The history of urban Australia is told more completely in the story of a
special place like Glebe than it can be in a general textbook. From the 18th
century to the 21st, Glebe's character has changed with the growth of Sydney and
the development of society.
Today's inner suburb - teeming with life, crowded with terraces, shops, pubs,
schools and churches - was once a country retreat for affluent families from the
young city nearby.
As gold rushes, depressions, wars, gentrification and globalisation left
their deep imprints, Glebe maintained a tough local identity, proclaimed by
football fans in the 20s and anti-demolition activists of recent times.
Max Solling combined a love of his subject with rigorous historical method,
to write engagingly about the people of Glebe, their political, religious and
domestic lives, and the striking class distinctions in one of Australia's best
loved suburbs. His broad perspective takes in Glebe's place in literature, in
the economy and planning of a city, and in the world as a whole.
Contents:
Introduction
1. Images of Inner Sydney
2. Lands of the Darug
3. A Retreat Just Out of Town
4. Village Labour and Life
5. The Rise of Suburbia
6. The Business of Building the Suburb
7. The Institutional Life of Glebe
8. Local Government and the Nature of Political Life
9. House, Neighbourhood and Kin
10. Popular Recreation and Organised Sport
11. War and a Long Depression
12. From "Social Blight" to Gentrification
Picture Sources
Index
