Redfern, New South Wales

Redfern Post Office, early 1890s

Elizabeth Street in 1890

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. 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. [4]

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.

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.[5]

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.[6] A green ban helped save the Redfern Aboriginal Centre in the 1970s[7] and activists from Redfern created the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra.

Redfern Town Hall

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.

Student accommodation buildings

At the 2021 census, there were 13,072 people living in Redfern.[19]

According to the 2016 census, Redfern has a population of 13,213 people, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people making up 2.1% of the population. 52.2% of the population were born overseas. The most common countries of birth were England 5.1%, China 4.7%, New Zealand 3.3%, United States of America 1.6% and Ireland 1.1%. 61.7% of the population only spoke English at home, with the most important other languages being Mandarin (4.1%), Cantonese (2.5%), Spanish (2.3%), Russian (2.0%) and Greek (2.1%). 45.5% of the population marked no religion, higher than the national average. Of the remainder, 16.0% were Catholic, 6.1% Anglican and 3.6% Buddhist.[20]

Redfern has broad 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.

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.

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[21]

'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.

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.[22] Called Redfern Records, the label was named after the Sydney neighbourhood of Redfern they grew up in.[23] A wall with a mural dedicated to one of the first Women in Rugby League was painted to honor Maggie Moloney, in 2022.[24]

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

• Sydney Sim (1920–1990), second World War signalman
• The Kid LAROI (2003-Present) Australian singer-songwriter and rapper

• 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

• 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]

33°53′36″S 151°12′17″E