Author Christine M Knight’s Blog
A Long Time Passing
In search of a change of pace and in hope of warmer weather today, I travelled to Berrima in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. Berrima is a quaint town dating back to 1836.
In my lifetime, Berrima has been renowned as a top day-trip destination south from Sydney and north from Canberra. Its reputation has been based on its quality goods – nothing kitsch, gourmet foods, the finest in pure merino knitwear and alpaca garments, cosy restaurants, beautiful historic sandstone buildings and homesteads, a variety of galleries, and artisans’ shops.
We arrived in Berrima just after 1pm; it was thirteen degrees Celsius. The day was sunny and the sky a rich crystal blue. The weather was a striking respite from what has been a few bleak freezing weeks in Canberra of single digit temperatures.
It was windy in Berrima though with the wind chill factor making it unpleasant to be outside. Despite this, the town was abuzz with tourists. The air held that spicy fragrance of burning Eucalypt wood fires, which for me have nostalgic romantic connotations of a time that was free from Internet saturated lives and free from environmentalists’ complaints about people seeking a natural warmth in an age-old way.
The cafes and restaurants, a warm retreat from the biting winds, were crammed pack. Nonetheless, my little group found a table situated near a window with a view of a citrus treed courtyard and lavender gardens. A slow-combustion stove burned in the corner of the room. In the sunny warmth, it was easy to forget how cold it was outside.
After a gourmet’s luncheon at reasonable prices, we decided on a stroll around the town with the final destination set as the three shops that specialized in top Australian brand woollen garments and alpaca wear. That stroll became a scurry that quickly evolved into a dash from the haven of one shop to the next with us lingering in each store.
It has been a year since I’ve shopped in Berrima, and today I planned buying a birthday gift for a close relative. I was particularity looking forward to the diversity in selection of upmarket quality woollen merchandise in the last three stores; something no longer evident in the major department stores. Over the seasons when I’ve stopped at Berrima for my winter woollen shopping, I’ve been amazed by the range in sizes and styles as well as the high-fashion artistry of people in that industry. You just don’t see patterns and styles like that in department stores anymore.
When we arrived at the first of the tree stores, we discovered it had been converted into a café. Disappointed, we rushed through the parkland to the remaining two stores. I was shocked to discover only the alpaca garment store remained open for business. I felt very much like the child who had learnt the Grinch had stolen Christmas.
Sadly, there isn’t anyone to counter that ‘theft’. The manufacturing industry in Australia continues to be in decline because businesses that pay first-world wages and that provide first-world working conditions are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with manufacturers in developing countries. It’s a dilemma that needs to be addressed because, let’s face it, most work can be outsourced to developing countries and what do out-of-work people do here then? Luckily for me the complete demise of that industry hasn’t happened as yet.
From now on when I want to buy quality pure merino top Australian knitwear, I’ll have to travel to further north to Camden, another historic town, situated on the southern outskirts of Sydney. I shop at Looking Class on Argyle Street. The shop has a great range of quality woollens for women and men and something unusual in this modern age– great customer service. That town too has much to offer the day-tripper tourist.
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