Our major study for 2011 is the history of the Artarmon Shopping Precinct.The precinct is a series of small buildings erected in the 1920s along Hampden Road, Elizabeth Street and Wilkes Avenue. The buildings lie within the Artarmon Conservation Area and so their facades are generally unchanged. But who have owned the properties? Who have owned the businesses? What types of businesses have operated here? How have the businesses changed over time? Who are the current business owners? And what insights into Artarmon can the changing nature of the businesses reveal?

Stage 1 results of the study will be exhibited during Heritage Week, April 2-16, at Artarmon Library. Visitors to the exhibition will receive a walking map to take them through the precinct to look at the buildings and businesses.  Please mark the dates in your diaries.

The research will continue throughout 2011 and towards the end of the year we hope to arrange an evening panel discussion when some of the business owners will talk about their lives and their businesses and the future of the precinct. The exhibition, the walk, the seminar and the publicity will be a wonderful opportunity to promote Artarmon’s business precinct as an important community asset.

The outcomes from the study will be presented to the Local History section of Willoughby City Library at the end of 2011 and will be a permanent record of the shopping precinct and the people who have shaped it.

Business owners: please support the project.  We will be sending questionnaires to all business owners and recording interviews over the next few months. The business' survey can also be downloaded from the link in the right hand column.

Friends in the Artarmon Community: If you have stories about the shopping centre, or have photographs etc, please contact us. If you would like to help in other ways, please volunteer.The user's survey can also be downloaded from the link in the right hand column.

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