Blacktown/Seven Hills/Toongabbie on Sunday, 28 February 2021

A hot Sunday that I could be spending at the beach, but instead I’m street name hunting in Western Sydney. I have come to that stage where I’m more or less ticking off streets to add to the long list of female names as this is now going to be a part of my exhibition in April. I left quite early to be able to be back by lunchtime for other things. I ended up spending the whole day in the Blacktown area.

I start with Jane Street which is near the railway line at the backside of Blacktown College. There are some industrial estates behind high fences, among them the ‘Mortuary Embalming & Funeral Services’. Someone is sitting in their car with a running engine for the air conditioning and playing with their phone or maybe reading. Another car arrives and parks. Why do I think a group of tough guys will get out of the car? It’s only a young couple. Maybe they live in the nearby flats. I can’t see any shops. I must be on the wrong side of the track.

Blacktown has a long list of female names and I follow them strategically, identifying on the map where the clusters of these streets are. It never takes me to the centre of Blacktown but leads me to find more names in Seven Hills. On the way, I encounter a Buddha painting in Robina Street, next to a discarded bathtub.

And suddenly I’m in Toongabbie because of Cornelia Road. That’s the name of a friend. This area features names from ancient Rome. The main shopping strip seems to be in Aurelia Street, near the train station. There are mainly Indian shops. In Claudia Road, unexpectedly in the middle of suburbia, is a small shopping centre in a country town style. There is an IGA store and a Pizzeria with lots of people sitting outside and having lunch. It has a nice feel to it. At the corner of Valda Street, a group of old people sit together on the front verandah. An elderly couple, dressed in black, just left from there. I imagine it to be a wake.