See Narrabundah Differently

I love Narrabundah too! Awesome about DAAS debuting there. Any idea which shop / restaurant it is now?

Old Narrabundah isn’t all flat – try exploring the streets near the end of Boolimba into Kootara. Warramoo, Tallara, for starters have some definite slopes. It’s only the areas immediately around the Sturt end of Matina and the Jerrabomberra end of Goyder that are truly close to being flat.

Maya123 said :

The peacocks can still be seen in ‘upper’ Narrabundah.

The suburb could actually be divided up into different areas. Up the hill it might as well be Red Hill; it’s a different character than that down the hill, and even the lower area could be further split up. Either side of Kootara Crescent for instance, which side it is of Stuart Avenue. It reminds me of the right and wrong side of the tracks expression, although in recent years the ‘wrong’ side of the track is more and more joining the ‘right’ side of the tracks.
I moved to Narrabundah about thirty years ago and lived most of that time in one of the fibro houses. (I bought it from a family of five; showing how the perception of what size is a family house has changed.) At the time it was the cheapest house for sale in all Canberra. Some people attempted to talk me out of buying in Narrabundah, because they wouldn’t dream of living there. They thought it would be better to buy a NEW house on the then edge of Canberra (Tuggeranong basically) than live in ‘that’ slum. I ignored them, as I wanted to be within cycling distance of work. They might have looked down on Narrabundah, but I looked down on living way out in the suburbs, and besides, my income was not high and the Narrabundah house was the cheapest. Obviously lots of people then felt about Narrabundah as my friends did; making (lower) Narrabundah very cheap then. I have never regretted not moving to the sticks, and I suspect my land value went up more. Yes, in the first years, two houses across the road were selling heroin, a thief lived in another house, an empty house was being used to store stolen goods and maybe the worse of all, was the paedophile down the road. Better I don’t say here what he was up to. I was never worried by any of them; in fact it was a friendly street. Even the paedophile liked to stop for a chat and was very friendly to everyone. I didn’t know all this about him initially of course. But I did as time went on, because the old Narrabundah also liked to gossip and I soon slotted in as a local. It’s a different place now.

My little house had three bedrooms, so I rented out two to help pay the mortgage, and with this extra income, frugal living, growing my own vegetables, etc and paying everything I could into my mortgage, I paid off my house in five years. I bought a new car; otherwise I would have paid the house off quicker. Remember 17% interest! Many of my tenants stayed for years; showing they liked living in Narrabundah too, and, grin, I couldn’t have been too bad a landlady.
In the housing slump when Howard was in I bought another Narrabundah house (this time the other side of Kootara Crescent) and rented it out. I saw potential in Narrabundah, and I was correct. If not for the slump, on my income I would not have been able to afford the second house. Then I worked to pay off that house and save to build the house I wanted, which I now have. The old wooden rental Narrabundah house was ‘recycled’. I had over thirty inquires wanting it. There’s a demand for these old wooden houses. The house went off on the back of a truck to Crookwell; a friend dismantled and took the old garage (hardwood frame), I cleaned the old bricks left from the chimney to reuse and off cut wood was kept to burn for heating in my new house stove. The clothesline and garden shed were reused. The old concrete walking paths were piled up to be reused. Only the old driveway, some concrete bricks and a few clay bricks under the front porch, which we couldn’t break up by hand, or by bobcat, were dumped. Many of the chimney bricks I cleaned appeared second hand already (so now third hand). The old driveway was made of a lot of recycled material also, I was told by the men who broke it up and removed it. Hard to break up apparently. The concrete had been under-layered with old bricks and slabs from a monecrete house. I doubt many modern builders these days would be so frugal as to reuse materials.

Narrabundah is increasing in price, but it is still sometimes possible to get a house for under half a million, if the modern ‘needs’ of ensuite, entertainment room, theatrette, etc, are less important than position, and the outer suburbs aren’t your thing. There are also apartments available. I imagine in time most of the old houses will go and be replaced with MacMansions, which is a bit of a shame, as the old vegetable gardens out the back and the gardens in the front, tended by the original inhabitants were a nice homely feature; much better than concrete out the back, and the bland so called low maintenance gardens out the front so popular now.

I do hope you declared that income from renting those two rooms to pay your mortgage down, and when you sold the place I do hope you returned 66% of the capital growth back to the treasurey. Renting two of three makes 66% of the home income assessed as taxable. But I am sure you followed the rules on your way to real estate heaven.

Kim F said :

War also the tragic scene of the crash of the old warbird MIG back in the 80’s

I saw part of that. It flew really low above me, went over some trees and then a huge plume of smoke rose. Tragic.
It was on an election day.

Masquara said :

The Doug Anthony Allstars made their debut at the Narrabundah Shops, in a cabaret cafe called “Cafe Boom Boom”, run by John & Olwyn Smout.

I remember that restaurant. A shame it closed. I only went once, but the night I was there a magician was performing. First class performance, and I think the magician went on to win some international prize.

War also the tragic scene of the crash of the old warbird MIG back in the 80’s

The Doug Anthony Allstars made their debut at the Narrabundah Shops, in a cabaret cafe called “Cafe Boom Boom”, run by John & Olwyn Smout.

Danny’s Bakery at Narrabundah shops makes terrific ‘matchsticks’ but only on Tuesdays (? confirm) and they sell out quickly every week.
I reminisce, again, of Chez Moustache, the restaurant that ensured I returned to the suburb.

aussielyn said :

Some people may relate to the late Rod Campbell article on my website: http://narrabundah.org.au/?page_id=143

The aerial shots of the prefabs on your website are fantastic!

The peacocks can still be seen in ‘upper’ Narrabundah.

The suburb could actually be divided up into different areas. Up the hill it might as well be Red Hill; it’s a different character than that down the hill, and even the lower area could be further split up. Either side of Kootara Crescent for instance, which side it is of Stuart Avenue. It reminds me of the right and wrong side of the tracks expression, although in recent years the ‘wrong’ side of the track is more and more joining the ‘right’ side of the tracks.
I moved to Narrabundah about thirty years ago and lived most of that time in one of the fibro houses. (I bought it from a family of five; showing how the perception of what size is a family house has changed.) At the time it was the cheapest house for sale in all Canberra. Some people attempted to talk me out of buying in Narrabundah, because they wouldn’t dream of living there. They thought it would be better to buy a NEW house on the then edge of Canberra (Tuggeranong basically) than live in ‘that’ slum. I ignored them, as I wanted to be within cycling distance of work. They might have looked down on Narrabundah, but I looked down on living way out in the suburbs, and besides, my income was not high and the Narrabundah house was the cheapest. Obviously lots of people then felt about Narrabundah as my friends did; making (lower) Narrabundah very cheap then. I have never regretted not moving to the sticks, and I suspect my land value went up more. Yes, in the first years, two houses across the road were selling heroin, a thief lived in another house, an empty house was being used to store stolen goods and maybe the worse of all, was the paedophile down the road. Better I don’t say here what he was up to. I was never worried by any of them; in fact it was a friendly street. Even the paedophile liked to stop for a chat and was very friendly to everyone. I didn’t know all this about him initially of course. But I did as time went on, because the old Narrabundah also liked to gossip and I soon slotted in as a local. It’s a different place now.

My little house had three bedrooms, so I rented out two to help pay the mortgage, and with this extra income, frugal living, growing my own vegetables, etc and paying everything I could into my mortgage, I paid off my house in five years. I bought a new car; otherwise I would have paid the house off quicker. Remember 17% interest! Many of my tenants stayed for years; showing they liked living in Narrabundah too, and, grin, I couldn’t have been too bad a landlady.
In the housing slump when Howard was in I bought another Narrabundah house (this time the other side of Kootara Crescent) and rented it out. I saw potential in Narrabundah, and I was correct. If not for the slump, on my income I would not have been able to afford the second house. Then I worked to pay off that house and save to build the house I wanted, which I now have. The old wooden rental Narrabundah house was ‘recycled’. I had over thirty inquires wanting it. There’s a demand for these old wooden houses. The house went off on the back of a truck to Crookwell; a friend dismantled and took the old garage (hardwood frame), I cleaned the old bricks left from the chimney to reuse and off cut wood was kept to burn for heating in my new house stove. The clothesline and garden shed were reused. The old concrete walking paths were piled up to be reused. Only the old driveway, some concrete bricks and a few clay bricks under the front porch, which we couldn’t break up by hand, or by bobcat, were dumped. Many of the chimney bricks I cleaned appeared second hand already (so now third hand). The old driveway was made of a lot of recycled material also, I was told by the men who broke it up and removed it. Hard to break up apparently. The concrete had been under-layered with old bricks and slabs from a monecrete house. I doubt many modern builders these days would be so frugal as to reuse materials.

Narrabundah is increasing in price, but it is still sometimes possible to get a house for under half a million, if the modern ‘needs’ of ensuite, entertainment room, theatrette, etc, are less important than position, and the outer suburbs aren’t your thing. There are also apartments available. I imagine in time most of the old houses will go and be replaced with MacMansions, which is a bit of a shame, as the old vegetable gardens out the back and the gardens in the front, tended by the original inhabitants were a nice homely feature; much better than concrete out the back, and the bland so called low maintenance gardens out the front so popular now.

Thanks Alexandra

Some people may relate to the late Rod Campbell article on my website: http://narrabundah.org.au/?page_id=143

Please contact me if you have some old photos of streetscapes , I will acknowledge you as the owner

Narrabundah is gentrifying now and unfortunately some people ignore you when you say good-day