#woolloomooloo

History leaks from many of its streets.

Burraphore Place is an example, down on their luck men for many decades have often passed here on their way to a soup kitchen.

Miss Fisher Australia Tour (50)

We knew that Hugh and Dot were big motion picture fans as they often went to the movies on their dates. In S2E1 Murder Most Scandalous, Hugh met someone else who shared the same love – Mrs. Blunt. The scene of those two discussing the Fatty Finn movie was hilarious. The first time I saw Jack rolling his eyes in the foreground, I thought that this particular film was not his cup of tea (his former father-in-law described it as “some kind of nonsense at the pictures”), but we later learned that Jack preferred not to attend the pictures in general if he could help it (S2E9 Framed for Murder). This got me thinking when was the last time he went to a movie and if it was with Rosie. What kind of movie did she like? Did she share his love for Shakespeare? Did he recite verses to her too? Which ones?

Anyway, I should stick to the topic, Fatty Finn. According to Wikipedia, it was a popular long-run Australian comic strip series, created in 1923 by Syd Nicholls. It ran in syndication until the creator’s death in 1977. In 1927, a silent black and white film was released featuring Fatty Finn and his goat, which must be the Kid Stakes movie that Hugh and Mrs. Blunt were talking about. When she told Jack that “I know goat racing is illegal in Woolloomooloo”, I got curious. Could this be the name of a real place? Apparently so!

Woolloomooloo is a suburb of Sydney. There were a number of theories regarding the origin of the name in Aboriginal culture, varying wildly from “place of plenty” or “young black kangaroo” to “field of blood” or “windmill”. (See Wikipedia for details.) It is home to the Finger Wharf, built between 1911 and 1915 and considered “the largest wooden structure in the world”. Since my visit this time will be in the Melbourne area only, I shall file this destination under “for future reference”.

TOKI ITALIAN INSPIRED, Woolloomooloo

Cuisine: Italian

Street light, March 2018, © JK Blackwell | film is not dead