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Friday, May 12, 2023

No longer top dog? Gundagai’s old Greek cafe could become more popular than the Tuckerbox - Sydney Morning Herald

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The restoration of Australia’s longest-running Greek cafe – the Niagara in Gundagai – to when it was bright with 1930s art deco bling and a routine stop for hungry prime ministers may knock the dog off its tuckerbox in popularity.

Its booths are full; the 120-year-old Niagara is back in operation after a restoration by owners Luke Walton and Kym Fraser, and the cafe’s revamp has won the president’s prize in this year’s 2023 National Trust (NSW) Heritage Awards.

The Niagara Cafe in Gundagai. A restoration of the cafe has been awarded a major prize.

The Niagara Cafe in Gundagai. A restoration of the cafe has been awarded a major prize. Credit: Kylie Shaw

Matt Devine, the chair of the jury and a lecturer in conservation at Sydney University’s school of architecture, said the awards – decided by an independent jury – recognised excellence and raised awareness of Australian history.

“We need to tell stories of the past. The whole point of heritage is that it is about identity, belonging and a sense of place. It helps create a sense of familiarity and belonging, bringing communities together and connecting us to our shared past, in all its diversity,” he said.

The Trust’s Judge’s Choice award – the ‘best in show’ out of 80 entries – was awarded to Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects for the $48 million restoration and conservation of Bondi Pavilion, which reopened last September. The judges said the Bondi Pavilion was a “remarkable project of great importance and enduring significance”.

The restoration of the Bondi Pavilion was also awarded a prize.

The restoration of the Bondi Pavilion was also awarded a prize.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

The Cobar Sound Chapel, which transformed a rusty 1901 water tank into a musical venue with a permanent sound installation by composer Georges Lentz, won the award for adaptive reuse. It was “a magical collaboration that was inspired by the outback landscape,” the judges said.

In Sydney, Judy Watson’s 6.4-metre high “bara”, a monument to the Eora nation, on the headland above Dubbagullee (Bennelong Point) won the Aboriginal Heritage prize. It remembers the bara (fishhooks) made by Gadigal women for thousands of years and re-imagines ancient gathering spaces on the headlands.

Judy Watson’s “bara”, a monument to the Eora nation, won the Aboriginal Heritage prize.

Judy Watson’s “bara”, a monument to the Eora nation, won the Aboriginal Heritage prize.Credit: Chris Southwood

Devine said Watson’s sculpture told an “important story”. “Heritage doesn’t always have to be old, and many entries in the Aboriginal heritage prize have been recent, but tell important and ancient Indigenous stories.”

He said the president’s prize was granted to outstanding projects such as the Niagara Cafe that didn’t always fit in other categories, had a small budget and couldn’t compete with larger projects such as the Bondi Pavilion.

Fraser and Walton bought the cafe at the beginning of the pandemic. As well as the restoration of the counter mirrors, its famous booths, the neon lights and the sign at the front, they installed a new kitchen to make it a viable business.

The owners of the Niagara, Luke Walton (left) and Kym Fraser.

The owners of the Niagara, Luke Walton (left) and Kym Fraser.Credit: Effy Alexakis

Before Walton and Fraser, it was owned by two Greek families. It was the Castrission family who bought the Niagara in 1938, and travelled to the United States to “fix it up to the latest Hollywood style”, said Leonard Janiszewski, a historian and curator from Macquarie University.

Leonard Janiszewski predicts the Niagara will become a more popular tourist destination than the Dog on the Tuckerbox.

Leonard Janiszewski predicts the Niagara will become a more popular tourist destination than the Dog on the Tuckerbox.

Janiszewski and photographer and documentary maker Effy Alexakis interviewed the previous owners of the Niagara in the recently republished Greek Cafes & Milk Bars of Australia.

Jack Castrission told Janiszewski in 1987 that the style was “American streamline moderne (sic) art deco”. It was “all coloured glass and shiny metal surfaces, large reflective mirrors, polished marble, wooden booths, neon lights, air-conditioning, wave windows in the front,” he said.

“It was ‘Australia’s Wonder Cafe’,” Castrission said.

Janiszewski says the cafe was of outstanding cultural value. “It was incredibly exotic in its time, with its dome filled with stars. ”

Everything from the use of lights that changed colour to the design of the sundae containers and the noise of the soda bar – “where you’d hear the whoosh and gurgle” – was designed to create an exotic atmosphere, he said.

Janiszewski predicts the Niagara will become a more popular tourist destination than the Dog on the Tuckerbox.

Castrission described the cafe as an oasis in the desert because it was on the Hume Highway between Sydney and Melbourne.

It was a popular stop for army troops during World War II and for politicians. Castrission said prime minister John Curtin banged on the door of the cafe in the middle of the night.

“I sang out, ‘Too late mate – we’re shut’,” he recalled. When he realised it was the PM, Castrission apologised, saying he thought it was “someone making a nuisance of themselves”.

Curtin said he was cold and hungry, and added that he had some mates in the back of the car. Those mates were future prime minister Ben Chifley and former PM Arthur Fadden, who were driving to Canberra. “We cooked them a meal of steak and eggs,” Castrission told Janiszewski.

2023 National Trust (NSW) Heritage Awards

Other awards to be announced on Friday, before the last weekend of the Australian Heritage Festival, include:

  • Advocacy: Don’t Block The Rocks by the Millers Point Community Resident Action Group
  • Conservation – Built Heritage: Ways Terrace in Pyrmont by the Land and Housing Corporation, and Millers Point Townhouse by Design 5 -Architects
  • Conservation Interiors: The Yellow Dress Project, NIDA

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No longer top dog? Gundagai’s old Greek cafe could become more popular than the Tuckerbox - Sydney Morning Herald
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