What was the significance of living where you lived?
In Richmond in the 1900s, the social scale was like the geography
of the town. The rich would life at the top of the hill, and the poor would
live at the bottom. The top was fresh and sophisticated, with Churches and shops.
But, the bottom was polluted and dirty with many gas producing factories and
diseases. Being at the bottom, or in the ‘slums’ meant that your home would’ve
gotten flooded very often. Then, Richmond was very close to the Yarra River
meaning when it rained, the river could overflow and run into the town of
Richmond. Homes would be damp and perfect conditions of diseases to spread.
Because that part of town was so poor, people would not have enough money to
repair broken homes so they would continue to be damaged. On the other hand, homes
that housed the rich rarely flooded as severely as they did in the slums,
sometimes not even at all. The top was what Melbourne saw of Richmond, hiding
their factories at the bottom of the hill so Richmond was seen as desirable and
a rich place to live with culture even though it was not. Poverty made up the
vast majority of Richmond.
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