McElhone Place

Surry Hills’ Secret Garden Street!
Tucked away behind South Dowling St and parallel to Fitzroy St is this amazingly unique piece of landscaping art!
The residents of this street campaigned to make the street a no-​parking alleyway, and have banded together with a residential maintenance promise to overgrow their gardens in abundance to create this gorgeous, leafy, blossom-​filled lane. All in memory of one of the Place’s first residents, Olive (Ollie) Batty. There is a plaque fixed to the outside of one of the houses in the Place that reads:
«Ollie and her partner Jimmy were best known in Surry Hills as two of the original residents of McElhone Place. Ollie was famous for the greening of the lane that started with a simple window box and some pot plant to break the monotony of the concrete asphalt around their home. This was quickly copied by her neighbours until the street became the icon it is today. Awards were given by the Sydney City Council and later the South Sydney Council for the unique garden she and the residents had developed. Ollie was a woman who was truly loved by all who knew her — friends and family alike.
This plaque was unveiled by the mayor of South Sydney Councilor Vic Smith on 3 May 1997.»
The dedication to Ollie ends with a summary of her philosophy:
FRIENDSHIP, COMPANIONSHIP, LOVE.
The garden certainly boasts all of this, with the neighbourly union in maintaining the gardens and their commitment towards Ollie’s tradition representing the friendship, the array of cats lounging in the alley that seem to own the Place representing companionship, and the fruits of the garden that grows in abundance representing the love that is felt for the area.
Such a lovely place to be, in the heart of a concrete jungle just 2kms from the CBD, McElhone Place is honestly a trip into a whole other Place! Another must see for photographers, Sydney-​historians, locals and tourists alike will fall in love with this lane way!