Balmain is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

in the

Inner West The Inner West of Sydney is an area directly west of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. The suburbs that make up the Inner West are predominantly located along the southern shore of Port Jackson (Parramatta River) ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Balmain is located west of the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or c ...

, in the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

of the

Inner West Council Inner West Council is a local government area located in the inner western region of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The council makes up the eastern part of this wider region, and was formed on 12 May 2016 from the merger o ...

. It is located on the Balmain peninsula surrounded by

Port Jackson Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

, adjacent to the suburbs of

Rozelle Rozelle is a suburb in the inner west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 4 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Inner West Council. Location Rozelle si ...

to the south-west, Birchgrove to the north-west, and Balmain East to the east.

Iron Cove Iron Cove is a bay on the Parramatta River, in the Inner West (Sydney), inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately due west of Sydney central business district, Sydney's central business district. It i ...

sits on the western side of the peninsula, with White Bay on the south-east side and Mort Bay on the north-east side. Traditionally

blue collar A blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involving manufacturing, warehousing, mining, excavation, electricity generation and powe ...

, Balmain was where the industrial roots of the

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

ist movement began. It has become established in Australian

working-class culture Working-class culture is a range of cultures created by or popular among working-class people. The cultures can be contrasted with high culture and folk culture, and are often equated with popular culture and low culture (the counterpart of high ...

and history, due to being the place where the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

formed in 1891 and its social history and status is of high cultural significance to both Sydney and New South Wales. Today, the ALP contends with the

Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, are a confederation of Green state and territory political parties in Australia. As of the 2022 federal election, the Greens are the third largest political party in Australia by vote and th ...

for political prominence in Balmain, and

Jamie Parker Jamie Parker (born 14 August 1979) is an English actor and singer. He is best known for his role as Harry Potter in the original cast for the West End play ''Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'', for which he received a Laurence Olivier Award f ...

of the Greens holds the State seat of Balmain.

History

Balmain, New South Wales - Darling St c1888

Prior to European settlement, the area was inhabited by indigenous

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

Gadigal The Cadigal, also spelled as Gadigal and Caddiegal, are a group of Indigenous people whose traditional lands are located in Gadi, on Eora country, the location of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Gadigal originally inhabited the area that ...

and

Wangal The Wangal people ( Wanegal or Won-gal,) are a clan of the Dharug ( ?) Aboriginal people whose heirs are custodians of the lands and waters of what is now the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, centred around the Municipality of Strathfie ...

people. Stories from early settlers in the area tell of how the local indigenous people used to hunt

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

by driving them through the bushy peninsula, down the hill to Peacock Point at the east end, where they were killed. The area now known as Balmain was part of a grant to

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

surgeon

William Balmain William Balmain (2 February 1762 – 17 November 1803) was a Scottish-born naval surgeon and civil administrator who sailed as an assistant surgeon with the First Fleet to establish the first European settlement in Australia, and later to take up ...

(1762–1803) made in 1800 by Governor John Hunter. A year later, Balmain transferred his entire holding to settle a debt to

John Borthwick Gilchrist John Borthwick Gilchrist (19 June 1759 – 9 January 1841) was a Scottish surgeon, linguist, philologist and Indologist. Born and educated in Edinburgh, he spent most of his early career in India, where he made a study of the local languages. ...

before returning to Scotland. The legality of the land transfer from Balmain to Gilchrist for only 5

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...

s was challenged by Balmain's descendants and further development of the area was blocked. The area subsequently became known as Gilchrist's place, though court documents refer to the area as the Balmain Estate. During the many years of legal challenges, the land was leased for farming and cattle purposes. In 1814 the adjacent homestead of Birchgrove was sold to Roland Warpole Loane, a merchant and settler descended from a family of English landlords. One hundred acres on the adjoining Balmain estate were leased to Loane. Lever Brothers Balmain - Feb 1939

In 1833, Gilchrist transferred

power of attorney A power of attorney (POA) or letter of attorney is a written authorization to represent or act on another's behalf in private affairs (which may be financial or regarding health and welfare), business, or some other legal matter. The person auth ...

to Frederick Parbury. When Loane's lease finally expired in 1836 and the land retrieved from his possession, Parbury commissioned surveyor John Armstrong to sub-divide the land into six parcels. Three parcels were sold to Thomas Hyndes in 1837. The area was rapidly sub-divided and developed during the 1840s and by 1861 had been divided into the well populated eastern suburb of Balmain and the sparsely populated western area, extending to the gates of

Callan Park Callan Park, with the heritage listed name Callan Park Conservation Area & Buildings, is a heritage listed site in Lilyfield, a suburb in the Inner West Council in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Calla ...

, known as Balmain West. City Subdivision Balmain, Darling St, Elliott St, Terry St, Claremont St, 1841-1960

Industry

The peninsula changed rapidly during the 1800s and became one of the premier industrial centres of Sydney. Industries clustered around Mort Bay included shipbuilding, a metal foundry, engineering,

boilermaking A boilermaker is a tradesperson who fabricates steel, iron, or copper into boilers and other large containers intended to hold hot gas or liquid, as well as maintains and repairs boilers and boiler systems.Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dep ...

and the

Mort's Dock Mort's Dock is a former dry dock, slipway, and shipyard in Balmain, New South Wales, Australia. It was the first dry dock in Australia, opening for business in 1855 and closing more than a century later in 1959. The site is now parkland. His ...

and Engineering Company works which opened in 1855—in 1958 Mort's Dock closed and is the site of Mort Bay Park. Increasing industrialisation at Balmain created a demand for cheap housing. This was satisfied by the dock owners selling small blocks of land to entrepreneurs who then built tiny cottages and rented them to the workers. The

Balmain Reservoir The Balmain Reservoir is a disused, covered reservoir located under Gladstone Park in Balmain, in the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Description The reservoir is rectangular in shape, measuring and is tall. It is divide ...

was built in 1915. Rozelletram

Lever Brothers Factory The Lever Brothers Factory was a soap factory in the suburb of Balmain in Sydney, Australia, which operated from 1895 until 1988. It employed many people from the local area and its large industrial buildings were a prominent feature of the la ...

, owned by the British parent company, opened in 1895.

Colliery

A coal mine was opened in 1897 beside what is now Birchgrove Public School by an English company. The winding engine was said to be the largest in the southern hemisphere. However, with the endless labour disputes,''Cessnock Eagle & South Maitland Recorder'' Friday 17 Nov 1933, p.1. Sydney Collieries Limited took over ownership. A further new shaft was sunk in 1904. From the bottom of the shafts a decline led down to a seam of coal situated under the harbour between Ballast Point and Goat Island. Because of the availability of the coal,

Balmain Power Station The Balmain Power Station was located at Iron Cove, from Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The station no longer exists and residential properties now occupy the site. This plant is often confused with the White Bay Power Station, the re ...

was erected in stages from 1909. However, there were major industrial disputes in the 1920s and calls were made by some shareholders in 1928 to close the mine. The following year the colliery still employed 299 miners. By 1930 the colliery owners had given up and it had been taken over by the Balmain Coal Contracting Company, established by the Miner's Federation to keep the pit operational, to no avail as disputes continued. On 13 Oct 1930 the Miners' Lodge declared the mine "blacked" as well as the manager, whose dismissal they demanded. The colliery closed in 1931. In 1933 it was proposed to extract natural gas for commercial use from the now disused mine. In 1936 calls were made for the Sydney City Council to take over the mine to no avail.

Railway

The opening of the railway in the 1920s further established Balmain and it gained a reputation as a rough working-class area of Sydney. A large influx of immigrants boosted Balmain's population in the 1950s.

Gentrification

Gentrification of Balmain began in the 1960s as industry waned. Balmain's desirability to the middle class was due in part to its waterfront location and proximity to Sydney's CBD. The Balmain Association was formed in 1965. Increasing property values and waterfront development continued to push the suburb's remaining industry out. In 1996, the Lever Brothers site became a series of apartment complexes with a handful of original buildings preserved. The power station was demolished in 1998 to make way for apartments. However, many aspects of Balmain's industrial past have been retained as heritage.

Heritage listings

Balmain has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * 1 Blake Street: Ewenton * Booth Street: Balmain Hospital Main Building * Glassop Street:

Dawn Fraser Swimming Pool Dawn Fraser Swimming Pool is a heritage-listed swimming baths complex at Glassop Street, Balmain, New South Wales, Balmain, Inner West Council, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was built by 1882 by James Reynolds, with alterations when ...

* 12b Grafton Street: Hampton Villa * 37 Nicholson Street: Waterview Wharf Workshops * Thames, Mort, College, McKell, Cameron, Yeend Streets:

* 2 Wells Street: Louisaville

Demographics

According to the 2016 census of population, there were 10,453 residents in Balmain. 61.9% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 9.1%, New Zealand 3.3%, Ireland 1.5% and United States of America 1.5%. 79.6% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Italian at 1.3%. The most common responses for religion in Balmain (State Suburbs) were No Religion 41.2%, Catholic 22.3%, Not stated 12.5%, Anglican 11.4% and Presbyterian and Reformed 2.1%.

Commercial area

Darling Street Darling Street is a 3.1 kilometre street in Sydney, Australia running from Victoria Road, Sydney, Victoria Road to Balmain East ferry wharf. It is the main thoroughfare and high street of the suburbs of Rozelle and Balmain, New South Wales, Bal ...

, Balmain's main thoroughfare, features boutique shops, quality restaurants and cafes alongside old drinking establishments. Landmarks on this street include the Post Office and Court House, alongside Balmain Town Hall, the historic Westpac Bank, Balmain Fire Station and Balmain Working Men's Institute. Other commercial developments are scattered throughout the suburb. The headquarters of the NSW Water Police moved to Cameron Cove in Balmain in late 2007.

Transport

Balmain has several

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

wharves including Thames Street Balmain serviced by the

Cockatoo Island ferry services The Cockatoo Island ferry service, officially known as F8 Cockatoo Island, is a commuter ferry service in Sydney, New South Wales. Part of the Sydney Ferries network, it is operated by Transdev Sydney Ferries and services the Balmain Peninsu ...

, Elliot Street, Balmain West and Darling Street, Balmain East serviced by the

Cross Harbour ferry services The Cross Harbour ferry service, officially known as F4 Cross Harbour, was a commuter ferry service in Sydney, New South Wales. Part of the Sydney Ferries network, it was operated by Transdev Sydney Ferries and serviced the Darling Harbour, ...

. Services run to

Circular Quay Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping port, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the Syd ...

Transdev Sydney Ferries Transdev Sydney Ferries, formerly Harbour City Ferries, is a subsidiary of Transdev Australasia, and is the operator of ferry services in the Sydney Ferries network since July 2012. It currently operates the ferry network under a contract unt ...

' maintenance and repair base is at Balmain Shipyard. Balmain's road network feeds into three main roads—Darling Street, Beattie Street and Montague/Mullen Street. These streets have limited speeds, typically 40 km/h and are all

single carriageway A single carriageway (British English) or Undivided highway (American English) is a road with one, two or more lanes arranged within a one carriageway with no central reservation to separate opposing flows of traffic. A single-track road has a s ...

with parallel parking. Due to the geography of the peninsula, all of these roads feed into Victoria Road and the Western Distributor. Trams once ran all the way down Darling Street to the Wharf at Balmain East. Due to the very steep incline at the bottom of the street, the trams used a complex 'dummy' counterweight system constructed under the road surface. The trams were pushed up the steep hill by the dummy, and rode the dummy on the way down to safely descend the hill.

Transit Systems Transit Systems Group is an Australian-based public transport company, which also operates overseas through its subsidiary Tower Transit Group. Transit Systems Group is a subsidiary of the Kelsian Group, formerly SeaLink Travel Group. History ...

bus services that service Balmain are: 441 – Birchgrove to

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

via Rozelle and QVB, 442 – Balmain to the

Queen Victoria Building The Queen Victoria Building (abbreviated as the QVB) is a heritage-listed late-nineteenth-century building designed by the architect George McRae located at 429–481 George Street in the Sydney central business district, in the Australian st ...

via Rozelle, 445 – Balmain to Campsie, 433 – Balmain to

Martin Place Martin Place is a pedestrian mall in the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. Martin Place has been described as the "civic heart" of Sydney.

Culture

Drinking establishments

Balmain is home to many historic hotels, including the Cat and Fiddle Hotel, Cricketer's Arms Hotel, Dick's Hotel, Dry Dock Hotel, Exchange Hotel, Forth & Clyde Hotel, Kent Hotel, Unity Hall Hotel, London Hotel, Mort Bay Hotel, Norfolk Pines Hotel, Pacific Hotel, Royal Oak Hotel,

Shipwright's Arms Hotel The Shipwright's Arms is an historic de-licensed pub located in Balmain East, a suburb in the inner west region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The former pub looks out across Sydney Harbour to the Sydney Harbour Bridge ...

, Star Hotel, Town Hall Hotel,

Volunteer Hotel The Volunteer Hotel was a pub in the suburb of Balmain in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The pub is named because of its association with a group of volunteer firefighter A firefighter is a first ...

and the West End Hotel. The Riverview Hotel is a heritage-listed corner building built in 1880 in the

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

style. Between 1888 and 1913 the pub was named Bergin's Hotel after the publican Joseph Bergin. Australian swimming champion

Dawn Fraser Dawn Fraser (born 4 September 1937) is an Australian freestyle champion swimmer and former politician. She is one of only four swimmers to have won the same Olympic individual event three times – in her case the women's 100-metre freestyle. ...

was publican of the Riverview from 1978 to 1983.

Pop culture

Numerous phrases have been used to describe the suburb and its inhabitants, including "Balmain boys don't cry" (former NSW Premier

Neville Wran Neville Kenneth Wran, (11 October 1926 – 20 April 2014) was an Australian politician who was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1986. He was the national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and chairman of ...

at the Street Royal Commission); "You can take the boy out of Balmain, but you can't take Balmain out of the boy" (Unknown); "There are only two types of men in this world: those who were born in Balmain and those who wish they were" (a Police Commissioner of New South Wales). Australian Prime Minister

Paul Keating Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He previously serv ...

commented on the suburb's gentrification by using the term "Basket weavers of Balmain". Until the 1970s, older Balmain people would refer to "going to Sydney". The Post Office/ Court/ Police building and vicinity was generally referred to as the "Town Hall", with the Post Office clock often called the Town Hall clock. This was probably due to the Post Office & Court Building being built in between the earlier Town Hall & Town Hall Hotel. In the mid-1960s Balmain was the setting for the popular

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

situation comedy series ''

My Name's McGooley, What's Yours? ''My Name's McGooley, What's Yours?'' is a popular Australian situation comedy series produced by ATN7 from 1966 to 1968. Premise The situation involved a young couple, Wally and Rita Stiller (John Meillon and Judi Farr), living in Balmain wi ...

'', starring

Gordon Chater Gordon Maitland Chater AM (6 April 1922 – 12 December 1999) was an English Australian comedian and actor, and recipient of the Gold Logie, he appeared in revue, theatre, radio, television and film, with a career spanning almost 50 years. Bio ...

John Meillon John Meillon, ( ; 1 May 1934 – 11 August 1989), was an Australian character actor, known for many straight as well as comedy roles, he became most widely known internationally as Walter Reilly in the films ''Crocodile Dundee'' and ''Crocodil ...

and

Judi Farr Judi Farr (born c.1938/1939), also credited as Judy Farr, is an Australian former actress of theatre, film and television best known for several situation comedy roles on Australian television. Farr has also appeared in Australian films such ...

. Balmain was the setting for the 1994 Australian film ''

The Sum of Us The Sum of Us can refer to: *'' The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together'', a 2021 best-selling political book by Heather McGhee. *''The Sum of Us (play)'', a 1990 play by Australian writer and director David Steve ...

'', which starred

Jack Thompson Jack Thompson may refer to: Sports * Jack Thompson (footballer, born 1892) (1892–1969), English footballer who played for Sheffield United and Bristol City * Jack Thompson (1920s footballer), English footballer who played for Aston Villa and Brig ...

John Polson John Polson (born 6 September 1965) is an Australian actor, director and founder of Tropfest. As an actor, Polson's best known role is probably starring opposite Russell Crowe and Jack Thompson in '' The Sum of Us'' (1994). In February 2001, ...

and

Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...

. The former Pacific Hotel (from 2019, now converted into a residential property) - as well as several other locations in Balmain - were used extensively as the set of the Australian television

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

, '' E Street''.

Parks and reserves

Balmain has a number of parks including Gladstone Park, Birrung Park and White Bay Park. The wider peninsula has many more parks in close proximity, particularly along the foreshores. In earlier times Punch Park was the goto place for park footy (rugby league), though it was always referred to by the boys then as Punch's Park

Sport and recreation

Balmain is home to the

Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995–96) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in t ...

district rugby league football club that is now represented in the NRL by

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a j ...

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

club. The club was formed in mid-1999 by a joint venture between the Balmain Tigers and the

Western Suburbs Magpies The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly r ...

in preparation for the 2000 season. In 2005 the Tigers defeated the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

in the Grand Final to win the premiership. The Balmain Rugby Football Club, founded in 1873, took part in the very first competition structure and in fact winning their first premiership in 1875. Players lost fighting in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

forced the club to merge with the Glebe "Dirty Reds" RUFC in 1919, to form the Glebe-Balmain RFC. As a merged club they had enormous success during the Twenties, winning four premierships. In 1931, as a depression project, Drummoyne Oval, as it is now known, was constructed on the site of a small oval which Glebe and Balmain had used for junior matches since 1892. To ensure longevity of tenure, and because there were just not enough sporting grounds in Sydney—with some reluctance—the Glebe-Balmain Club decided to change its name to the Drummoyne District Rugby Football Club. It did so without giving up its long-held traditions, the scarlet jumpers of Glebe and its world-famous tag, "The Dirty Reds" and the black and gold of Balmain, colours still worn proudly by today's players in their socks. Drummoyne Rugby Club is still in existence and still upholds it proud history and traditions. The suburb is also home to the

Balmain Australian Football Club Balmain Australian Football Club is a NSWFL foundation Australian Football club competing in the Sydney AFL Premier League and based out of the Sydney suburb of Balmain. The team train at Glover st Oval in Lilyfield from 6pm on Tuesdays and T ...

, a founding member in 1903 of the Sydney Football League. Balmain is also home to Balmain FC, who are a semi-professional football club, playing in the

National Premier Leagues NSW 3 The NSW League Two Men is an Australian semi-professional association football league comprising teams from New South Wales. The league sits at Level 3 on the New South Wales league system (Level 4 of the overall Australian league system). The c ...

. In 2015 they qualified for the Australia-wide FFA Cup Round of 32 and were drawn against

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

club

Melbourne Victory FC Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory e ...

in which they were defeated 6–0 in front of 5,000 fans at

Leichhardt Oval Leichhardt Oval is a rugby league and soccer stadium in Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently one of three home grounds for the Wests Tigers National Rugby League (NRL) team, along with Campbelltown Stadium and Western Sydney S ...

Balmain Sailing Club Balmain Sailing Club is a sailing club in Municipality of Leichhardt in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales ...

is located in nearby Birchgrove and is home to the annual Balmain Regatta.

Balmain Rowing Club Balmain Rowing Club is the fourth oldest rowing club in continuous operation on Sydney Harbour, Australia, and was established in July 1882 at Balmain, Sydney. It has occupied its current site at the bottom of White St, Balmain since the club's ...

was formed in July 1882, and still occupies its original White Street location. The club adopted black and yellow colours from its formation, which soon became the district colours. The great

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal region in the Australian state of New South Wales, nestled between the mountains and the sea. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast region. It encompasses the two cities of Wollongo ...

sculling Sculling is the use of oars to propel a boat by moving them through the water on both sides of the craft, or moving one oar over the stern. A long, narrow boat with sliding seats, rigged with two oars per rower may be referred to as a scull, it ...

champion Bill Beach had a close association with the club and wore their black and gold colours in competition.

Housing

The post-industrial

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification ...

of Balmain has resulted in a suburb of considerable charm and interest where the modest, pretty houses command high prices. However, Balmain still retains a diverse mix of residents due to the Housing Commission unit blocks in the suburb. Much of the suburb is a heritage conservation area and creative design is required to modernise the Victorian and Edwardian housing stock. In 2013 a contemporary Balmain house designed by architect

Harry Seidler Harry Seidler (25 June 19239 March 2006) was an Austrian-born Australian architect who is considered to be one of the leading exponents of Modernism's methodology in Australia and the first architect to fully express the principles of the B ...

sold for $6m. The

Tom Uren Thomas Uren (28 May 1921 – 26 January 2015) was an Australian politician and Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1975 to 1977. Uren served as the Member for Reid in the Australian House of Representatives from 1958 to 1990, bei ...

House in Gilchrist Place was designed by Richard Leplastrier.

Notable residents

Notable past and present residents include: * Sir Harold Alderson, sports administrator *

Peter Bonsall-Boone Peter "Bon" Bonsall-Boone ( 1938 – 19 May 2017) was an Australian LGBT rights activist. He was a foundation member of the Campaign Against Moral Persecution (CAMP) and participated in the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Biography Pet ...

, LGBT rights activist *

Edgar Britt Edgar Clive Britt OAM (30 October 1913 – 28 January 2017) was an Australian jockey, who won every British Classic Race except the Derby. Early life Career One of the first of many Australian jockeys who came to ride in Britain after ...

, jockey * Geraldine Brooks, author and journalist *

Rose Byrne Mary Rose Byrne (born 24 July 1979) is an Australian actress. She made her screen debut in the film ''Dallas Doll'' (1994), and continued to act in Australian film and television throughout the 1990s. She obtained her first leading film role i ...

, actress *

Clive Caldwell Clive Robertson Caldwell, (28 July 1911 – 5 August 1994) was the leading Australian air ace of World War II. He is officially credited with shooting down 28.5 enemy aircraft in over 300 operational sorties, including an ace in a day. In addit ...

RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

's highest scoring fighter ace of

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Thomas Coutts Thomas Coutts (7 September 1735 – 24 February 1822) was a British banker. He was a founder of the banking house Coutts & Co. Early life Coutts was the fourth son of Jean (née Steuart) Coutts and John Coutts (1699–1751), whose business in ...

, whaler, pastoralist and mass murderer *

H. V. Evatt Herbert Vere Evatt, (30 April 1894 – 2 November 1965) was an Australian politician and judge. He served as a judge of the High Court of Australia from 1930 to 1940, Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs from 1941 to 1949, and l ...

, jurist, judge, lawyer, politician, parliamentarian and writer * Carlotta, entertainer *

, former champion swimmer and politician *

Caroline Grills Caroline Grills (née Mickelson; between 1888 and 1890 – 6 October 1960) was an Australian serial killer who poisoned her victims. She was predominantly a comfort killer, who murdered well-off members of her extended family to maintain a respe ...

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Notes

# Postcode 2041 covers the suburbs of Balmain, Balmain East and Birchgrove. # Combined population for all residents of postcode 2041. # Median house price for all properties of postcode 2041.

References

External links

Local History Collection, Leichhardt Council

Balmain Association
*

CC-By-SA A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright license A public license or public copyright licenses is a license by which a copyright holder as licensor can grant additional copyright permissions to any and all pers ...

] * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balmain, New South Wales Balmain, New South Wales, Suburbs of Sydney Inner West Council