The Reinvention of Fyshwick

Posted on 5 November, 2018

Often dismissed as an industrial hub filled with strip clubs, furniture stores and little else, Fyshwick may well be Canberra’s next hotspot. 

It’s a clear, cool winter’s day and a group of bearded hipsters are heatedly discussing politics over cups of expertly-brewed espressos. Within earshot at the café next door, a couple with a baby in tow is tucking into a bowl of chocolate granola porridge. Further down the road, some of Canberra’s most fashion-conscious are scouring the racks for the perfect faux-fur jacket at the new vintage emporium.

There was a time, not so long ago, where this sort of scene was solely reserved for such achingly-cool precincts as Braddon or NewActon. Few could have ever imagined it would ever take place in Fyshwick.

Often dismissed as an industrial hub filled with strip clubs, petrol stations, furniture stores and little else, Fyshwick’s potential has been realised in recent years as it steadily builds a throng of trendy cafés, restaurants and fashion stores.

Think innovative bakeries like Remy’s and Flute, coffee destinations such as ONA Coffee House, Two Hands and Bean and Grain, luxe hamper store Urban Providore, the buzzing new Niche Markets and Designer Op Shop Emporium, and of course, Molonglo Group’s ambitious Dairy Road development, set to be a creative hub on its own (more on that later).

A Canberra craft brewery with onsite Brodburger van.

As the crowds follow suit, it begs the question: is Fyshwick on its way to becoming Canberra’s next hotspot?

The reinvention of Canberra’s suburbs is nothing new—despite its prime location, Braddon was long-overlooked as no more than a couple of light-industrial streets behind Civic, NewActon was a derelict hotel site, and Kingston Foreshore, a swamp.

Gazetted in 1928, Fyshwick was named after Sir Philip Fysh, a Legislator, Federalist and one of the Founders of the Constitution. Its beginnings were unreservedly depressing—one noteworthy portion of the suburb, located between the railway line and Canberra Avenue, was built as an internment camp during early 1918. Known as the Molonglo Internment Camp, it was also referred to as a concentration camp.

The site was intended to accommodate 3,500 German and Austrian nationals being expelled from China; however, once the camp had been established these internees were no longer destined for Molonglo. Instead, the camp housed 150 internees transferred from the Bourke Camp in New South Wales, and the camp was closed in late 1919 after the internees were deported to Germany.

Much later on, the suburb played a pivotal role in the adult entertainment industry; Fyshwick and Mitchell were—and still are—the only two places in the ACT where strip clubs and brothels can operate legally.

Of course, the result was that if you told anyone in Canberra you were going to Fyshwick, it would be met with unreserved sniggers.

Those sniggers were still very much loud and clear when Sasa Sestic decided to open his coffee business, ONA Coffee House, on a then relatively-quiet Wollongong Street in 2011.

Sasa says his choice of location was initially met with a mix of bemusement and astonishment.

“A lot of people were asking me ‘why on earth are you opening a coffee shop there, are you crazy?’ Some of them just plain laughed in my face.”

Sasa Sestic at ONA Fyshwick.

Yet Sasa has had the last laugh; ONA Coffee House is now considered one of the best coffee ventures in the capital, and is packed to the rafters on any given day of the week.

So much so that every year since opening, the café has expanded to cater to the demand, growing from a 280m² space in 2011 to a 2000m² space today.

ONA has also allowed Sasa to achieve important recognition for his work: in 2015, he took out the award for the World’s Best Barista.

“I honestly knew that we would build something great, I never considered it a risk, I just knew that we needed to approach things a different way,” Sasa says.

“We just needed to be different than the others, and at the same time, be approachable for locals. Fyshwick has lower rent than other suburbs in Canberra and pretty good traffic flow, and I have really noticed it growing in recent years with more cars on the streets and more buildings.”

The Muesli Bar

ONA’s next door neighbour, The Muesli Bar, has also experienced enormous success since opening in 2016. Originally operating from home, the business is now described as “the muesli equivalent of a chocolate factory” among its loyal customers.

Owner Lisa says Fyshwick’s lower rents allowed her business to thrive from the get-go.

“Fyshwick has a cool industrial vibe, rent is more affordable than the more traditional retail areas of Canberra like Braddon, there is lots of free parking and the eclectic mix of industrial and retail means that most Canberrans can find a reason to be in Fyshwick and get more done,” she says.

“There are definitely more awesome businesses that keep opening up, especially around Wollongong Street. We have the fabulous Elite Barber near us, Rest and Recovery flotation and massage centre up the road, Matt Blatt opened next to ONA, Capital Brewery is down the road—it’s lots of fun watching what pops up.”

Exterior of Flute Bakery in Fyshwick.

If anyone has their finger on the pulse of Canberra’s redevelopment, it’s Johnathan Efkarpidis. As one of the directors of The Molonglo Group, Johnathan helped transform the NewActon precinct into a cultural destination, and now has his sights set on Fyshwick.

Molonglo Group has owned a 14-hectare site located on Fyshwick’s Dairy Road, adjacent to the Jerrabomberra Wetlands, for 18 years. Over the next 10–15 years, the site will be populated with more than 50 buildings combining artist residences and studios, retail, light industrial, commercial, creative and cultural spaces.

Several businesses have already moved into the space, including pub Capital Brewing Co, industrial designers Red Robot, Barrio Coffee Roasters, gin distillery Big River Distillery, chocolate company Jasper and Myrtle and printing and design company 42 Lines Letterpress, along with the Bloc Haus bouldering gym, Vertikal Indoor Snow Sports Centre and Kidsplore play space.

Johnathan says commercial tenants are essential in opening the site up and welcoming the wider community.

“All of the businesses are Canberra businesses; this has been very important to the Dairy Road project,” he says.

“It’s not just about renting out space; if Dairy Road is to emerge as a living and working village, and for it to be a meaningful place, then fundamentally it must be about the people who live and work here. That’s vital.”

With Fyshwick just a stone’s throw from Manuka and Kingston, Johnathan says he has long realised its potential.

“Fyshwick has always been more to Canberra than an industrial area; it has long accommodated an eclectic mix of niche and specialist businesses and services that don’t fit neatly into the conventional Canberra planning model of town, group and local centres,” he says.

“We’re conscious that those niches are increasingly being occupied by local makers and innovators, and we’d like to extend that Fyshwick tradition by prioritising spaces for those kinds of operators at Dairy Road.”

Since announcing the tenants involved in Dairy Road, Johnathan has noticed public perception changing around the area itself.

“When the process of finding new tenants began twelve to eighteen months ago, no one had heard of Dairy Road—we were always having to explain where it was. Now a great many people know where it is and are curious about it, talking about it. That’s because of the tenants there,” he says.

Long-term, Johnathan would like to see Dairy Road as a thoughtful and sustainable prototype for how Canberrans might live and work together.

He admits planning and designing for 10, 20, 50 years down the track is a complex endeavour, as technologies and needs change over time.

“Our next steps will be to activate the area with things like live music performances and markets,” Johnathan says.

“We have also started works on a village green, which is another really important part of what makes a village: a public space that can act as a meeting place and a place to access certain shared amenities. In a traditional European village it was typically something like a water fountain; here it will be free WiFi, an electric bike share station, a pedal bike share station and a PopCar share van.

“Basically, we are at the stage of imagining what Dairy Road could become. A big part of this re-imagination will be informed by a public participation and engagement program to collect ideas and community input to help determine the future of this site.”

Saint Valentine, within Designer Op Shop Emporium.

Perhaps one of the most telling examples of Fyshwick’s rise is one of its newest residents, the Designer Op Shop Emporium.

Owners Taylor Pitsilos and her mother Sharyn made the decision this year to pack up their shop in bustling Braddon to a much larger space in Fyshwick, and haven’t looked back since.

“Immediately it’s been a better experience, for us as the owners, and our customers,” says Taylor, as she settles back in one of the store’s deep-green velvet sofas.

“The parking is better, the space is bigger—people arrive and they are calm as they didn’t just have to circle for ages looking for a park, and that alone already makes for a better customer experience and, as a result, better sales.

“Back at Braddon, we’d often lose sales because people would be stressed about their parking about to run out, and just have to leave all of a sudden. We’re the kind of business you really need time to look around.”

The emporium joins fellow vintage clothing ventures Material Pleasures and Down Memory Lane, boosting Fyshwick’s appeal as a fashion destination.

Taylor and Sharyn currently share their large space with twelve other vendors, including homewares creator Luxe and Beau and Hackett florist Saint Valentine, allowing for an immersive shopping experience.

The venue will also look to open a coffee corner within the store, with a “chill out” lounge area.

“The idea is you can spend the whole day here, and this is something we’ve always envisaged, but we just didn’t have the chance in Braddon due to the space,” she says.

“Making the move here has allowed for that creativity, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store next for Fyshwick.”

A trip around Fyshwick

• DOS Emporium
• The Flute Bakery
• Material Pleasures
• Down Memory Lane
• Remy’s Bakery
• ONA
• Niche Markets
• Dairy Road Precinct
• Canty’s Bookshop
• Muesli Bar
• Urban Providore
• Pellegrino’s
• Two Hands
• Canberra Outlet Centre
• Matt Blatt
• Inside Story
• Fyshwick Fresh Food Markets

PHOTOGRAPHY Tim Bean

This article originally appeared in Magazine: RISE for Spring 2018, available for free while stocks last. Find out more about Magazine here.

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