'Audaciousville : the story of Dacey Garden Suburb, Australia's first public housing estate' by Samantha Sinnayah, City of Botany Bay Council

One of our authors and a great supporter of the project, Sam Sinnayah, has just published a book based on her wonderful exhibition about Daceyville, one of Sydney's most interesting suburbs. Sam is  curator at the George Hanna Museum, run by the City of Botany Bay Council, and curated an exhibition on Daceyville there in 2010. The book's called Audaciousville:the story of Dacey Garden Suburb, Australia's first public housing estate. Sam also wrote our entry on Daceyville and helped us find some of the great images we've illustrated it with. But her book is even more extraordinary -- with great images and fascinating detail about the origin of the Dacey Garden Suburb project, the different architects and designers, the architectural styles and the changes to plans forced by budget constraints and resistance by builders. Best of all are the photos and stories from residents of the suburb, both past and present, which illustrate the lived gap between planning and experience. Where the architects saw an innovative cul-de-sac design, the kids saw a good seculded place for fights. Where the garden designers saw iconic palm trees, the kids saw a source for bows and arrows.

Pages 18 & 19 of 'Audaciousville:Audaciousville : the story of Dacey Garden Suburb, Australia's first public housing estate'

The book was published with the assistance of a federal grant under the Your Community Heritage program, and is a very worthy result of that excellent program. You can read it online via Trove. If you'd like to get a copy, email museum@botanybay.nsw.gov.au for further details.