DUBBO CITY LIFE
“Don’t you ever let a chance go by, oh Lord...
...DON’T you ever let a chance go by.”
If you’re old enough to remember 1975, those lyrics will likely bring the NSW city of Newcastle to mind. Radio announcer Bob Hudson’s No.1 hit – The Newcastle Song – told the tale of young men and young women hanging out around the Parthenon milk bar on Hunter Street. The song typecast the city as being full of bogans, an image that sticks with many non-novocastrians to this day. (By the way, apparently there was no Parthenon in 1975.)
Since 1975, Newcastle has had a tale of retail and commercial ups and downs that cities like Dubbo could learn from. At the moment, according to some Newcastle locals I spoke to while staying there last week, the mood is that the city centre is on its comeback. It’s on the way back up.
No longer a ‘bogan’ city, it’s become one of Australia’s top five hangouts for hipsters and creative types.
However it’s been a very slow journey, because it was let go too far, and it still has a way to go. The time of year may have been a factor, being the first week of January, but it was eerie to walk out of a hotel unit to an empty street first thing in the morning last week. No traffic and no people. This is one of NSW’S biggest cities, but where were all the people?
There was a time when the Newcastle CBD was buzzing with people – shoppers and office workers – with major apartment stores and vibrant smaller retailers. There was once a David Jones in the middle of the city. But a downward decline was allowed to set in, and many, many stores – including DJS – gradually shut down and left town. Who or what was to blame depends on who you talk to.
Ten years ago, an organisation called Renew Newcastle was established to breathe some new life into the old steel city. Its founders recognised that there were too many empty shops in the CBD, which in turn was attracting a criminal element with vandalism a major problem. Renew Newcastle came up with an innovative way to help fill those retails voids with often short-term business tenants – but at least they were occupied.
Dubbo had a number of pop-up Christmas shops in its CBD last month, which were great; they helped give the central shopping precinct an extra busy vibe. Newcastle now does that all year ‘round.
I’m told there’s no one factor that is bringing life back to the Newcastle CBD. Later this month, the first passengers will ride the brand new electric trams that have replaced the trains into the city centre – that’s one factor.
The point is, Newcastle let things decline too far, and so it’s taking a lot of energy – and time – to bring it back.
Over the past two decades, I’ve heard (and at times been a part of) many discussions about the health of Dubbo’s CBD. People point to empty shops, others point to non-retail businesses occupying what should be designated strictly retail space, the argument being that it is core retail shops that bring shoppers into an area, and so service businesses and offices should stick to the surrounding streets like Brisbane and Wingewarra and Church Streets.
Others point to the ‘lack of parking’, although I’ve rarely seen the masses of parking spaces along Bligh Street between Bultje and Talbragar Streets completely full, and the walking distance from there to the Macquarie Street shops would be no greater than walking from the outer limits of the Orana Mall carpark to its shops.
Two of the biggest main street developments announced for Dubbo during 2018 are on the right track – retail (including eateries) at ground level, and then offices and residential on the upper floors all check the right boxes. The retail shops bring more shoppers to town, the offices keep the city centre busy with workers, and the residential spaces give the CBD retailers a captive audience of people who live in the centre of town and so shop and eat there too.
As part of our Dubbo Works coverage in today’s paper, Natalie Holmes reports on the Dubbo Employment Lands Strategy. Council’s Director of Planning and Environment, Stephen Wallace, told Dubbo Photo News the strategy’s aim is to make sure Dubbo has enough commercial, industrial, institutional and tourist zoned land in the future, close to housing and community facilities.
Of particular interest to discussions about a healthy CBD, Mr Wallace said: “Based on future demand projections out to 2031, it is anticipated Dubbo will have an undersupply of retail floorspace.
“It is recommended to investigate opportunities to expand the CBD to ensure sufficient retail floorspace supply is provided over the long term.”
I, for one, like the fact we have these robust discussions about what’s good for the Dubbo main street. We care about it, it matters to us, and it’s possible those are two factors that were missing when Newcastle’s decline began.
We should be regularly reassessing what our CBD is up to, and don’t ever let the chance to make improvements go by.
“Don’t you ever let a chance go by, oh Lord...”
What’s better than winning a chook raffle?
‘WINNING $200,000 in a Lucky Lotteries Mega Jackpot draw,’ is the answer, according to one Dubbo couple.
Congratulations, whoever you are – they chose to remain anonymous.
According to NSW Lotteries, the husband and wife bought their winning ticket just before Christmas, but didn’t find out they were winners until this week because the ticket had been tucked away in their wallet for weeks.
“This certainly surpasses winning a chook raffle!” the couple told Lotteries officials.
They plan to pay off a few bills and maybe even take a holiday to New York.
Well done!