Richmond and 18 Berry Street Revisited

Abstract

Lesh and Nichols explore the history of Richmond, the inner-city suburb in which much of the action of Dogs in Space takes place, seeking to understand what made this area unique in the 1970s and since. Using examples of early gentrifiers into the area, they touch on the importance of state and federal political machinations and early attempts to preserve elements of Richmond as historically valuable heritage. Using student reports, newspaper materials and archives of the National Trust of Victoria, they build a picture of a suburb in flux throughout much of the twentieth century, relating some of the community activism of the period. They explore the heritage classification of 18 Berry St and the relationship between this classification and the film.