Elwood has been my home for 15 years, same house, same street. The only home my children have known. When I moved back to the city I knew I needed to feel space, see the horizon and experience the seasons. Elwood does all this.

I know in Summer I will find it hard to park out the front. I know every Spring the possums will win and the Wisteria will lose — but still try again next year. I know in October I will cough and splutter as the washing goes on the line, or waiting at the school gate, as the Plane trees release their bum fluff into the air.

I learned early on that, just as some Elwoodians would gladly take to their Plane trees with a chainsaw, others would stand defiantly in their path. I learned that Elwood is full of contradictions, of surprises and wears the scars and spoils of rapid change.

I also know that despite the muck in your throat and eyes and forever tripping over the footpath's lumps and bumps — I will always welcome their canopy every Spring; stay on the lookout for kneedeep piles of crackling Autumn leaves and enjoy their bare branches each Winter.

Elwood would not be Elwood without them.
Councillor Liz Johnstone