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Clip description
Over a series of still images of the residents, buildings, and community of inner-city Sydney, the voice of community activist Margaret Barry narrates the story of the inner city, one that has outlived her usefulness and been pensioned off to developers and a government that wants to ‘rip off the old and jack up the new’, much to the protest of the communities she houses.
Waterloo resident Mrs O’Grady tells to the director her own state of depression at the newly proposed high-rise developments that threaten her with resumption. She believes that high-rise accommodation for pensioners and the aged is not suitable and would be happy to move if she can stay on the ground floor and in the same suburb – two things unlikely to occur the Housing Commission of NSW’s proposed redevelopment.
Curator’s notes
The faces and voices of those people directly affected by the plans for high-density, high-rise public housing work to create an immediate empathy with their plight. Faced with displacement, the human cost to development is emphasised through Mrs O’Grady, whose despair is moving because it is real. In this clip the meaning of ‘rip off the old and jack up the new’ is very clear.
