Tram Town
Saturday, January 17, 2004
| Category: Names I was driving through Brunswick today on my way to an eventually aborted supermarket shopping expedition and I noticed what I considered to be an unusual street name: "Cocoa Jackson Lane". It's in recent Melway's so it's not just some clown putting up a street sign unilaterally. I had to find out what it was all about. Google failed me. As it happened, my mother (70-something) was down in Paynesville visiting her sister (80-something). Both were raised in Brunswick in a milk bar next to the town hall so I thought they might have some idea who CJ might be. Before the GSM-connected mobile link to my mother crapped-out, I had drawn a blank. I decided to try Mooter, a search engine that I found and mentioned here. It came up with the goods very effectively. The lane was named, with sensible deference but eventual dismissal of political correctness, by the council during a "close personal friend" of mine's mayoralty. It was named for the nickname of a boxer from the West Indies called Fred James who settled in Brunswick in 1930. When my mum rang back I asked if she or hers knew of Fred James, the sister said "Oh yes, of course!". Oh, and BTW, I suspect Robert Larocca will end up with a guernsey in Canberra eventually. You heard it here first. |
