Footscray from Afoot
It's a Sunday afternoon in Footscray.
The charm of Footscray is found in the community. It'd be quite a feat to walk down Paisley Street and not feel the warmth of area. The rocks you see in the hyper-lapse were designed to look as though they had always been there. Transported from the Northern Territory, the ode the First Nations People has found itself as an unexpected congregation point. "Just sitting here," a passerby tells me, "means that someone will come and talk to you."
Tahj Rosmarin, a graduate of Melbourne Universities School of Architecture, whose PhD was titled "Patterns of Footscray" notes the rocks have been successful in slowing down foot traffic and creating a sense of community. "In Footscray that was one of the points that was a hive of activity," he says.
By this, Rosermin is referencing to the need to cement the Vietnamese business owners space in the heart of Footscray, where the market is being replaced by an apartment block.
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As I stood beside the rocks, a man walked past and said to the camera in French, "Love from Footscray!" I replied in French, which naturally intrigued him we had a conversation revolving around his love for the suburb, in which he told me the suburb felt like a whole different world. Nowhere, he said, in France or Australia, had ever made him feel as welcome. It was the multiculturalism, the peace, and the way you can say hello to anyone and be greeted with warmth that has landed Footscray a special place in his 'cœur'.
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"It's really successful because it encourages an informal occupation," whether that was the intention of them or not. Yet in terms of the structures of Footscray's centre, they stand in contrast to the Saigon Welcome Arch that was built to commemorate the Vietnamese contribution to the suburb.
"Instead of actually having a strong cultural institution for Vietnamese people, it's kind of like there's this symbolic thing. It was designed in consultation with the community, so the way it was processed was fine." Yet the fault lies in the lack of action in the wake of the fire that devastated Little Saigon Market. "Theres so many other things the council should be doing besides building sculptural art."
It's a Sunday afternoon in Footscray, families go about their business, do their shopping. Friends meet to chat, strangers smile and look away, the wind is blowing. For how long afternoons on Paisley Street will look this way , it's unclear. Developers and the council are working towards a very different future for the suburb, rather than protecting the beauty that has occurred naturally.