Redfern, New South Wales

Redfern Sydney, New South Wales
The buildings of Redfern viewed from the railway station.
Redfern
Coordinates	33°53′36″S 151°12′17″E
Population	13,072 (SAL 2021)
Postcode(s)	2016
Elevation	37 m (121 ft)
Area	1.2 km2 (0.5 sq mi)
Location	3 km (2 mi) S of Sydney CBD
LGA(s)	City of Sydney
State electorate(s)	Newtown
Federal division(s)	Sydney
Suburbs around Redfern: Chippendale Central Surry Hills Darlington Redfern Moore Park Eveleigh Alexandria Waterloo

Redfern is an inner southern suburb of Sydney located 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. Strawberry Hills is a locality on the border with Surry Hills. The area experienced the process of gentrification and is subject to extensive redevelopment plans by the state government, to increase the population and reduce the concentration of poverty in the suburb and neighbouring Waterloo (see Redfern-Eveleigh-Darlington).

History

The suburb is named after surgeon William Redfern, who was granted 100 acres (0.40 km²) of land in this area in 1817 by Lachlan Macquarie. He built a country house on his property surrounded by flower and kitchen gardens. His neighbours were Captain Cleveland, an officer of the 73rd regiment, who built Cleveland House and John Baptist, who ran a nursery and seed business. Sydney's original railway terminus was built in Cleveland Paddocks and extended from Cleveland Street to Devonshire Street and west to Chippendale. The station's name was chosen to honour William Redfern. At that time, the present Redfern station was known as Eveleigh. When Central station was built further north on the site of the Devonshire Street cemetery, Eveleigh station became Redfern and Eveleigh was retained for the name of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops, south of the station. The remains of Cleveland Paddocks became Prince Alfred Park.

Redfern Post Office, early 1890s

Elizabeth Street in 1890

In August 1859, Redfern was incorporated as a borough. The Municipality of Redfern merged with the City of Sydney from 1 January 1949. The first recorded and codified game of Australian rules football in NSW was played in Redfern on the Albert Ground, Redfern between the Rugby Union Club, Waratah, and the Carlton Football Club from Melbourne.

On 17 January 1908, the South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby football club was formed at Redfern Town Hall to compete in the first season of the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership.

From the 1950s, in the aftermath of World War II, Redfern attracted many immigrants, particularly from Southern Europe. Thousands of refugees (mainly from Eastern Europe, Italy and Greece) arrived in Sydney and settled in areas like Redfern, which offered affordable housing and proximity to work in the industrial and manufacturing sectors. In the same period, Redfern developed into a working-class suburb with a profound sense of community.

In the 1960s and 70s, Liquidambar styraciflua trees were planted in Baptist Street in attempts to green and improve the physical environment. The notorious Redfern Mail Exchange was built in 1965, after 300 people were evicted from their homes on the 2.15-hectare (5.3-acre) site. It became the scene of many industrial disputes when the automatic mail-sorting machinery, which was supposed to sort mail more efficiently, destroyed many letters and became known as the Redfern Mangler.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, a black power movement, centred around Aboriginal Australian migrants to the city, formed and resulted in the creation of health clinics, food drives, housing co-operatives and a legal aid centre. A green ban helped save the Redfern Aboriginal Centre in the 1970s and activists from Redfern created the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra.

The 2004 Redfern riots began on 14 February 2004, at the end of Eveleigh Street outside Redfern station, sparked by the death of Thomas 'TJ' Hickey. The teenager, riding on his bicycle, was allegedly being chased by a police vehicle, which led to his impalement on a fence. Members of his family were then reported to have started grieving for TJ around Eveleigh Street with a crowd gathering commiserating with the family. Fliers were distributed blaming police for TJ's death. The police closed the Eveleigh Street entrance to the railway station, but youths in the crowd became violent, throwing bricks and bottles; this escalated into a riot. A subsequent inquest found that although the police were following Hickey, they had not caused the accident, a verdict that caused controversy in Redfern's Indigenous community. The riots sparked fresh debate into the welfare of Indigenous Australians and the response of the police to those living in the Redfern area.

In 2011, Redfern's most controversial landmark, The Block, was demolished, leading to the eviction of its Aboriginal residents. The slum, where indigenous families lived, brought an end of an era to drugs, violence and crime.

Buildings

The Cleveland Inn on Cleveland Street

Commercial area

The main shopping strip is located on Redfern Street, east of Redfern railway station. There are also commercial developments nearby, along Regent Street and surrounding streets. The Redfern skyline is dominated by the TNT Towers and two residential blocks located between Regent Street and Gibbons Street, beside Redfern railway station.

Transport

Redfern railway station

Redfern railway station, located on the western edge of the suburb is a major station on the Sydney Trains network. Redfern is the first station south from Central Sydney terminus on the edge of the city. Redfern station is the closest station to the main campus of the University of Sydney at Camperdown and Darlington. A near-constant stream of commuters flows from the station along the south side of Lawson Street towards the university in the morning, and back towards the station in a largely hourly rhythm in the afternoon.

Housing

Terraces on Pitt Street

Redfern has many examples of Victorian terraced housing similar to other inner suburbs, such as Surry Hills and Paddington. Also, like some other inner-city suburbs, some parts of Redfern have been gentrified, whilst still retaining a large public housing estate shared with Waterloo, consisting of flats, terrace houses and high rise apartment blocks, developing a similar reputation to the former block on the other side of the suburb.

Churches and schools

St Vincent de Paul Catholic Church is on Redfern Street. St Saviour's Anglican Church (which is also known as one1seven church) is on Young Street. St George Antioch Orthodox Church is on the corner of Walker Street and Cooper Street built by the historic Lebanese community in the area. The Greek Orthodox Church in Cleveland Street is called the Cathedral of the Annunciation of Our Lady, formerly St Paul's Church of England built in 1848 and designed by Edmund Blacket. The St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College sits beside it. Hillsong Church's city campus is at 188 Young Street. There is also another cathedral, the St Maroun’s Cathedral for the Lebanese community.

• 
  Cathedral of the Annunciation of Our Lady
• 
  St Vincent de Paul Catholic Church
• 
  St George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral
• 
  one seven church (St Saviour's Anglican Church)
• 
  Redfern Theological College
• 
  Redfern Town Hall

Heritage buildings

Redfern Court House

Redfern has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• 242 Cleveland Street: Cathedral of the Annunciation of Our Lady
• Elizabeth, Redfern, Chalmers, and Phillip Streets: Redfern Oval
• 18 George Street: Redfern Aboriginal Children's Services
• Main Suburban railway line: Eveleigh Chief Mechanical Engineer's office, Eveleigh Railway Workshops and machinery
• Main Suburban railway line: Redfern railway station
• 6–18 Pitt Street: Fitzroy Terrace, Redfern
• 113 Redfern Street: Redfern Post Office

Other notable buildings

The Aboriginal Dance Theatre Redfern is at 82–88 Renwick Street.

Demographics

Student accommodation buildings

At the 2021 census, Redfern had a population of 13,072, compared to 14,616 at the 2016 census.

In 2021, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people making up 3.2% of the population and 52.0% of the population were born overseas. The most common countries of birth were England 4.8%, China 4.3%, New Zealand 3.0%, United States of America 1.4% and India 1.4%. 65.0% of the population only spoke English at home, with the most important other languages being Mandarin (3.6%), Spanish (2.9%), Cantonese (2.1%), Greek (1.5%) and Russian (1.4%). 53.7% of the population marked no religion, higher than the national average. 14.2% were Catholic, 4.8% Anglican and 3.5% Buddhist.

Redfern has become increasingly gentrified, with many medium and high density developments replacing low density and industrial developments. In 2021, 68.1% of residences were flats and 28.6% were semi-detached, row or terrace house, townhouse etc.

Redfern has been characterised by successive migrant populations. In the late 19th century, local businessmen George Dan in 1890, Stanton and Aziz Melick in 1888 and Shafiqah Shasha and Anthony and Simon Coorey in the 1890s were from Lebanon.

Community

The dilapidated Eveleigh Street in 2003. The area has traditionally been characterised by urban decay and socio-economically disadvantaged residents. In more recent years however, gentrification and urban renewal has revitalised much of the area

'The Block' is an area in the immediate vicinity of Redfern station bounded by Eveleigh, Caroline, Louis and Vine Streets. The Aboriginal Housing Company (AHC) was set up as the first urban Aboriginal community housing provider, using grant money to purchase the houses on the Block. As a result, the area is important to the Aboriginal community. Eveleigh Street, which is part of 'The Block', is well known for its community. In 2004, much of the Eveleigh Street housing was demolished with plans for redevelopment, but it is still an area around which many people congregate. The AHC's plans for redevelopment are known as the Pemulwuuy Project. The plans were approved in 2009.

Artwork on the outside of the local police boys club (PCYC) was made in the early 1990s. The front wall has a mural of a picture taken at Cleveland Street High School of a day when Dwayne "the D Train" McClain (former Sydney Kings player) visited the school. The picture has local sports stars such as Richard Bell, Bruce Swanson, Rossie Symmans, Nicholas Murray, Nathan Denzil, Jamie Sharpe, Lisa Mundine and Margaret Sutherland. The mural was painted by probably the most notable artist of the 90's in the Redfern district, Sir Joseph Phillips.

Sport and recreation

A number of sporting teams represent the local area. The South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL club was formed at the Redfern Town Hall on 17 January 1908. One of the oldest Aboriginal rugby league teams in Australia, the Redfern All Blacks, play at Redfern Oval. The Redfern Raiders Soccer Club is a local Junior Soccer Club. Redfern Gym opened in 1985 and many boxing world champions have trained there.

Nikita Ridgeway established Australia's first indigenous hip-hop record label with her brother Stephen. Called Redfern Records, the label was named after the Sydney neighbourhood of Redfern they grew up in. A wall with a mural dedicated to one of the first Women in Rugby League was painted to honour Maggie Moloney, in 2022.

Streets and Squares

St Paul's Place

St Paul's Place is at the intersection of Cleveland Street and Regent Street in Redfern, bordering the suburb of Chippendale.

Named in 1924, the square is the subject and title of the 1995 oil painting by Archibald prize-winning artist Nicholas Harding and is the current official place name according to the City of Sydney Spatial Services department as of 2023.

History

In 1915, the site is pictured as the intersection of two tram lines. The square was officially named St Paul's Place in 1924. Correspondence relating to the naming of the intersection is documented in the Town Clerk's Department Correspondence Files between 7 October 1924 and 19 December 1924.

The site also goes by the name St Paul's Square in the Dictionary of Sydney and on the City of Sydney History of Prince Alfred Park website.

On 25 January 1930, the Sydney Morning Herald reported the City Commissioners and the Main Roads Board agreed to progressively widen Cleveland Street between the Princes Highway and St Paul's Place, and between St Paul's Place and Chalmers Street.

The square is portrayed in a number of photos held in the City of Sydney Archives.

In the 1930s the road was re-aligned and resurfaced. City of Sydney archive photos depict the road before and after, however it is unclear whether the metadata specifies a date of 1939 or 1933. Towards the south-east a Shell Service Station and the Camden Vale Milk Co Ltd building is visible in these photos and described in the captions.

In 1954 a nameplate was installed bearing the name, along with four directional signs to St Pauls Church (now named Cathedral of the Annunciation of Our Lady).

A 1980 photograph depicted heavy traffic, and political graffiti where advertisements are currently located.

In 1991 the square was named in multiple photographs, one mentioning the road being widened and one stating "The intersection has been widened so that the traffic crossing Cleveland Street get a straighter flow."

Depictions in art

Between 1993 and 1995, Archibald prize winning artist Nicholas Harding created the painting titled "St Paul's Place, Redfern". He used oil on canvas on hardboard. It was most recently exhibited at the S.H Ervin gallery in The Rocks, in the exhibition "Margaret Olley: painter, peer, mentor, muse" in 2017. It is in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Depictions in maps

The City of Sydney Aerial Photographic Survey of 1949 displays photographs 82 and 83 with St Pauls Place in the title.

The 1939 - 1952 City of Sydney Civic Survey depicts St Paul's Place on the map of Redfern (Map 18).

In 2004, the square was depicted in the UBD Street Directory as St Paul's Place.

The City of Sydney Spatial Services department of the City of Sydney names St Paul's Place as the site name of the intersection in their internal GIS software as of 2023. The address of the intersection, with object 14244 is recorded as 4010 St Paul's Place, Redfern, 2016.

Advertising in St Paul's Place

In 1999, a development application for two sign structures to be built on council land was rejected.

As of August 2024, OpenStreetMap depicts at least 19 large format advertising billboards in St Paul's Place.

Future

The Redfern Estate Heritage Conservation Area page on the Department of Planning and Environment website in 2021 stated that recommended management included "Interpret original subdivision of Redfern Estate, and St Pauls Place" under "Protection of Significance", and "Interpret St. Pauls Place" under "Enhance Significance of Area".

In popular culture

The 2011 Australian drama series Underbelly: Razor and 2012 Australian drama series Redfern Now were filmed on location in Redfern.

Notable people

• Sydney Sim (1920–1990), second World War signalman
• Neddy Smith (1944-2021), one of Australia's most famous criminals, convicted of drug trafficking, murder and theft, associated with NSW police corruption of the time era.
• The Kid Laroi (2003-) Australian singer-songwriter and rapper

See also

• Aboriginal Dance Theatre Redfern
• Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT)
• Redfern Oval
• Redfern Town Hall
• Redfern Legal Centre
• Redfern All Blacks
• Redfern Now
• Story Factory
• Tribal Warrior

Further reading

• Anne-Marie Whitaker. Pictorial History of South Sydney. Published by Kingsclear Books, Australia. 2002. (ISBN 0 908272 69 3)

External links

• Redfern Oral History
• City of Sydney - Our villages - Redfern Street
• Redfern-Waterloo Authority
• Local Residents Group
• Local Community Centre
• Redfern Life Project
• "Redfern". Dictionary of Sydney. 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2015. [CC-By-SA]