'Escaping from suburbia is the story I've heard many people tell over the years, but it's never been a story that I relate to. For me, the suburbs represent refuge, even precious culture, as they do for many others. After all, the mass migrations of the twentieth century brought with them the multicultural transformations of countless Australian suburbs. So where I feel most at home is Sydney's south-western suburbs; at home as I could ever feel in Australia, anyway.' (Introduction)