Ward Grove - neatest street in Coburg in 1961

Coburg Courier, 7 February 1961

The caption reads: 'Mr W. Appleby trimming his lawn in Ward Grove provides one of the reasons why the Grove [that is, Ward Grove] is this year's winning street. Mr Appleby's two boys and the little girl from next door also crept into the picture.'

The idea of presenting awards for the best kept street went back to 1930 when Coburg Council introduced the idea in an attempt to encourage civic pride:

Age, 27 February 1930

I found the 1961 image when I was doing some research on Coburg in the 1960s at the State Library. I was reading the newspapers on microfilm and whenever something caught my eye I took a photo - unless the image was too poor. That's why I can't show you the photo of the Hicks family of 12 Sims Street, Pascoe Vale working on their nature strip. It was featured in the Coburg Courier on 9 February 1960. It appeared on the front page with the headline 'Best Coburg Street'. A later article (Courier, 19 April 1960) reported that Sims Street received an 'Oscar' for its efforts - the influence of American popular culture is clear! 

The April article went on to say that most nature strips in Sims Street were well kept but ‘three strips had not been mown since the holidays’. (Loved that comment - bet they were away at the beach!) 

The best kept street was a Rotary Club initiative aimed at boosting civic pride. On page 12 of the 19 April issue there was a picture of the street featuring its neat nature strips. To my eye it all looked very sterile, but I guess that the neat street was the ideal. 

All this set me thinking about George Johnston's descriptions of 'flat and dreary' Melbourne suburbia in his 1964 novel My Brother Jack. And then I recalled one of the children in my wider family in the 1980s attempting to teach me the words of our new National Anthem (introduced in 1984). According to her, 'Our land abounds in nature strips'. If she'd been around in Coburg in the 1960s (which was a decade before she was born) I guess that would just about have summed up the situation.