Suburban Secrets – Art Trail & History Walk
Map and Floor Sheet with images here
This project supported by the City of Stirling, lead to the creation of textile-based artworks Pub to Pub – A Street Scape, Survey Circa 1935, Ribbon Grants – Original Land, complemented by photographs of old Inglewood which were hung in shop and office windows along 803 -1004 Beaufort St Inglewood Western Australia. The trail ran from 31 July to 15 August 2021
You can still take this Self-Guided walk, using the Map and Floor Sheet with images here. Compare the fascinating old photographs of Inglewood to the landscape you see today and read about the artworks inspired by my research that will make you think and challenge your assumptions about the suburb.
You will also learn some interesting facts and stories along the way.
Read below for the inspiration for this project.
Below – Pub to Pub – A Street Scape (detail) 
The loss of local history as outlined in this artist statement for A Moment in Time, a work I made for the City of Stirling Art Award in 2019, was part of the inspiration for Suburban Secrets.
“How blue is the sky?!”
The bluest blue highlighting the old Cafaro’s Store sign. Sadly, the mural below the sign has since been destroyed by graffiti, the wall painted black, and a new artwork painted over the sign. Part of our local history now gone forever.
Artwork – A Moment in Time
The Cafaro’s Store sign had pride of place on the side of Cecchi’s (965 Beaufort St, Inglewood) a piece of the past honouring the original business in the building.
As a long-term resident of Inglewood, I have seen many changes like this over the 30 plus years I have lived here. I knew some of the stories of the area. For example, that the house a few doors down from me belonged to Barry Waldeck’s brother and his front garden was full of beautiful roses, all the tests and samples for the fledgling nursery. The Clock Tower has an interesting past, being an outdoor and indoor picture theatre, it had a pool under the stage, was a theatre restaurant, a motor bike shop and a fancy dress shop before its present iteration of apartments and retail shops. A chemist has become a café; the bank a craft shop, then a chemist; the haberdashery, a restaurant. How many other ubiquitous and seemingly insignificant markers of history have disappeared from the area? If not recorded, how long will it be before they are completely forgotten?
Suburban Secrets explores the stories and history of the Inglewood Beaufort Street strip through personal research, interviewing local residents and closely observing architectural evidence. The research has been a series of bread crumb trails, going down rabbit holes and delightful distractions.