The first 15 of these tours were conducted up until 2009. This year, marking the 10-year anniversary of the Tour of Beauty, people are invited to revisit points around Redfern to see what has changed, or engage with the Tour of Beauty for the first time.
The tour begins at Keg de Souza’s aptly named We Built This City at 16 Vine Street. A mosaic of tents and tarps are sewn together to create a walk-in installation. Sitting atop plaid laundry-bag seats, encircling birds-eye-view maps of Redfern, this temporary structure sets the tone of displacement.
From there it’s a short walk up to The Block to meet one of the most dynamic speakers of the tour, Aunty Jenny Munro. The Redfern local, Aboriginal activist and CEO at Mudgin-Gal Women’s Centre, speaks her mind, telling how she believes current projects to rejuvenate Redfern are nothing more than thinly-veiled attempts at moving the Indigenous community of Redfern out.
The tour bus pulls in for pick-up and the group spend the afternoon visiting sites in the Redfern-Waterloo area. We hear from REDWatch spokesperson Geoff Turnbull on UrbanGrowth’s proposed changes along the Central-to-Eveleigh corridor. It provides a reminder of what has transpired since the tours a decade ago.
Waterloo resident and activist Ross Smith meets us at the NSW Housing complex on Phillip Street. Below the tall towers, amid the shadows they cast, elderly onlookers sit in their deck chairs. They watch the tour group gathered on the grass to talk about the history of the estate, and what it means for people who have spent their lives here to face the prospect of leaving.
Finally, with the sunset providing a fitting backdrop, we finish the tour at the 40,000 Years Mural opposite Redfern station. Artists Chico Monks, who teaches at Eora TAFE, and Bianca Hester, member of Space Place and Country at Sydney College of the Arts, guide us through the work to be done in restoring the community mural, and emphasise the importance of it being done right.
