Redfern, New South Wales

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.[3] 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 railway workshops, south of the station. The remains of Cleveland Paddocks became Prince Alfred Park.

In August 1859, Redfern was incorporated as a borough. The Municipality of Redfern merged with the City of Sydney from 1 January 1949.

Redfern Post Office, early 1890s

A historical view of Redfern Railway Station

Redfern has been characterised by migrant populations that have lived in the area. In the late 19th century many of the businessmen in the area were from Lebanon such as George Dan 1890, Stanton and Aziz Melick in 1888 and Shafiqah Shasha and Anthony and Simon Coorey in the 1890s. As waves of immigrants arrived in Australia, many made Redfern their first home.

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

Liquidambar styraciflua trees were planted in Baptist Street in the 1960s and 70s. The notorious Redfern Mail Exchange was built in 1965, after 300 people were evicted from their homes on the 2.15 hectare site. It became the scene of many industrial disputes when the automatic mail-sorting machinery which was supposed to sort efficiently, actually destroyed many letters. It became known as the Redfern Mangler.[4] In the late 1960s and 1970s, a black power movement centered around Aboriginal Australian migrants to the city formed that involved the creation of health clinics, food drives, housing co-operatives and a legal aid centre.[5] A green ban helped save the Redfern Aboriginal Centre in the 1970s[6] and activists from Redfern created the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra.

Redfern police station, undated

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.

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

• 242 Cleveland Street: Cathedral of the Annunciation of Our Lady[7]
• Elizabeth, Redfern, Chalmers, and Phillip Streets: Redfern Oval[8]
• 18 George Street: Redfern Aboriginal Children's Services[9]
• Main Suburban railway line: Eveleigh Chief Mechanical Engineer's office,[10] Railway Workshops[11] and machinery[12]
• Main Suburban railway line: Redfern railway station[13]
• 6-18 Pitt Street: Fitzroy Terrace, Redfern[14]
• 113 Redfern Street: Redfern Post Office[15]

Redfern railway station

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 two office towers and two residential blocks located between Regent Street and Gibbons Street, beside Redfern railway station.

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. 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.

The population of the suburb spans a broad spectrum of socioeconomic characteristics. This may be partly due to the geography of the suburb, which is long, narrow, and centrally located. Redfern has become increasingly gentrified, with many medium and high density developments replacing low density and industrial developments.

Community

Redfern terraces

'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 housing here 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.

The local police boys club (PCYC) has artwork painted on the outside walls of the building which was completed 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.

Redfern has many fine 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.

A number of well-known sporting teams represent the local area. One of them is the well known NRL club named the South Sydney Rabbitohs and one of the oldest Aboriginal rugby league teams in Australia the Redfern All Blacks who play at Redfern Oval. The Redfern Raiders Soccer Club is the local Junior Soccer Club. Redfern Gym opened in 1985 and many boxing world champions have trained there.

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

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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Redfern, New South Wales.

• 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]