Promoting Annandale on the Internet since 1998
from the collections of the State Library of New South Wales
1843s Map of Landgrant of Annandale Estate, showing White's Creek and its tributary, High Road (parramatta road) and White's landgrant (which was left to Martha Moore who subsquently married Thomas Moore - but the couple each other prior to Martha meeting First Fleet Surgeon John White) his Sydney Mistress and mother of two children born in the Colony, on Western bank of Creek. The brick cottage is Annangrove.
The water channel appears on old maps of Annandale. Whites Creek was buried in Pipes. At some stage White's Creek Lane and Ferris Lane were paved with bitumen and designated as a road.
Lane blocked off to cars some time ago - wooden white barriers - but road only officially closed in 2021. "Update on Ferris Lane - November 2021
8 November 2021
Transport for NSW has now approved the permanent closure of Ferris Lane, Annandale. This is the next step towards formalising Ferris Lane as a community garden. Following this announcement, Council plans to:
.Construct a new kerb and gutter, footpath and grass verge to close off Ferris Lane between Whites Creek Lane and Ferris Street, Annandale. The preparations are scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2022 and residents will be notified of the construction closer to the time. Council anticipates the works will be completed by end June 2022.
Facilitate an introduction between the creator of 'Ferris Lane - Magic Lane' and those who expressed interest in helping to manage a public green space. This will take place in February 2022. Source https://yoursay.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/ferrislane/transport-for-nsw-approves-the-permanent-closure-of-ferris-lane (viewed 30 July 2025)
Ferris Lane - Photo Kathy
Kathy & Michael in Ferris Lane, October 2011Kathy had always had a deep desire from a health perspective to connect people to each other, to place & to nature. Ferris Lane provided the perfect space to do this, whilst also further building & enriching community. Nearby, Pig Lane over the creek in Leichhardt also inspired her (at the time communal herbs were grown there and were available). Kathy realised to incorporate communal herbs was a way to start conversations, connections & dialogue between community members.
Her vision was always of a inclusive green space for everyone to enjoy, in whatever way they needed, a place to rest, a space to connect, a place where community & habitat could grow, a place where people could belong.
Kathy resistance to Ferris Lane, being made into a community garden, with individual plots, was critical to achieve this. This was just one of the challenges. But "The Magic Lane" provided far far more rewards.
"We called it the Magic Lane initially because things ‘magically' disappeared, but now there is far more magic appearing thx to the ‘magical’ support & generosity of our divine community" - Kathy
10years later in 2025, the value and Kathy has seen the incredible desire of such public green spaces.
The community have had Xmas parties and Easter egg hunts. Mother's groups, family day care, preschools & individuals visit, with the Teddy Bear, and have tea parties(they are the best hydrated bears in the 'dale). Instagram Post Photographs and Music clips have been recorded in the transformed Lane. Local makers, have gathered, to creating a marketplace for handmaid goods.
Communal compost bins were abandoned(after care for 5 long years, people would drive to deposit their compost), but the seed bank & street library still exist.
Today, 13 different types of Native bees along with frogs, lizards, geckos, lady bugs, grasshoppers, prayer mantis, katydids & more have been seen and photographed.
Kathy is a dreamer & can only imagine what a wonderful world it would be if we could only convert all the dead ugly disused spaces into incredible lush green accessible spaces. None of this would not be possible without the incredible support & generosity of our divine community & of course without my beautiful husband Michael. The vision & philosophy of the magic lane still exists as a inclusive green space where community habitat & magic grows.
Despite the health benefits of urban green spaces(and walking) being so well documented, the Magic Lane needed Kathy to dare to dream.
"It's all about pollination. Thank all the bees and for the seeds they help fertilize."- Gavin Smith OAM, Inner West Beekeepers and Australian Native Bee Association.
"What a treat it was to discover the Magic Garden 9 years ago. My grand children loved searching for the quirky additions, while I browsed or sat enjoying the tranquility, All my visitors are surprise to find such a delight, And there's more to discover and others enjoying it as much as I do."-Jan, Annandale
Other's Comments: "Truly Magical", "Great place for a little Read and Rest", "Magic Place to Visit, especially for young children", "Stumbled upon the the garden on my walk and fell in love. Such a Great idea"
Follow the lane at: facebook.com/share/1B61avTKbP/?mibextid=wwXIfr or instagram.com/the_magic_lane
Conversation Article at Beyond playgrounds: how less structured city spaces can nurture children’s creativity and independence Published: June 27, 2025 8.36am AEST
"This paper explores how urban segregation impacts children’s ability to engage with and temporarily appropriate public spaces, a critical aspect of their spatial, social, and cultural development. Using a post-qualitative inquiry, we integrate Temporary Appropriation and the Speculative Pluriversal Imaginary Research Assemblage Loop (SPIRAL) to examine children’s interactions in Auckland and Venice. While pristine playgrounds in cities like Auckland() ensure safety, they isolate children (3–12 years old) from dynamic urban environments. In contrast, Venice’s integrated spaces foster spontaneous play. We propose design interventions that balance safety and exploration, contributing to regenerative urbanism and equitable public spaces. The study concludes with open-ended questions to inspire future research." - Segregation to inclusion: children’s engagement in urban public spaces published by Jose Antonio Lara-Hernandez online on 24 Jun 2025, https://doi.org/10.1080/23748834.2025.2508663
"The Week of Tastes is a program that culminates in an annual event, designed to change children's relationship with food and address eating habits contributing to the obesity epidemic." -Week of Tastes (Non-profit organisation)
Macquarie University: Sustaining care‐full public space: "develops a multidimensional framework for sustaining care‐full public spaces. We open by engaging with key understandings of the affective and relational dimensions of both public spaces and urban care scholarship. We then set out the elements of a framework for conceptualising the possibility of care‐full public spaces. Writing from feminist and decolonial standpoints, we review emerging and foundational research to delineate three key components of such an approach: (1) governance, (2) materialities and design, and (3) performing public spaces. We then apply the framework, grounding our analysis of care in public spaces in a case study of caring for and as Country in Sydney, Australia. Throughout the paper we emphasise the generative possibility of care as an evaluative frame and central practice that sustains public spaces." Source: https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/sustaining-carefull-public-space, Viewed 2 Aug 2025
"The Blue-Green Grid is a place-based strategy that connects spaces within the wider public realm, through enhancing creek corridors, transport routes, suburban streets, footpaths and cycleways. The 85 links will make a vital contribution to the development of a liveable city."..Blue-Green Grid Strategy, Innerwest Council, https://www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/develop/plans-policies-and-controls/strategic-plans/blue-green-grid-strategy, (viewed 3 August 2025)
Innerwest Council:"Inner West Council is bounded by three primary water bodies – Parramatta River to the north, Cooks River to the South and Sydney Harbour to the east – and contains 5 tributary creek systems – Dobroyd Canal, Hawthorne Canal, Whites Creek, Johnstons Creek and Alexandra Canal. ..Inner West Council can be divided into 9 primary catchments (and suburbs)..Whites Creek Annandale (west of Johnston Street), Leichhardt (east of Norton Street), Lilyfield, Stanmore (west of Percival Road)...Whites Creek Catchment Management Study (PDF 2.4MB)" - Flooding in the Inner West, https://www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/live/environment-and-sustainability/in-your-neighbourhood/rivers-and-waterways/flooding (viewed 3 August 2025)
Sydney Water is responsible for White's Creek Annandale. "Whites Creek, formerly known as White's Creek, was once a natural waterway that was concreted to improve sanitation.[1] The creek is now a heritage–listed artificial waterway located in the inner–west region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. "..Whites Creek (Annandale), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whites_Creek_(Annandale) (viewed 3 August 2025)
Ferris Lane is featured in Quirky Annandale by John Garindiner available at Annandale Village Newsagency, (at Shops) Johnston St. Also on Annandale & Lilyfield Wren Project (viewed 17 August 2025).