Description2021 City Photographer, Helene Cochaud: Darren, or Macca as he's locally known, has had his locksmith shop for close to 30 years. He tells me the premises was originally a pizza shop (he had to get rid of the pizza oven) and at one stage he had five tradesmen working for him.
"In this trade you never stop learning, there's always new locks you haven’t pulled apart or re-keyed or haven't opened – it’s interesting... That's the only way to learn locksmithing - you gotta put your hands on it."
Working six days a week and twelve hours a day, he travels between his shop and clients all over Sydney. There is no typical day Darren tells me, as every day brings new and interesting work. From call-outs from the police, to providing landlords access to properties left to ruin by disgruntled tenants, to helping the elderly who have locked themselves out panicking because they need their medication.
Darren relishes the mental challenges of locksmithing and keenly keeps up to date with new technological advances. His aged workspace is a mishmash of equipment, tools, safes, keys and locks, but ask Darren where anything is and he can lay his hands on it in no time.
An earnest and down to earth man, he has put his heart and soul into the business and is well liked in the community. Darren repeatedly goes out of his way to help people, building a strong rapport with his clientele over the years. He often receives personal tokens of gratitude such as cards and fruit cakes at Christmas time.
"It's changed for the better. Fairfield's definitely turned the corner...It's got to be one of the world's most multicultural suburbs, there's that many different nationalities...and it's good because the kids now have taught the parents English because they've gone to school...and now I'm re-keying the children's locks because the children, who are now married, say 'My dad says you're the best, c'mon Darren come and change my locks...'."
PhotographerHelene CochaudGeolocation[1] FairfiedNotesThese photographs are part of the 2021 City Photographer project.
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Image ColourColourTypeDigitalCopyrightPartial restriction. Please contact Fairfield City Heritage Services for image use.AcknowledgementHelene Cochaud, 2021 Fairfield City Photographer. Image courtesy of Fairfield City Heritage Collection.
