Description
Victoria Street is a crossroads, like in those old stories of bushrangers and highwaymen. It’s a place where everyone and everything crosses paths ... A street right out of a fairytale, I reckon. It’s 1973, and 11-year-old Billie is living in the best street in the whole world: Victoria Street in Darlinghurst, Sydney. Billie can’t imagine being anywhere else. But things are changing. Billie’s neighbours are being forced out of their homes, and scary people are patrolling the street, trying to get everyone to leave.
Without realising it, Billie, her family and her neighbours find themselves caught up in one of the most important public protests in Sydney’s history. The battle for Victoria Street is their fight to save their homes and their way of life from destruction.
Review
Set in 1973, this book looks at a part of our history that many will be unfamiliar with, but will certainly gain an insight into from reading this story.
Billie lives on Victoria Street in Darlinghurst with her Mum and her little brother Darren, who she takes great care of. Life is tough in this neighbourhood, with the once old grand houses now converted to flats with shared facilities for the many residents who occupy them. Money is always tight, but Billie loves where she lives, near her best friends and families that she has grown up with. They have a wonderful sense of community and belonging.
But things are changing. Not only on Victoria Street, but in surrounding neighbourhoods as well. Developers are determined to get their way and move everyone on, as this is valuable land that they occupy. And the police and government seem to be happy for them to do it, turning a blind eye to the massive injustice and unlawful behaviour that is happening.
None of them banked on the residents, and those in the wider community who were opposed to such greedy moves, having the fortitude and determination that Billie’s family and others showed. But what cost would they pay for standing up for what was right?
Anyone who enjoys Australian historical fiction will love this story. Whilst it can certainly be read by anyone aged 10 and above, it does show the violence and injustice that people faced in the name of progress, in circumstances that we would find hard to tolerate today.
