Festival for 2024.

The history beneath the surface of Smith Street is extraordinary. This walking tour will uncover the natural features of the landscape, which by the 1880s became the site for a late-Victorian building boom.  How did the new subdivisions respond to the landscape, and who were the first urban landowners and residents?  Was Summer Hill the domain of the fashionable well-to-do, or the labouring class, or both? Why? The shops, the halls, the churches and the meeting venues, the factories, the houses and the duplexes are still active and visible today, and yet the pressure for change remains strong. The story of Smith Street gives us a great insight into the complex nature of Summer Hill and Inner West society of today.

Meeting location at the park on the corner of Malthouse Way and Smith Street, Summer Hill.

Prior registration is essential and limited to a maximum of 15 people per event. (A waiting list will be compiled if registrations exceed our maximum limit).

Please bring a hat, a drink and good walking shoes.