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Redfern Sydney, New South Wales
Redfern railway station
Population:	10,979 (2001 census)
Postcode:	2016
Area:	1.2 km²
Location:	3 km from Sydney CBD
LGA:	City of Sydney
State District:	Marrickville, Heffron
Federal Division:	Sydney
Suburbs around Redfern Chippendale Central Surry Hills Darlington Redfern Moore Park Eveleigh Alexandria Waterloo

Redfern is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 3 km south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. The postcode is 2016.

Redfern is subject to extensive redevelopment plans by the state government, to increase the population and reduce the considerable concentration of poverty in the suburb and neighbouring Waterloo (see Redfern-Eveleigh-Darlington).

Contents 1 Commercial Area 2 Transport 3 Demographics 4 Domestic Architecture 5 History 6 Pop Culture 7 References 8 External links

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 located between Regent Street and Gibbons Street, beside Redfern railway station.

Redfern railway station, located on the western edge of the suburb is a major station on the CityRail 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, mostly students, flows from Redfern 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.

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. Eastern Redfern has become increasingly gentrified, with many medium and high density developments replacing low density and industrial developments.

"The Block" is an area in the immediate vicinity of Redfern station and is home to a socially disadvantaged community. Nearby Waterloo is another socially disadvantaged community due to the concentration of large public housing estates. As a result, the crime rate in the area is quite high.

Redfern has a large Australian Aboriginal community. Eveleigh Street, which is part of 'The Block', is well-known for its community of Australian Aborigines. In 2004 much of the housing here was demolished with plans for redevelopment, but it is still an area around which much of the Aboriginal population congregates.

According to the 2001 census, Redfern has a population of 10,969 people, with indigenous people making up 2.8% of the population. 37.9% of the population was born overseas. English was primarily spoken at home by 57.3% of the population, with the most important other languages being Chinese languages (4.6%), Russian (3.3%), Greek (3.1%) and Arabic (2.7%). The largest religions were Catholicism (22.7% of the population), Anglicanism (12.5%), Eastern Orthodoxy (5.3%) and Buddhism (3.6%). Furthermore, 21.4% of the population identified with no religion/atheism, higher than the national average. 41.6% of the population lived in public housing.[1]

Redfern has many fine examples of Victorian terraced housing similar to other inner suburbs such as Surry Hills. As mentioned above, some of the area has been gentrified, whilst other areas still project an image of "mean streets".

On Eveleigh Street

Redfern Side Street

An Old Terrace

The suburb is named after surgeon William Redfern, who was granted 100 acres 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 railway workshops, south of the station. The remains of Cleveland Paddocks became Prince Alfred Park.

Redfern has been characterised by migrant populations that have lived in the area. In the late 1800s many of the businessmen in the area were from Syria such as George Dan 1890, stanton and Aziz melick in 1888 and Anthony and Simon Coorey in the 1890s. As waves of immigrants arrived in Australia, many made Redfern their first home.

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.

The 2004 Redfern riots began with a riot 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 memorial service was held for TJ Hickey in Redfern on 19 February, and in Walgett, New South Wales on 22 February. A subsequent inquest found that although the police were following Hickey, they had not caused the accident, a verdict that has caused controversy in Redfern's Aboriginal community. The riots have sparked fresh debate into the welfare of Australian Aborigines and the response of the police to those living in the Redfern area.

The dated Australian slang term 'getting off at Redfern', meaning coitus interruptus, derives its meaning from the location of Redfern's CityRail train station, which is situated one stop from Sydney's Central railway station. A number of CityRail train lines pass through Redfern en-route to Central, making Redfern the second-last stop for many commuters.

• The Book of Sydney Suburbs, Compiled by Frances Pollen, Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1990, Published in Australia ISBN 0-207-14495-8

Coordinates: -33.89334° 151.20461°

• Maps and aerial photos
  • Street map from Street Directory, MSN Maps and Multimap.
  • Satellite image from Google Maps, WikiMapia and Terraserver.
• Council of the City of Sydney - Redfern region
• Redfern-Waterloo Authority

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