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When Moving From Your Home Is So Much More Than A Change Of Address

Sydneysiders mourn the loss of their communities in the face of enormous change.
Millers Point residents face uncertain times as their community changes around them.
Fairfax
Millers Point residents face uncertain times as their community changes around them.

For the past three years, a small group of inner-city residents have been waging a quiet battle to save their community after the State Government decided to sell social housing dwellings in the Rocks and Miller's Point.

The residents that have been battling for three years want to remain in their community, and want older public housing residents living in the community for decades to be re-housed nearby.

Those who now remain-- about 50 as of last year, and down to about 25 now -- this past Sunday marked three years since they were told by the State Government they'd be moved on to other areas. For lifelong residents of the area it means a jarring reconfiguration of the life they knew and their futures.

It's an experience shared by other Sydney residents as well, some of whom have been forced to sell their homes and move as the city expands its infrastructure through inner west as part of the multi-billion Westconnex project.

Local resident of Millers Point Public housing in Sydney historical Rocks district, Barney Gardner in his home.
Fairfax Media via Getty Images
Local resident of Millers Point Public housing in Sydney historical Rocks district, Barney Gardner in his home.

As part of this week's HuffPost Humans episode, Displacement, I spoke to one former St Peter's resident, Anne, who still grieves for the home she had to sell and the community she left behind.

We also spoke with Barney Gardner and Dawn Caruana, two of a handful of Miller's Point public housing residents who still remain after their community was changed.

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