THE NAKED CITY: HERE COMES A SYDNEY CHRISTMAS

Since the first white invaders celebrated a very English style Christmas in Sydney back in the late 1700s, some traditions have survived and some have disappeared altogether. Whilst there’s a certain commercial drive to preserve old favourites like Christmas cake and mince pies, multi-cultural Australia marks the festive season in many different ways. The old Anglo menu of the hot Christmas dinner is hanging in, but may well be on its last turkey legs.

The major supermarket chains still promote their own special Christmas puddings, the last thing you would have room for today after stuffing yourself with the usual chicken, duck, prawns and pavlova. Back in the 1950s it was common for many households to whip up their own Christmas ‘pud’, with sixpences and shillings secreted much to the joy of young children, provided they didn’t choke on the first bite.

These days no Australian supermarket would sell anything with a metallic surprise inside and some years ago the English chain Sainsbury’s marketed a £10 pudding with the sixpences attached separately.  It was an interesting move, removing them of any liability, but still creating a choking danger if the customer chose to hide them amongst the glace cherries and candied peel.

Speak to anybody of an age who remembers Christmas in Sydney in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s and they will often tell you that the city celebrated in a far more festive fashion. The big department stores of the time all went to great lengths to install their own ‘winter wonderlands’ and ‘Santa lands’. Foremost amongst them was the massive Anthony Hordern & Son’s store, on the corner of George and Goulburn streets.

Some readers might remember its gutted shell as an unsightly parking lot in the ’70s and then an enormous hole in the ground for twenty years prior to the construction of World Square. However in the immediate post war period it was the centre of the city’s yuletide universe with thousands of pounds spent annually on huge toyland style installations, Santa castles and children’s parties.

Whilst children often travelled from all over NSW to attend the Anthony Hordern wonderland, those that could not afford the dolls and train sets, were often catered for in the most surprising ways. The notorious Sydney gangster and cocaine dealer, Kate Leigh, held an annual Christmas party for the less fortunate kids of slum infested Surry Hills in the late ’40s, often hosting up to 500 hundred children at a time. It’s reported she even persuaded her second husband, sly grog dealer Teddy Barry to dress up as Santa.

Department store Santas have apparently been in short supply this year and maybe their days are numbered (Google ‘creepy Santas’ and you will see what I’m talking about). Nevertheless despite the huge commercial onslaught on the part of retailers, Sydney’s ‘true’ Christmas spirit does survive. The Reverend Bill Crews draws around 3,000 people to his annual Christmas party at the Uniting Church in Ashfield and the Wayside Chapel in the Cross hosts a similar event.

Mention should also be made of the legendary ‘Black Santa’, Syd ‘Doc’ Cunningham, a First Nation’s man who regularly collected money for charity from a small table set up in the street in Newtown in the weeks leading up to Christmas. The money went to delivering toys to many disadvantaged indigenous children as well as supporting others in need such as those devastated by Cyclone Tracy in Darwin. Syd died in 1999 but a memorial plaque in King Street marks his amazing dedication.

Finally, there’s a real sadness for anybody who remembers the glory days of Kings Cross when they walk along the once glittering mile these days. Vacant and boarded up shops in Darlinghurst Rd don’t exactly imbue the spirit of Christmas, nor does the odd homeless person bedded down for the night on the footpath outside.

For many years the old Porky’s strip club would run a string of Christmas lights, nothing fancy but at least an acknowledgement that it was Christmas. The club is now closed and all the lights have gone out. What else can you say but Merry Christmas!