Embedded Files
Place and cultural change
Place and cultural change
This section introduces students to how the cultural identity of Marrickville has changed over time, the varying influences on the cultural identity of Marrickville and the mediums facilitating cultural change. This section aligns to the following syllabus content:
ONE place at a local or national scale, including
influences on the cultural identity of the place
mediums facilitating cultural change (movement of people)
Time allocation - approx. 180 minutes
Learning intentions
Learning intentions
We are learning to:
describe place and cultural change in Marrickville.
identify the movement of people (migration) as an influence on the cultural identity of Marrickville and a medium of cultural change.
use data to inform geographical inquiry in the field.
Success criteria
Success criteria
I can:
use visual representations to show how Marrickville has changed over time.
identify multiculturalism through immigration as an influence on the cultural identity of Marrickville.
identify gentrification as a medium of cultural change in Marrickville.
use data to describe the demographic processes of immigration and gentrification.
make fieldwork predictions on the influence of migration on culture and place.
Influences on the culture of place
Influences on the culture of place
The culture of a place is a result of how an area has been changed over time by a combination of on-going natural forces and human activities. It is the continuing interplay between political, physical, economic, social and technological forces that occur over time.
In our study site, the culture of place has been significantly influenced by the movement of people over time, predominantly through the demographic processes of immigration and gentrification. In our fieldwork investigation, we will be investigating how immigration has influenced the cultural identity of Marrickville and how gentrification functions as a medium causing cultural change today.
"Beef Pho" by powerplantop. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
How has Marrickville changed over time?
How has Marrickville changed over time?
Source 5 - Archival photos of Marrickville
Activity 1 - Timeline of change
Activity 1 - Timeline of change
In this fieldwork investigation, we will be primarily focusing on contemporary place and cultural change.
Student tasks
Read the selected excerpts fom 'Marrickville - a suburb history' (Source 4) and view the photo carousel (Source 5) to gain an understanding of the contemporary cultural history of Marrickville.
Construct a timeline of key contemporary place and cultural changes that have occurred in Marrickville.
Identify and annotate examples of migration on your timeline. Consider migration both in and out Marrickville.
Interpret your timeline and list other processes which have influenced place and cultural change. For example, political, physical, economic, social and technological processes.
Extension activity - Sculpture scouting
Extension activity - Sculpture scouting
As you walk throughout Marrickville, you might notice some eccentric steel characters watching you from the rooftops. Created by artist Ces Camilleri, the sculptures were commissioned by the then City of Marrickville as a novelty tourist attraction coinciding with the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. Today, the steel tableaux serve as a time capsule of Marrickville from the late 1990s.
Student tasks
Open Google Maps in a new tab and locate Marrickville Road between Livingstone Road and Victoria Road. Use street view to locate Ces Camilleri's steel sculptures.
Compare the steel tableaux to the current uses of the buildings they are installed on. Identify any changes in use and suggest any factors driving these changes.
How has the movement of people influenced the culture of Marrickville?
How has the movement of people influenced the culture of Marrickville?
Immigration & multiculturalism in Marrickville
Immigration & multiculturalism in Marrickville
Multiculturalism through international migration (immigration) has significantly influenced the cultural identity of Marrickville. Marrickville has a long tradition of receiving immigrants. With new immigrants likely to settle near older immigrants who shared the migration experience a generation earlier, the population of Marrickville is characterised by its significant Greek and Vietnamese communities.
Greek immigration history
Greek immigration history
Following World Word II, mass chain migration from Europe into Australia quickly transformed Marrickville into a multicultural suburb. The availability of factory work and cheap housing in Marrickville attracted an influx of immigrants - most of which were non-English speaking. By the late 1960s, it was Greek-born migrants who had formed the largest postwar community in Marrickville. Around this time, Marrickville had become home to approximately one-third of Sydney's Greek population and was known as 'Athens of the West'.
Vietnamese immigration history
Vietnamese immigration history
In the 1980s, over 80,000 Vietnamese people moved to Australia following the Vietnam War, many as refugees. Driven by the desire to rebuild a sense of community as well as experiences of social exclusion and racism, Vietnamese migrants settled throughout Sydney in relatively concentrated clusters. Marrickville became one of three large residential areas of Vietnamese communities in Sydney.
Source 7 - Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing, 2021 (Usual residence data). Compiled and presented in profile.id by .id (informed decisions).
Activity 2 - Immigration patterns
Activity 2 - Immigration patterns
Student tasks
Examine the demographic data for overseas arrivals.
Describe trends in immigration in Marrickville from 1961 to 2021.
Source 8 - Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing, 2021 (Usual residence data). Compiled and presented in profile.id by .id (informed decisions).
Activity 3 - Ethnic and cultural characteristics
Activity 3 - Ethnic and cultural characteristics
Student tasks
Examine the demographic data for birthplace, ancestry and language used at home (Source 8). Answer the questions below for each graph.
Describe the ethnic and cultural characteristics of Marrickville's population in 2021.
Compare the data for Marrickville with the Inner West Council area. Justify how the ethnic identity of Marrickville is unique in this local government area.
Source 9 - Greek influences on culture can be seen through street art.
Activity 4 - What do multicultural places look, sound and feel like?
Activity 4 - What do multicultural places look, sound and feel like?
Fieldwork predictions
Fieldwork predictions
During your fieldwork, you will examine how Greek and Vietnamese immigration have influenced the cultural identity of Marrickville.
Student task
Create a mindmap of ways that Greek and Vietnamese heritage may be observed in the culture of a place. Refer to specific cultural characteristics (e.g. streetscape, architecture, colour, noise, street life, lifestyles, energy, vitality, etc).
Gentrification in Marrickville
Gentrification in Marrickville
Since the early-2000s, gentrification has been the predominant medium facilitating cultural change in Marrickville. Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a 'poor' often inner-city urban area is changed by wealthier people moving in, improving housing, and attracting new businesses, often displacing current inhabitants in the process.
In the late 1990s, Sydney saw a rapid increase in housing and rental prices. Marrickville’s large empty warehouses, a product of deindustrialisation that occurred in the late 1970s, became an attractive housing alternative – particularly for young artists and musicians (Source 29).
The eclectic warehouses and their bohemian inhabitants, together with an already 'melting pot' of cultures, fast became a selling point for Marrickville in the property market (Source 29). Since the mid-2000s, Marrickville has seen a rapid influx of young professionals moving to the area, attracted to its 'alternative' and 'hipster' lifestyle.
The increase in now higher-income residents in Marrickville has led to physical transformations of the neighbourhood through the purchasing and renovation of existing properties, rising property prices (Source 10), and the displacement of long-term residents and small businesses.
Data from the Australian Urban Observatory indicates that Marrickville is an area with mixed of high incomes and increasing housing costs, ranking as "at risk of being exclusive" on the PINCH gentrification index.
Source 10 - How gentrififed is your postcode | The Guardian
Source 10 - How gentrififed is your postcode | The Guardian
Source 12 - Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing, 2006 and 2021 (Usual residence data). Compiled and presented in profile.id by .id (informed decisions).
Activity 5 - Changing demographics
Activity 5 - Changing demographics
"The clearest indicator of gentrification in demographic profiling is to use household income. It’s important to use quartiles because it adjusts for the effects of inflation and lets you see real world change relative to the metropolitan average, rather than nominal changes in dollar values. Other good indications of a gentrified area are large increases in professional occupations, people with degree level qualifications, and in some cases, relative decreases in number of people from a non-English speaking background."
Source 11 - 'How to identify a gentrifying area' - iD blog (webpage)Student tasks
Examine the demographic data (graphs) in Source 12 showing changes in percentage of occupation types and household and individual income quartiles from 2006 to 2021.
Describe trends and patterns in the data by summarising how the occupations and income of Marrickville's working population have changed over 15 years.
Activity 6 - What does gentrification look, sound and feel like?
Activity 6 - What does gentrification look, sound and feel like?
Research shows that gentrification can be detected through both demographic changes (as examined in Activity 5) and physical changes of place (Source 40).
Fieldwork predictions
Fieldwork predictions
During your fieldwork, you will examine how gentrification is contributing to cultural change in Marrickville.
Student tasks
Interpret the comic (Source 13) and infer how gentrification changes the culture of a place.
Access and read 'Two signs of gentrification and where to look' (Source 14).
Use the information to create a mind map brainstorming ways that gentrification can be observed in the culture of a place. In your mind map, refer to specific cultural characteristics (e.g. streetscape, architecture, colour, noise, street life, lifestyles, energy, vitality, etc).
Urban renewal
Urban renewal
The process of gentrification in Marrickville has been accompanied and accelerated by government-led urban renewal in the area. Urban renewal refers to refurbishment and revival of derelict buildings, streets or neighbourhoods.
Following the de-industrialisation of Marrickville in the 1970s, unoccupied and decayed industrial spaces provided opportunities for redevelopment. From 2011 to 2019, approximately half of Marrickville’s industrial spaces have been redeveloped. These developments have been led by both local and state government.
With population forecasts predicting an extra 40,000 people living in Sydney's Inner West by 2036, urban renewal projects have predominantly focused on mitigating housing challenges through the development of medium and high density apartments.
Activity 7 - Marrickville Hospital urban renewal project
Activity 7 - Marrickville Hospital urban renewal project
An example of government-led urban renewal in Marrickville is the reuse of the old Marrickville Hospital site which closed in 1990. The site was purchased by then Marrickville Council with the intention of renewing the site into a local library, however the site remained undeveloped for almost 20 years due to lack of funds. In 2015, the property development company Mirvac agreed to fund the project in exchange for the development of two apartment towers consisting of 225 new apartments. Construction was completed in 2019 and cost $40 million. After the name ‘Mirvacville’ was rejected by locals, the company called the private development ‘Marrick and Co.’
Student tasks
View the YouTube videos detailing the urban renewal development at the old Marrickville Hospital site.
Construct a T-chart comparing the original land use and building type with the current land uses and building types.
Complete a SWOT analysis of how developments such as this can affect the character of Marrickville.
Page updated
Report abuse