The Haberfield Association is a community heritage organisation that is concerned with the preservation of Haberfield’s historic architecture, streetscape and character. Importantly, it had its beginnings in 1980, as an activist group which was concerned with the preservation of the suburb, which at the time was threatened with destruction by developers. After many successes over the years, helping raise awareness about the suburb’s historical significance, and indeed their integral role in Haberfield’s listing as the very first conservation area in NSW, the Association has been facing a bit of a dilemma in recent years. Membership rates have been declining, and they represent an aging group of nonetheless very high spirited and active individuals. Their greatest concerns as a result lay in who comes next, in who will continue their work in protecting this historic site, which they rightly argue represents far more than what most people, even residents understand it to be. 

Haberfield was of course an experiment for Australia’s future; the very beginning of a suburban ideal that has been in many ways corrupted – the principles of which represent interestingly those very elements that the world’s leading urban planners are trying to integrate back into our communities today. The future of the Haberfield Association is thus encapsulated in two challenges: how they will sustain their organisation beyond the current generation; and how can the story of Haberfield be disseminated in a way that is easily accessible and will lead to a communal understanding that this suburb is something worth protecting, even in the face of major infrastructure projects (like West-Connex) that are posited as ‘essential’ for the future of Sydney. 

It is in the face of these core challenges that I proposed modernising the Association’s online presence and platform would be the first and perhaps most integral step in reforming the organisation, but importantly in communicating the crucial stories which underpin the importance of it all. The Haberfield Association did have a website, however it was severely outdated and difficult to navigate. It had great potential as a resource, but it was largely unfinished. The lost opportunity of which became increasingly apparent as I began speaking with association members, who clearly represented a wealth of knowledge, wisdom and important reflections about why so much energy had been devoted to its preservation. Yet all this knowledge was restricted to the rooms in which such conversations were held. And of course, this is not where the stories are needed most desperately. 

To put the potential power of this resource into perspective, it is important to consider the amount of traffic this unfinished, under-utilised resource was achieving. Indeed, after I had acquired the host-server login details for the Association website, this was one of the first things I investigated. I discovered, much to my surprise – after the impression from members that the website was not attracting much attention – that it was receiving on average 1100 unique visitors per month. Clearly, this is quite an impressive number, and though these visitors predictably represented mostly Sydney-siders there were also a substantial number from around Australia, and indeed the world. 

The power of a web-platform as a way to communicate these stories was thus quite evident. But then the challenge remained – how could this information be presented in a way that was accessible to all? The solution laid mostly in the visual elements which would form the basis of the website; and this was mostly situated in the historical photos project, which constituted much of my early work with the Haberfield Association. Photos were sourced from the Association’s collections itself, but also primarily from the Mitchell Library, along with some extras from the Ashfield Library - their dates range mostly from 1905-1925. 

In the new website’s final design the front page, presents a detailed, clear and attractive photograph of Haberfield’s shopping centre in 1916. It is a sight that would be recognisable to most residents, and thus provides an important ‘hook’. The page then transforms into images of archetypal homes, and other important symbols, introducing the visitor to what will become some core themes throughout the website. Crucially, amongst this is an icon that invites the visitor to ‘Discover’, and upon clicking it leads to a more detailed visual presentation that employs a slider effect, in which a historical image of a Haberfield sight is placed to the left, accompanied by an image on its right from the same angle and of the same landmark in the modern day. I argue that the power of such an effect lays in its ability to bring the past directly into the lives of people who pass these sights every day, but also to convey the nature of changing urban space – forcing the visitor to consider whether it has changed for the better or worse. As such, this feature really is designed for ‘new’ visitors, but is nonetheless a powerful image for anyone. Importantly, at the bottom of each page there is then an option to ‘continue your journey’, which leads originally to a more detailed photo gallery, then to a ‘history overview’ page, which again invites the reader to read in more detail. In all, three chronological chapters unfold from this initial history page, so that potentially the visitor has been drawn from a visual hook (on the front page), right through the story Haberfield. Hopefully they will have arrived on the other side, with an appreciation of its value, and perhaps an inclination to get involved or at least become aware of the Association’s activities on the ‘about us’ page. 

From the beginning there is, importantly, an option to skip straight to any content from the top menu. And this will be most useful for present association members, those more interested in the activist element of the organisation, and its upcoming projects, campaigns and events. The website is fully integrated with social media (which I am also in the process of setting up in order to advertise the new website), and it even has a ‘discussion’ page which will allow for article submissions from anyone who wishes to contribute, and share reflections. The website, also sports a ‘Research and Resources’ page, not only as a place for a bibliography, but as a page which will continue to function as a communal database for all things related to Haberfield. 

Ultimately I believe that this project, though it cannot by itself ensure the continued thriving of the Haberfield Association, will be crucial to its revitalisation. What has been created is a resource that can and will continually be added to, and relatively easily through its simplified WordPress ‘Habas Member’ login interface. More articles, or ‘fact files’ can be added at any time, but importantly people will be able to access these resources from anywhere. The hope is that the Association will be better able to organise their activities and campaigns, but also to recruit new members through a growing and living online ‘meeting place’. The importance of Haberfield will hopefully become better known, beyond a superficial salutation to its title as the ‘Garden Suburb’. 

As one Haberfield Association member said to me: ‘Haberfield is a way of life’, not because it represents an exclusive community, but because it is a symbol of how Australians envisioned a better life  one where community, nature, and opportunity met, and flourished. It would be a great shame, and indeed a tragedy if this vision was lost to concrete megastructures, which represent in many ways the corruption of the suburban ideal. Thus I hope that this project, though really a small start, will continue to be of great benefit for many years to come. 

— JOSHUA FAVALORO

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