Rose Terrace in Paddington, just off South Dowling Street, near the corner at Oxford Street, has undergone a make-over.

A little bit of research shows an interesting history.

The 32 houses were built in 1874-75 in three terraces to form a triangle, with a common area in the middle. Kids used to play, clothes-lines were erected, neighbourhood parties were held here. Then in the 1960s, individual houses were sold and the common area became a place to park cars and dump trash.

In 1973, the Rose Terrace Society was formed to fight against the owner who wanted to build a multi-storeyed building on the site. The then Lord Mayor of Sydney, Leo Port, came to the rescue. The owner was defeated and the common area was given back to the people as a community garden. A Local Citizens Committee was established to care for and maintain the garden with a grant of $5200.

According to the Paddington Paper (official newsletter of the Paddington Society), in April 2009:

The Rose Terrace garden park has been scooped out clean for a complete renewal. City of Sydney has worked with residents and landscape specialists to come up with a new look for this park…

Pulling up the tar from the old road surface has revealed treasures and rubbish. It seems 100 years ago, road base was just small rocks and anything that would go on top of the sand.

Digging struck treasure too. The sandstone gutter that originally went with the sandstone curb saw daylight for the first time in many years. The sympathetic landscapers are preserving and re-seating it ready to go along side the new tarred surface.

Well, it is all complete and looking lovely in the spring time.

We blogged about the glorious Dowling Street Container Garden in July, but what a difference a month makes.

In late July, Housing NSW, which owns the site, gave Greening Woolloomooloo five days to clear out their gardens. The gardeners have had a slight reprieve though, housing minister David Borger said he’s talking to Sydney council to find another site for the garden.

There’s a small crowd milling around on the block opposite the Old Fitzroy pub in Woolloomooloo. But although it’s one of the few unrenovated, unreconstructed parts of East Sydney, this is strictly wholesome.

Wholesome in the true sense of the word: bound by Dowling Street, Reid Avenue and McElhone Street, it’s a community garden, and it’s been interesting to watch it develop over the last couple of years.

The garden is run by local neighbours and friends through the voluntary Greening Woolloomooloo. They’re good at applying for grants, and since first pitching the project in late 2004, have developed the garden into a moderately stable thing.

You can imagine a face off between the gardeners and the usual denizens of a spot like this, tucked between inner city apartments, highway overpasses, and dark lanes. But graffiti is a big part of this garden.

The garden is divided into roughly four quadrants: upper and lower food production terraces, an art area and nursery, and a lower decorative terrace. It uses water harvesting at various points, and a water storage tank.

It’s a garden that makes me want to walk through the area just to see how it’s growing.