Horace Petty Estate Social Atlas 2010

The Horace

Petty

Estate

SocialAtlas

2The Horace Petty Estate Social Atlas

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Methodology

The context

The storiesi) The Peopleii) The Skillsiii) The Servicesiv) The Community Groups

Recommendations

References


Acknowledgements

The Port Phillip Community Group wishes toacknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Land onwhich this report was written.

We also want to acknowledge the financialcontribution of the City of Stonnington towards theinitial mapping of the Horace Petty Estate.

We extend our thanks to the residents of the Estate fortheir time, their stories and participation in the creationof this Report.

In particular, we wish to thank Anna Ruffat,chairperson of the South Yarra Tenants Association;Milan Melisik for his ongoing commitment to promotingthe project; Ursula Bayer for the continued support,Yargeniy Krepky and Bob (aka god) for volunteeringfor just about anything.

Special thanks to Michael Chew for his artistic andcreative input, Judy Avisar for sharing her knowledgeand contacts on the Estate and Nick Gabb for hissupport and his unswerving dedication to the youngpeople residing at the Horace Petty Estate.


Introduction

Welcome to the Horace Petty Estate Social Atlas Project.

The project was born from a City of Stonnington smallseeding-grant made available to the Port Phillip CommunityGroup to research through creative engagement activities,significant aspects of life on the Horace Petty public housing estate.

The primary objectives of the project were to develop the initial stages of a ‘socialatlas’ documenting the meaning of relationships, experiences of place, and thewealth of human resources present among the residents on the estate. The purposewas to provide some insight as to how a longer-term community development projectmight be established at the Horace Petty Estate.

The research activities were rolled out over a period of six week during 2010, forapproximately 30 hours per week, by two community development workers, onecommunity artist and a project coordinator, all of whom were assisted by a number ofcommunity members living and working on the estate.

Given the brevity and small scale resources allocated to the project, it is important topoint out that the research was never meant to become a comprehensive mapping ofthe Horace Petty Estate community. Most of the information collected, in the form ofstories, photographs and drawing was anecdotal and freely contributed by theparticipants during formal and informal activities.

The back-drop of the project rests on the Federal and State Governments’ plans for aproposed $62 million new development at the Prahran housing estate, whichcomprise the Horace Petty Estate, and the implementation of a NeighbourhoodRenewal project. The later will see the introduction of a place management teambased at the estate, for an initial period of three years.

The facilitators of this project organised a series of meetings/ workshops to takeplace at the estate as well as going out to existing groups and meeting with,community leaders, their constituencies and community members to collect theirideas about what a social atlas may look like.

From the initial meeting a core group of interested residents of the estate committedtheir time to engage other community members, co-facilitate workshops and promoteactivities. This core group remained committed to the project until its completion.

The phrase ‘this is your community, get involved’ came out of the discussion at thevery first meeting held at the estate.


The methodology

The initial project plan was to gather stories in the form ofphotographs, drawings, video recordings and anecdotalinformation, from residents of the Horace Petty Estate tocreate a “Social Atlas”. This was to be done through aseries of workshops to be held on the Estate in thecommunity room on Friday evenings, over a period of fourweeks.

From the outset it was clear that the time and resourcesallocated to the project were minimal and insufficient toafford a true and systematic approach to community

engagement and participation. Therefore, the expectations of the outcomes from theactivities planned, and the information gathered to map the community, needed to becommensurate to the resources invested in the project. With this in mind, the projectteam concluded, and agreed, that the best possible outcome could be no more thana concise snapshot of the life of the Horace Petty Estate. For a more comprehensiveand inclusive community mapping, a significant increase in resources and timeframeshould be invested.

The workshops welcomed participation from residents, workers and other interestedindividuals associated with the estate. This was to be undertaken by two communitydevelopment workers, employed to maintain a presence on the estate forapproximately 10 hours a week. Their primary role was to mobilise stakeholders toengage in a narrative sharing process.

The material and resources for the workshops comprised a very large aerialphotograph of the Horace Petty Estate; disposable cameras; digital cameras andtripod; painting, drawing and writing materials; sundry stationery and cateringchattels. Computers, telephones, printing, photocopying and other technical supportwere provided by the Port Phillip Community Group (PPCG).

The aerial photograph:The Horace Petty Estate aerial photograph consisted of four A0 size (approx.)segments showing the entire estate. During the workshops the participants woulduse the photograph to identify their homes andlocations of their interests, relating stories,anecdotes and occurrences connected toparticular places. These were recorded andattached to the map. When the stories involvedother community members, or similarexperiences were shared, ,the entries werelinked to demonstrate the connectivity andshared experience among the residents of theestate.

Photography:During the workshops, digital and disposable cameras weremade available to the participants to record their ownstories and/or depict aspects of life on the estate. In manyinstances, participants were not confident to take thecameras to use at their own convenience, preferring toleave it to the coordinating team to take portraits and otherphotographs during the project.


The disposable cameras were mainly used by younger participants, who produced anumber of images relating to their relationships with friends on the estate andactivities in and around the community room.

Painting & Drawing:This aspect of the project was popular with the younger participants who made fulluse of the materials (crayons, paper, texta pens) allocated for creative representationof their lives and experiences living on the Estate..

Story writing:To keep records of stories related by the participants, two methods were employed.Firstly, for longer narratives, facilitators kept notes and minutes to be later transcribedand added to the final report. Secondly a brief questionnaire was developed to elicitshorter accounts of life on the estate which participants were able to complete in asingle session.

The story component comprised of four questions:1. What is it like living at Horace Petty?2. A specific happy experience at Horace Petty I would like to share3. A specific sad experience at Horace Petty I would like to share4. What specific improvements would I like to see at Horace Petty?

A skill register was also developed to collect information onthe range of skills held by the residents of the estate.

It is the assessment of the facilitators that the Fridayworkshops had limited success due to a range of factors.For cultural and religious reasons many people living on theEstate could not participate in activities on Friday evenings;the community room at Horace Petty was pre-booked by a

regular activity for this time, and participants of that activity were reluctant torelinquish their time slot. However, alternative workshops were held at times whenthe community room was available, which proved more convenient to the interestedresidents and did not clash with per-organised activities.

Other challenges were faced by the team, in their capacity to attract greater numbersof participants to the workshops. Firstly, the extremely short time frame of the projectmeant reduced opportunities for outreach and promotion of the project to tenants.Perhaps most significantly, was the communication limitations created by language.As the overwhelming majority of residents were of Russian or Chinese speakingbackgrounds, the unavailability of interpreters; which would have enabled greaterunderstanding and participation in sessions for people of non-English speakingbackground, was a considerable barrier. The regular participation in existing groupsmay have reduced the motivation for people to gather for an additional group activity.

Nonetheless, the organisers were fortunate that some of the existing groupsextended invitations to them to participate in their activities including the Inner SouthCommunity Health “Well for Life” group, Stonnington Ballroom Dancing Association,Club Joy and Prahran Chinese Elderly Citizens Association. This resulted in therecruiting of individual participants and the gathering of additional stories.Another method employed to gather stories was to join community activitiesorganised by other services. This required canvassing people participating orvisiting the adventure Playground’s school holiday activities as well as the‘Meet your Neighbours’ Day on the Horace Petty Estate.

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The context

The Horace Petty Estate is the largest social housing estate in the state of Victoria. Itsits inside the square formed by Malvern and Surrey roads, and Simmons and Braystreets, in the suburbs of Prahran/SouthYarra, in the municipality of Stonnington.

maps.google.com.au

Built between the 1960s and 1970s, it comprises two 42m, 13 storey, Z-shapedbuildings and 12 lower rise apartment blocks. With 624 one, two and three bedroomunits, it can house in access of 1000 residents.

Among the residents who have participated in the social atlas project, there are manywho have lived at Horace Petty for 30 to 40 years. While 73% of the residents at theEstate recognise themselves as Russian, 17 more ethnic groups have been identifiedliving there at present. They are Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians, fromBelarus, Checz Republic, Chile, China, Colombia, Germany, Greece, Japan, Italy,Mauritius, Romania, Sudan, Turkey, Ukraine and Viet Nam. Other nationalities havelived at Horace Petty Estate in the past from Latin America, Asia and Europe, buthave moved on since.

Interestingly, many of the people who participated in the workshops did not know thename of the estate and who Horace Petty was. And while the estate has beenreceiving some media coverage, as a result of approved redevelopments (due tostart soon), which will add 188 new apartments to the estate, the local press andsome Government literature refers to it as “Prahran Estate”.

Wh

Horace Petty was a Prahran C

o was Horace Petty anyway?

ouncillor and State Minister for Housing until 1961

The Horace Petty Estate Social Atlas

and Minister for Immigration from 1956.


A Snapshot: the following demographic data has been generated from one ofthe larger high-rise buildings, known as 2 Simmons St. It has 228 residents,and represents only part of the Estate community.

AGE OF TENANTS

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

0 to 4 5 to 9 10 to

19

20 to

29

30 to

39

40 to

49

50 to

59

60 to

69

70 to

79

80 to

89

90

and

over

Age Bracket

No

.o

fT

en

an

ts

ETHNICITY

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

AfghanistanBelgiumCyprus

GermanyGreece

LaosLebanonMauritiusRomaniaSouthern

AfricaChile

Sri LankaEgypt

EnglandPhillipines

SpainBosnia-Herz

ChinaFmr

PolandSudanEritrea

FijiTurkeyUkraine

Russian FedNot statedAustraliaVietnam

USSR/Baltic

No. Who Identify


The Stories: The People

The Jean Taylor Story.

Did you know that the legendary Aussie rock outfit AC/DC once practiced in one of the flats atthe Horace Petty Estate? This is one of the many memories and anecdotes Jean Taylor hasfrom living at the estate.

Jean has lived at Horace Petty more than half of her 82 years, and was the first tenant tooccupy a flat at no. 259 Malvern Road. Jean moved in 45 years ago with her elderly motherand her five children, developing a commitment to the place which saw her being at thecentre of many community activities.

Jean Taylor was one of the founding members of the Public Tenants Association, which, inthose days, included the tenants from the Bank, Essex and King Streets estates. Jean recallsthe functions of the Association as being rights based; looking after the interests andconcerns of tenants, disseminating information and marching the streets in protest to certaindecisions made by the Ministry of Housing.

The association was self-funded, it used to set up weekly market stalls in the estate wherevolunteers contributed and sold cakes, toffee, knitted and croqueted crafts. The formalmeetings were held in the community room, but most evenings people used to gather in theopen spaces underneath the flats, sit on wooden logs, light up a fire and share stories.

Jean fondly recalls the basketball court being full every night, and her being responsible forthe light box key, being pestered by the young folks needing access to it at late hours. But thisdidn’t trouble Jean, as she would gladly put up with a bit of banter and racket from rowdyyoung people rather than having them “roaming the streets with nothing to do”.

As part of her community activities, Jean was one of the organisers of the Friday night dancefor teenagers. “The music was very loud, but if we could keep people out of trouble, we didn’tcare” Jean said. What about the older folk? Well, Friday nights were for the young ones, andSaturday nights for the ‘young at heart’ with the 50/50 Dance parties. Adding to the dancetheme, Jean and her friends organised Tuesday night tap dancing, complete with costumesmade by another tenant, and a ballroom dancing school.

Although these activities no longer happen at Horace Petty, Jean, who still goes dancingevery Friday night, would be delighted to get involved again, if other tenants in the estatewere interested in organising them. “I’m not a bit afraid of walking around the estate. I feelquite safe here, I always have” she says.

“This is my home, it is good and I have everything I need. If there is anything I miss here its abit of a back yard where I’d like to have a barbeque with family and friends. I always wantedone, but that’s how it is. I think it is fantastic that they are building more units on the estate, asthere are too many people on long waiting lists that need homes, just like I did and still donow. What I’d like to see though, is that the security guards that work on the estate weregiven a better room to sit in. Where they are now is not suitable. They would be better placedwere the office of housing used to be. Oh, I also wish we had windows we could cleanourselves”.

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Bob, 61. Dreadful

A HAPPY experience at Harold Petty I would like to share:

Cem, 42. No problems here, kids are happy. Can’t ask for much more

Melda, 70. Happy to live here with people from the same country (Mauritius).

Cameron, 6. The trampoline is really fun and PCYC

Zinaida, 66. Meeting with people where I can share my experiences andcommunicate

Milan, 68. Some neighbourhoods are nice, quiet.

Poline, 60. Meetings with people where I can share my experiences andcommunicate

Yevgeniy, 78. Improving my interests (English and computer)

Bob, 61. Getting out of the place and going elsewhere

What is it like living at Horace Petty?

Cem, 42. Good, plenty for the kids to do. We would be lost without the AdventurePlayground.

Melda, 70. I lived here 32 years. Good, I keep to my place.

Cameron, 6. I like the adventure playground and playing with my friends.

Ebony, 8. Good.

Zinaida, 66. I like here every time

Milan, 68. Noisy.

Poline, 60. It is perfect to live here.

Yevgeniy, 78. Everything may and should be improved



A SAD experience at Horace Petty I would like to share:

Melda, 70. All my family live here, so no sad experience.

Zinaida, 66. We haven’t a community bus.

Milan, 68. Some noisy, dangerous occupants.

Poline, 60. Til now, our windows hadn’t been cleaned from the outside. Also, theold fashioned tram (78) hasn’t been changed. We haven’t a community bus. Allthese things were promised.

Yevgeniy, 78. Multicultural politics, bad health service

Bob, 61. Dealing with David Bolgar alleged manager paid by DHS not to do hisjob

What improvements would you like to see at Horace Petty?

Cem, 42. Fix the car park, it floods when it rains, more cleaning, pets urinate inthe lifts

Melda, 70. The flats are too old, the ceilings peel off

Cameron, 6. Some more swings

Zinaida, 66. I would like to have a bigger bus for walking group

Milan, 68. Quietness, Security

Poline, 60. To make more heating in flats and the community room

Yevgeniy, 78. Stop discrimination elderly people. Improve health care service.Create an experienced permanent active Board of Tenants

Bob, 61. A community / social worker permanently on the Estate. Increasedsecurity guards and number of hours worked.Community garden(s) including herb garden accessible to all tenants,Community kitchen utilising locally grown organic produceMore participation by ISCHSGuest speakers on various topics similar to ConnectED Self help

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What’s it like living at Horace Petty?

I’ve been living here for three years.

It’s good, quiet and peaceful.

I know everyone and everyone knowsme. I also have a friend from theMauritius here.

A happy experience I want to share:

Using the community room, havinglunch and cakes there.

I haven’t been for a while, but my friendusually lets me know when there issomething happening there.

A sad experience I want to share:

No many sad stories here.

But once I let someone use one of mytwo fridges because she didn’t have aplace to store her food and when sheretrieved it she pinched my food.

Improvements I would like to see at Horace Petty:

I would like a barbeque area closer to my unit. Thereare bbqs around but it would be good to have someon the other side too.

Name: EddyAge: 59Cultural background: MauritiusOccupation: Former Chef


Interests: Sport, soccer

1


We’ve been here five years.

It’s been ok on and off, but now I can’twait to move as my 14 year old son isgetting into trouble and mixing with thewrong people


Putting up with my friend Val(laughter), who lives here too.


Neighbours I don’t get along with, so Ikeep to myself.

Improvements I would like to see atHorace Petty:

I would like to see all the flats renovated, notjust the first two floors.

Name: JulieAge: 33Cultural background: AustralianOccupation: Canteen worker


Interests: Sports, tennis, squash, cooking

1

What’s it like living atHorace Petty?

We’ve been here just a week,so, we’re not sure. At themoment it seems good, muchbetter than North Melbourne,where we were before.

We’ve been waiting sevenyears for this place. It seemsto have more facilities thanwhere we’ve come from, andit is closer to the schoolAmina goes to.


We’ve already met our neighbours.

They gave us a warm welcome assoon as we arrived, with cakes, sweetsand lollies.


.No sad stories, we’ve just arrived…

facilities, so this is better.

Name: Sarah with daughter AminaAge: 42Cultural background: SudanOccupation: Teacher’s Aid

4

Interests:

Improvements I would like to see atHorace Petty:

I can’t say as I’m getting to know the place,but where we were before we had no

The Horace Petty Estate Social Atlas

Accountant, administrator, cooking, reading

1


No bad, could be better.

Could have more social activities on theEstate.

One must be very vigilant with one’sbelongings; I had a bad experience ofthings being stolen.

Need more security cameras in thefoyer near the letterbox.


Meeting neighbours at the game’s afternoonand Tai Chi.

The help I received from a lovely young lass bythe name of Clarissa when our dog was stolen.


Belongings and dog stolen.

Someone helped themselves to the plant standoutside my front passage—I thought this was abit rude.

I only had my Jack Russel cross Wisky for 6days, and he was taken.

Improvements I would like to see at Horace Petty:

More security cameras on the floors, in the foyer andletter-boxes.

More security people to move on noisy trouble-makers at night.

More social group activities in the community roomlike games, films, Tai Chi, coffee afternoons.

For the kids may be activities in the weekend so theycan burn off their energies.

Name: UrsulaAge: 61Cultural background: GermanOccupation: Former SecretaryInterests: Dancing, music, books, TV, videos/DVD, Tai Chi,


outings, beach, swimming

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The Stories: The Skills

Interests and Skills of Residents at Horace Petty Housing Estate

Everything! Except sewing, pulling weeds, art (if done by me) housework,soccer and listening (Bob, 61)

Dancing, music, books, tai chi, outings, TV/Videos, Beach/Swimming(Ursula, 61)

English Language, Computer (middle level) Yevgeniy 78.

Concerts, events, excursions, playing some game, socialising (Poline 60)

Spirituality/ Visual Art (Milan, 68)

Excursions, concerts, events, meetings (Zinaida, 66)

Drawing (Kenarrn, 8)

Soccer, drawing/colouring, basketball, footy, bike, skateboarding andscooter riding (Cameron, 6)

Sport – tennis and squash, Cooking (Julie, 33)Sport, soccer (Eddy, 59)

Accountancy/admin, cooking, reading (Sarah, 42)

Cooking, looking after my nephew (Melda, 70)


Footy, soccer, upholstery (Cem, 42)


The Stories: The Skills

Residents of Horace Petty Estate can do..

AccountancyNursingElectrical engineeringAdministrationPsychologySingingMusic (guitar)PoolDancingGamesTai ChiBallroom dancingCommunity development

CookingComputer programmingMechanical engineeringDraftspersonSite managingTrainingGroup organisingWritingRappingSingingGymnasticsAthletics – runningRugby league

Residents of Horace Petty Estate would like to…

Use Photoshop or Paint-shop professional (computer programmes)

Learn a musical instrument: guitar/piano/trumpet/ drums

Stepping/ stomping (dance)

Computer class

English class (depending on quality. Also require a passionate andcaring facilitator)

Social Club (night)

Cooking

Singing lessons


The Stories: The Services

Ardoch Youth FoundationAdventure Playground

City of StonningtonConnections

Dept of Human ServicesHome Ground Services

Inner South Community Health Service (ISCHS)New Hope Foundation

Office of HousingPolice Citizen’s Youth Club (PCYC)

Port Phillip Community GroupPrahran Malvern Community Housing Inc

Prahran MissionPrahran Neighbourhood House

South Yarra Tenants AssociationTRYouth and Community Services


Contact details for Services

Ardoch Youth FoundationBreakfast and lunch programme and school support for children

Ph: 9537 2414

www.ardoch.asn.au

Adventure PlaygroundManaged by the City of Stonnington Community Development team

Ph: 0409 505 2932 Simmons Street Horace Petty Estate

City of StonningtonFund community development worker involved with Estate activities

Ph: 8290 1333

www.stonnington.vic.gov.au

ConnectionsFacilitate young mum’s group at Kindergarten

Ph: 9521 5666

www.connections.org.au

Department of Human Services Office of HousingLandlords of Tenancies in Horace Petty Housing Estate, manage communitygarden and other activities

Ph: 8646 3600

www.dhs.vic.gov.au


Home Ground ServicesFormerly managed the Community Room at Simmons Street, supporthomeless and at risk people in Prahran area through SHASP

Ph: 9537 7711

www.homeground.org.au

Inner South Community Health Service (ISCHS)Have managed “Fit for Life” walking group, tai chi and other activites

Ph: 9525 1300

www.ischs.org.au

New Hope FoundationSupport service for recently arrived refugees and migrants

Ph: 9510 5877

www.newhope.asn.au

PCYC St KildaRun basketball and other sporting and recreational activities for young peopleFortnightly attendance at EstatePh: 9534 7584

stkildapcyc.org

Port Phillip Community GroupManage the Community Room at Simmons Street

Ph: 8598 6600

www.ppcg.org.au

Prahran Malvern Community Housing IncManage community rooming houses, located in the area

Ph: 9826 5194

Shop 2, 1 Surrey Road

Prahran MissionProvide a Creative Space and Outreach service for residents of Inner South

Ph: 9692 9400

www.prahranmission.org.au

2

Prahran Community Learning Centre IncOffer computer skills and other courses and learning opportunities forresidents of the Inner South

Ph: 9510 7052

www.pnhouse.org.au

South Yarra Tenants AssociationLocated on the Estate, peak body to represent tenant’s issues

Ph: 0403-051-330

TRYouth and Community Care kindergartenManage the Kindergarten, 3 and 4 year old kindergarten groups

Ph: 9804 7569

[email protected]

Please Note: The agency listing above is not a comprehensive record of the servicesavailable in Prahran and adjacent areas to the Horace Petty Estate, but a documentationof the services mentioned by the participants of the social atlas project (for a more


comprehensive directory of services see the reference page).

mailto:[email protected]


The Stories: The Community Groups

The ALPHA groupmeets in the communityroom every Wednesdayat 5.30pm.

Facilitator Anna Ruffatdescribes ALPHA as aspiritual, non-denominational course,based on Christianphilosophies but open toanyone looking to makepositive changes in theirlives.

The course is structuredaround five three-hour

sessions written by Nicky Gambel. The evening starts with a meal, followed by a film,and group discussion. The ALPHA group has been meeting for the last five years, itis free of charge and open to anyone.

English Class (Chinese teacher)This class runs once a week on Thursdays in theCommunity Room and is taught by Mrs Lu and George.

English Class (Russian)“I have been teaching the class for 4 months. That’s how long the classes have beenrunning. I am not a tenant of the estate, I have English as a Second Language (ESL)experience and experience teaching at TAFE. In the class there are about 8regulars, all 70 years plus. They are tenants of Horace Petty estate”.

Daniela is the teacher of the class. She states it’s convenient for everyone, havingthe class at the Estate. It’s very close to where people live. Therefore, people aremore motivated to attend, especially when there is bad weather. The classes are freealso, and open to everyone.

In the classes, the students use a reader, photocopied sheets (worksheets) andconversation. They usually talk about news and current affairs. A lot of the people areolder and watch the news so that is something they are interested in and what wecan talk about. Daniela says, “It is a fun class, we have laughs”. Since the time ofthe interview, this class has relocated to the King St Community Room, due to safetyfears, following an unpleasant incident at the Simmons St Community Room.


Stonnington Chinese AssociationJimmy P.Z Ge a former member of the Association, stated that “In the group I havebeen involved with everything –arranging meeting and community activities. I alsohad to convene meetings if members had any problems, such as not havinganywhere to live or having financial difficulties. Usually we could resolve theseproblems within the association, but if we couldn’t, we would get help from theChinese community. We are a not-for profit organization, and you need to know thecommunity to be involved.

I was involved for 16 years, but I had to stop becausemy health worsened”.It was very important to use the community room atHorace Petty as it provided a meeting point andactivity venue. Most of the members lived at theHorace Petty Estate.

Prahran Chinese Elderly Citizens AssociationChan Kon Ma is the President of the Association, a position he has held for 20 years.The group has been running for over 20 years.The Association typically has lunch together, where there is a social aspect throughtheir own group interactions, and with other Chinese groups. The group play tabletennis, sing karaoke, chess and mah-jong.It was explained that the Association also meet to acknowledge festivals such asChinese new year, Father’s Day, Seniors’ Week and other events. They havebirthday parties monthly for members.There are around 20 members in the Association.The group meets at The Community Room because they can play table tennis there.Also, it is a central location for members, some of whom live at Horace Petty.


Club JoyAccording to Isaac Bykovsky ; arepresentative of theorganization, Club Joy has beenmeeting in the Community Roomat Horace Petty forapproximately 5 years. Thereare usually 15-20 people at thegatherings, mostly elderlypeople. They play table tennison Tuesdays and Thursdays, aswell as having Shabbat onFriday night – the JewishSabbath. However, he explainsthey are a social group. There

are religious and non-religious people involved. Club Joy use the Community roomfor meetings, activities and before excursions. Isaac states that Club Joy wouldn’t beable to function without the Community Room. It is a central location for members.

Golden Age ClubThe Club has beenmeeting in theCommunity Room atHorace Petty for 9 years,and Nellie has beeninvolved as an Outreachworker for 7 years.There are approximately115 members on thebooks, including women,men and couples ofmostly Russian speakingand other Culturally AndLinguistically Diversebackgrounds. The groupuses the Community

Room at the Horace Petty Housing Estate because “people need it, it provides aplace to meet close to where people live”. All the participants of the group live in theCity of Stonnington, either on the Estate or nearby. It is an important social activityfor low income people who can’t afford to go to concerts in the city, so we play thepiano and have concerts here. The group also has guest speakers including localpoliticians and health professionals to talk on current events and bring members upto date with changes to Australian policy and law. The group also learn about theAustralian way of life and celebrate Jewish and Australian holidays and festivals.Club Joy aims to create a bridge between the local community and citizens, as wellas support people to live independently as long as possible rather than go intoresidential aged care facilities.


Hope of Glory Kid’s ClubThis Group has been running an after school activity programme for primary schoolage children for nearly 10 years on the Estate. Maree White, a Chaplain at a localprimary school, ran the club for 5 years in its previous home (in the TryouthKindergarten) on the Estate. She has facilitated the group for 2 years from it’s currenthome in the Community Room. At Hope of Glory Kid’s Club they mostly play games,have music and songs and a basic Bible teaching. While currently around 10 childrenregularly attend, Maree reports up to 30 would attend in the past. Once a month,Hope of Glory operates a teenager focussed activity such as sport or ice-skating. TheClub use the room at Horace Petty, as the Church, located nearby in the Industrialestate, is trying to build relationships with the community. Maree said it is importantto do this, as the people are important. She does outreach including door knocking,letterbox drops and annual BBQs and Christmas activities on the Estate to make andbuild connections with families.

Young Mum’s GroupThis group meets on Fridays at 2pm in the Kindergarten. The group has beenfacilitated by Natalie from Connections at Windsor, since late 2009, but the groupitself has been running on and off for at least 7 years. Currently there are between 5– 7 women attending the group each week. ‘It has only really just started to take-off’.At the end of each term, the women decide the activities they are interested in for thefollowing term. Some of these activities include: art and craft, scrapbooking, cooking,visiting “Daydreamers” (indoor play centre) and other excursions to local places.There was discussion with the women about changing the location of this group;however they all agreed they would like to stay at the kindergarten on the estate. Thekinder is local and convenient for the mums and provides everything need foractivities, including the playground. Very few of the women are from the estate;however, Natalie and Stonnington Youth Services worker, Sarah, are working onpromoting the group within the estate more widely. Natalie thinks it is important thegroup is run from the kinder so other women on the estate are encouraged to attend.A group like this needs to be local and convenient in order for the women to come.


Recommendations

1. Community Mapping: It is our understanding that the Department ofHuman Services will assign a Place Management Team comprising threeofficers, for a period of three years in the offices situated at 259 Malvern Rd,Prahran. We recommend that this team build on this ‘social atlas’ project toconduct a comprehensive community mapping of the Estate. Including adetailed skills and assets register, which will focus on the strengths,knowledges, abilities and amenities currently available within the residentcommunity. Utilising creative means for communicating and representinginformation e.g. through personal narratives, has been found to be ameaningful process.

2. Youth: From the outset of this project it was evident that social organisationamong older CALD communities was strong, as well as services for children.Very few young people (16-25years) engaged with the project. It was thisgroup which a large proportion of the participants were concerned about.While pilots are underway to increase the ‘youth-friendliness’ of the existingCommunity Room, it has been suggested, that a separate social space foryoung people would be more appealing to both the client group and youth-specialist services. It is recommended that the possibility of utilising some ofthe now-vacated 259 Malvern Offices for this purpose be explored.

3. Security: consistently during the activities of the ‘social atlas’ project,participants have raised issues of safety and their experiences of feelingunsafe on the Estate. It is recommended that safety measures be assessedin light of these concerns; including hours and locations of security patrols,architectural improvements to walkways and the entrance to CommunityRoom, as well as establishing protocols with local police.

4. Communication: It was raised by a number of tenants that they believedmany other residents may be unaware of low/no cost programmes andactivities on offer in the community room and surrounds. It wasrecommended that the community notice board features be expanded tomore sites and greater efforts made to promote social and recreationalactivities to all tenants—particularly intergenerational events and onesinvolving younger people. Producing promotional material that is sensitive tothe comprehension needs of those with low level English literacy is essential.Given that the vast majority of older residents at Horace Petty are of non-English speaking backgrounds, it was very difficult to arrange for meetingsor events that would cater to the range of cultural stakeholder groups. Havingmultiple interpreters present was problematic. Moreover, several Groupmembers were not interested in being involved in any activities beyondtheir current schedules. Therefore, it was found that the most effective way ofbroadly engaging, was to bring the content of the events to the Groups attheir convenience and specifically targeted to their language needs.

5. Facilities: There were a number of issues raised regarding facilities on theEstate, including expansion of the community garden facilities to beaccessible to more tenants, along with an upgrade to the tenant’s car park.Residents from the apartments known as ‘walk ups’ indicated a desire to havebarbeque facilities closer to their units. Other facility requests included moreswings, a community bus, heating in flats and the community room and


maintenance of ageing apartments. Staff felt that better signage would alsobe a priority.

6. Services: Repeated requests were made during the consultation processfor improvements to health and social care services. These included care forthe elderly, more participation by ISCHS, more social activities in thecommunity room, as well as creating an experienced permanent active Boardof Tenants and establishing a community / social worker permanently on theEstate. Other suggestions made by tenants were a community kitchenutilising locally grown organic produce. Participants also suggested havingguest speakers on various topics. General increase of cleaning services ofcommunal areas, including lifts, have also been recommended. It should benoted that on a whole, children and their parents were very positive about theAdventure Playground.

References

Children and Family Services (09-11), City of Stonningtonwww.stonnington.vic.gov.au

Directory of Services for Young People (2005), City of Stonnington,www.stonnington.vic.gov.au

Mental Health Services (2007), City of Stonningtonwww.stonnington.vic.gov.au

HORACE PETTY ESTATE PRAHRAN PRECINCT REDEVELOPMENT:STAGE 1 (June 2010),Department of Human Services | Horace Petty Estate: 267-271 Malvern Roadand 1 Surrey Road, South Yarra | Planning Report 20O:\projects\07-6821\006\word\finalised\32586R.doc

http://www.stonnington.vic.gov.au/



Horace Petty Estate Social Atlas 2010

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