Anna Buckley

The thing about the gentrification of inner city suburbs is that it raises real estate prices to ridiculous levels, turning these once diverse cultures into rather monochromatic streets filled with expensive restaurants and overpriced boutiques.

What I love about Gertrude, Smith and Brunswick street is that diversity is still around. Sitting proudly amongst the renovated shops and houses are the 1960’s housing commission flats built by the government to rid the streets of Fitzroy’s slums and provide decent housing for the poor.

I’m sure many people would love to see these towers demolished, but me, I like what they bring to the neighborhood. I get to see a diverse range of cultures as many new immigrant are housed here before settling into their own homes. I am reminded of people whose lives are made difficult because of their addiction, their mental health and their poverty. Of an underclass so easily forgotten when they are sent to distant suburbs where property prices are not so crazy. And more importantly that my own small world is not entirely made up of dinner parties where we talk smugly about real estate and the latest imported, old world wine.

Love you to read my books The Lost Woman series follows the sexy adventures of Christina as she makes her way through a world of new media, design, fashion,  travel, and … men. The complete series is available now at Amazon, Kobo, Google Books, Barnes & Noble and iBooks, both as eBooks and print books. They can also be ordered from any book store, or by mail order on the BOOKS page.