“I’ve never ever heard it called that either”, a couple of friends agreed with me a few months ago. We were referring to the newspaper description of the Surry Hills (formerly Redfern) Shopping Village as “The Murder Mall”.
I have lived in Surry Hills for over twenty years and have never heard it called “The Murder Mall” until a few months ago.
Yes, I’ve heard it called “The Methadone Mall” and yes, I’ve heard it called “The Fruit & Nut Mall” (think about it), but never heard it called “The Murder Mall”.
We agreed, it sounds like it was made up by some people in public relations, confusing the mall with the nearby public housing towers which do indeed have a reputation for suicide.
This is a terrific little shopping centre, only a couple of hundred metres from my home. When it closes, it will inconvenience me for a couple of years until the new mall is built.
To me, the whole discussion about this is around middle class and aspirant disdain for the large public housing population who live in the area. Across the road, they’ve tried twice now to take “The Crown Hotel” upmarket, to get rid of the “riff-raff” as Basil Fawlty would say, but every time the same public housing and working class population keep attending.
I’m sure one day they’ll try to do a “Sirius” on the “Northcott Towers”, turning them into another generic apartment block, moving the public housing people further west, which will be a sad day indeed.
Rant over.
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