Analysis of Residential Areas in Sydney: Auburn Vs. Double Bay

The Sydney suburbs of Auburn and Double Bay are different societies culturally, economically, racially and this was easily seen in a comparison between the two.

The most obvious differences between the two suburbs are found through cultural observations. Auburn City Council's slogan is "many cultures, one community" and the reason for this is immediately evident when walking down the suburbs main street. Shops line the street selling foods and products from many different cultures, the main being Australian, Turkish, Arabic and Asian. Young Muslim families wonder up the street, a considerable number of mothers, daughters and women wearing the hijab and in conservative clothing. This is a sight not to be seen in Double Bay as the main street is lined with modern Australian shops and all signs are in English. The strong majority of people are of Anglo-Saxon decent and those who are not come from far western European countries such as Italy and France and all are dressed in what is considered to be 'fashionable' clothing

The shops of the two main streets were amazingly different. Whilst Auburn Street contained many discount and variety shops combined with fresh fruit markets and kebab shops, Double Bays' main street is made up of expensive looking clothing shops and sit down caf. Auburn shopping village contains a Coles, shoe repairs, fruit market and discount clothes shops. One of the many shopping villages of Double bay contains a Japanese restaurant, lingerie shop, boutiques and an expensive dolls shop.

Auburn Street is more practical for a family orientated society, with the necessities being the basis of stock and cheap food, clothes and personal items easily at hand. Most of the shops are family run and there are innumerable numbers of young families. The street is crowded and busy with large groups of friends and families.

Double Bay is a more individual orientated society, with the majority of shops for personal beauty and fashion and individual 'wants' compared to 'needs'. There was not one full family in site and the street was in fact almost empty, not lined with people as in Auburn. The occasional middle aged woman was browsing the shops or out for coffee with a friend and one or two young men in suits walking with a definite purpose.

Auburn Street was plastered with posters and signs, most written in Turkish in a disorganised fashion and shops are crowded to the brim with items. I could not read what most of the posters were advertising, an example of a barrier of communication due to my lack of language knowledge. An incredible amount of the English signs were advertising overseas calls, mainly to Middle Eastern countries, for cheap prices. This reflects the large percentage of the migrant population and people with family and friends overseas in the Middle East.

In Double Bay there were no posters or bills advertising anything and the shops were all neat, clean and almost empty. This reflects the wealth of the shop owners and the expensive of each individual item. All shop names were in English, except a few 'fashionable' shops whose names were in French.

Newspapers from all over the world were available in the Auburn newsagents, for example the Middle East Herald and papers from Iran, Brazil. The papers on display in Double Bay were Sydney Papers and the international ones were all in a small bookcase examples being from New Zealand, Ireland, France and Italy and this reflects the dominate European culture.

The wealth of the suburbs is also easily visible in not only house and rental prices but shop prices and people's clothes and cars. Price tags are abundant in Auburn and are proudly displayed in windows and all through the shops due to low prices where as in Double Bay prices must be asked for or are written in tiny numbers hidden in the clothes tags to hide the expense.

An example of the great difference in prices is seen in the price of wholemeal bread in Auburn compared to Double bay- $1.70 to $4.00 respectively, of half price lingerie of Auburn, $7 and half price lingerie of Double Bay, $130, and men's hair cuts of Auburn, $8, to those of Double Bay, $60. The wealth of the area is also seen in the types of average cars in Auburn- mainly being old 80s/90s model Toyotas and Holdens in the style of 4 door or van compared to those of Double Bay- new modern BMW, Jaguars, Audis, Mercedes, Voltswagon etc.

The businesses of Auburn main street demonstrated a very different society to that of Double Bay. Businesses in view in Double Bay were lawyers, accountants, "wealth clubs", and real estate and expensive hotels. There were also many real estate agents in Auburn, and family health and planning clinics. Two businesses that stood out were the S.T.A.R.T.T.S (Service for the Treatment And Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors) and a business which was accountants, solicitors, financial planners and home loans all in one. This is very different to Double Bay were professionals and businesses were specialized and there was no rehabilitation centre in sight and shows the very different lifestyles of the suburbs populations.

The average house in Auburn is small one story fibro buildings with a small lawn and mainly undecorated exterior. An exception is in the modern looking apartment buildings being constructed, showing the growing wealth of the suburb. There are many high rise apartment buildings in Double Bay, and fashionable done up terrace houses as well as the million dollar houses.

Mannerisms and gestures that stood out most were seen in the behaviour of the people to one another. In Auburn a boy on a scooter fell over and automatically everyone around him rushed over to help him and make observations on his fall. This was a gesture of kindness that demonstrated the close family nature of the society. Although we didn't see any children fall over in Double Bay, maybe because there weren't any around, one would stereotypically assume that such a reaction would not occur as people in Double Bay seemed to take no notice of one another.

One of the stereotypes I have been encultured with since I was young was that wealthy people are always unfriendly; especially towards teenagers and that shop assistants in expensive shops are prejudice against ordinary people. Although many of the shops and people encountered in Double Bay did give off this impression, one shop assistant was surprisingly nice, polite and helpful. I was quite taken aback by her kindness and it caused me to revaluate my own prejudices against such people.

In both Auburn and Double Bay I personally experienced cross culture encounters, as I am not associated with either cultures on a regular basis, and felt that I stood out greatly in both places. In Auburn there was the language barrier to be broken and the cultural unawareness in the Mosk. Many of the men also took particular notice of us because and although some girls were disturbed by this I realized it as part of the culture and attempted to act modestly.

Although I belong to the dominant of Double Bay I still felt out of place because I was unfamiliar with my surroundings and due of the wealth of the suburb. I felt that when conversing with people they were judgemental of the clothes I was wearing and the status that I portrayed.

The observations made of the two suburbs show them to contain very different cultures and be different societies and the research conducted also backs up this observation with statistical evidence. The fact that both cultures live harmoniously together in the city of Sydney demonstrate Australia's very multi cultural society.