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There was a vacant block near my friend Robyn’s house when I was growing up. It was our favourite place to scamper to; away from adults, full of trees to climb and redolent of my favourite book at the time, The Magic Faraway Tree. There was a derelict home nearby, too, that we called Witchy Poo’s house.
I was petrified of it, and never took up the dare to breach the gate and go inside.These were outliers in an old-fashioned area full of family homes – magic to kids precisely because of their rarity. Today, judging by Greg Callaghan’s cover story, such vacant blocks and derelict houses have mushroomed across Sydney and Melbourne – this at a time of dire rental shortages and spiralling home prices.
In his meticulously researched story, Callaghan asks why this is so, what can be done about it – and why there’s not more of an outcry about it from the political class.Editor, Katrina Strickland Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Tens of thousands of homes sit empty across our major cities, while luxury units replace old apartment blocks - all while debate rages about our home shortage.
More and more Australians are walking the Camino de Santiago, often as a pivotal reset in their lives – and returning transformed. Mitch, in his 30s, seemed like a perfect gift to self. But then.
.. From the country’s biggest windmill and one of it.
