Local history told through song
An area of inner-Sydney possessing a rich tapestry of history is now the subject of a commissioned work that will bring it to life once more.
The Millers Point Song Book is from the pen of Joanna Weinberg, a multi-award-winning composer/lyricist who also performs and teaches singing.
Consisting of 24 original songs, the work covers a huge span of our history and focusses on the characters and the area since the time of early settlement through to the recent campaigns to save the Sirius building.
“I have been working with the local group, Choir Rocks, for 12 years now, and a local resident, Anne Warr, who is a heritage architect, approached me,” Joanna Weinberg, show creator said.
“She said she had some money from a heritage grant and would I like to write a musical?”
Millers Point is an area of Sydney that covers the western side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and is adjacent to The Rocks,
Originally occupied by local Aboriginal tribes of the Gadigal people, the area was first settled by early colonisers in the 1830s when a Catholic church and school house was built in the area.
Along with The Rocks, the area was quickly overtaken by convicts, seafarers and others from the lower echelons of society, though Millers Point retained some separation with the building of the Sydney Observatory, the first Fort Street School and pubs such as the Lord Nelson, the Fortune of war, the Hero of Waterloo and the Captain Cook, all of which still exist today.
The building of the Sydney wharves from the late1800s meant that Millers Point and The Rocks became the homes of many wharf labourers and a working class enclave was formed.
In 1900, both areas were consumed by the first wave of bubonic plague that continued until 1925.
At the time, the press and politicians were calling for the area to be razed and there was spin in the press saying that it was a disgusting area and that the plague was happening because it was so dirty, when in fact it was a class issue,” Weinberg said.
“We have a song about the rats.”
Then came the issue of the location for the proposed Sydney Harbour Bridge and further calls for the area’s erasure.
“After that all the wharfs were moved away when container ships came in,” Weinberg said.
In the early seventies, plans to create high-density housing in the area resulted in the creation of green bans being imposed by the Builder’s Labourers Federation.
The final blow to the working class came in recent years when both sides of government were determined to move out social housing residents, which culminated in the campaign to save the Sirius building.
“A lot of the residents got behind the Sirius campaign and although there are now a lot of wealthy people living here they are keen to preserve the heritage of the area,” Weinberg said.
Today only around 40 social housing residents remain in the area.
The Millers Point Song Book will be sung by Rob Johnson, Megan Walshe, Eliane Morel and Annarose de Jong and supported by musicians Paul Miskin on drums, Jeremy Cook on percussion and Michelle Goldman on piano, with the local Choir Rocks providing backing vocals.
The show also contains two songs by local composer Susan Hunt and costumes by Gavin Barbey.
“During the time that I have been running the choir here it has changed hugely.” Weinberg said.
“We had social housing people who joined the choir but they have all gone.”
This fascinating look at our inner-city history will run over five nights at the Garrison Church in Millers Point in late May.
