History buff Speroulla Christodoulou talks to Alex Ferraro about her passion to preserve Sunshine’s landmarks.
How long have you lived in Sunshine?
I have lived in Sunshine almost all my life. I stayed on La Trobe University campus for a year when I was completing my bachelor of science degree. When I decided to buy a house I chose to buy it here in Sunshine. But before that I lived in Hawthorn then Werribee for a while, and for about four or five years I travelled around. Originally, I wanted to move to Yarraville because that was the trendy thing to do at the time, but the prices were a bit too much for what you got. I’m glad I bought a house in Sunshine because it’s made me feel more passionate about the area, and this house is close to family so I feel comfortable here.
When did you become active in the community?
When I first moved into my new house in Sunshine, Optus wanted to come in and damage the silky oak trees on Parson Street to put up their network cables. I knew this wasn’t right; I thought they should run the network cables underground so the trees wouldn’t be damaged. I spearheaded the campaign to stop Optus from putting down the cables. We ended up losing, but that definitely whet my appetite for campaigning.
What are you passionate about in Sunshine?
My interest is in heritage; I like to see heritage sites preserved and cherished. About 20 years ago, I went with my housemate at the time to the Sunshine Historical Society to watch a slide show about Australian industrial inventor H.V. McKay. At the end, we were told by the society that the historical Sunshine Harvester bulk store building was going to be knocked down because it was apparently too old and dangerous. Even though we weren’t members of the society, we couldn’t just watch the building get demolished, take photos and then collect the bricks. That’s when my passion really began because, as a community, we deserve better than to have our heritage destroyed.
What other places have you fought to keep?
They wanted to demolish the local Sunshine swimming pool and move it over to a new location in Highpoint. I couldn’t let this happen because the pool had so much community involvement; people even sold raffle tickets to help build it. So I campaigned to keep the pool at its original site and, after 11 years of council meeting and petitions, we were successful.
Are there many other active campaigners?
None of us are career campaigners, we are just like-minded residents who live here and love the place. Now that the community is growing and developing so rapidly, residents are becoming more proactive. It’s important for young people, especially, because it will make them feel pride in where they live.
How would you like to see Sunshine change?
I like the development in the centre of Sunshine. There are really nice new restaurants, there’s going to be more lighting, and the council is putting in street furniture, so the centre will be a lot more bustling and busy. It will make Sunshine a real community hub.
