The Walking Neighbourhood

Beside the hustle of Valley traffic, excited feet lead our expeditions five minutes to local places - gelato, Rubberband Alley, graffiti and ‘walk on boots’.

Will, Lone, Rosie and I are captivated by a pair of knee-high brown leather boots. Eyes sparkling above a patchwork heart on a white-fringed tee, our tour guide says: “We’ve learned in the Valley it’s a bit more dangerous to cross the road than usual as lots of people go through red lights.”

Across two streets and down the hill is a two-storey brick building. Many men made money from selling creek water in the ‘snake oil’ era of the 1860s, but not the Valley apothecary’s owner. The skeleton of Australia’s pharmaceutical guidelines were written upstairs and finished in Sydney.

Now a shoe store, it’s been in the Downes family for more than 120 years, she says. Penny has enjoyed finding out its history after her mum thought the building interesting.

With red, white and blue trim and a union jack on the door, Downes Shoes proudly sells Doc Martens – one of the few stores in Australia to specialise. Pausing before the display window, Will enthuses over a pair with union jack toes, Rosie picks the paisley boots and Lone adores the zebra stripes. Penny says her gran bought her a pair of shoes here when she was really little, but her favourite boots today are the flowers on blue.

Doc Marten’s first boots were made on 1 April, 1960 – and style 1460 with the air-cushioned sole is still a popular choice, Penny says as she shows them to us on entry.

Store manager Leah Lovelace, Chloe Candy and Disco give us a warm welcome. As Disco models her purple velvet docs for me, Chloe says: “It’s an amazing place: there’s never a dull day.”

There’s a tradition that when you buy a new pair, the old pair of Docs are hung from the ceiling. A female lawyer agrees Docs are cool and beautiful, but, sadly, her old pair don’t join the tradition.

It’s hard to leave the cosy store with its Catholic pew seats and British punk/rock décor, but 10-year-old Penny* has another tour today.

‘The Walking Neighbourhood’ founder Dr Louise Phillips says skilling children up to use public spaces lessens the dangers.

Leah Lovelace says ‘The Walking Neighbourhood’ is a beautiful idea: “Daytime in the Valley is not the same as night time, and everyone tars it with the same brush. The Valley is a safe place to be directed around by a young girl – and there’s an adult with her, of course.”

* Not her real name