![Eveleigh traveller](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Eveleigh_traveller.jpg)
Eveleigh is an inner-city
suburb 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 in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
,
Australia. Eveleigh is located about 3 kilometres south of the
Sydney central business district and is part of the
local government area of the
City of Sydney
The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, th ...
.
History
Eveleigh was named after the estate of Lieutenant J. R. Holden, so called after his birthplace in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Much of the suburb of Redfern was known as Eveleigh in the early days. In fact,
Redfern railway station
Redfern railway station is a heritage-listed former railway bridge and now railway station located on the Main Suburban railway line in the Inner City Sydney suburb of Redfern in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Aust ...
was originally known as Eveleigh railway station. The Eveleigh
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
yards were located immediately south-west of the station.
Following the nationalisation of failed private railways, construction began in the early 1880s on a new workshops complex, occupying an area of over , bounded by North Newtown,
Darlington,
Erskineville
Erskineville is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 6 kilometres south west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. Erskinevill ...
,
Redfern,
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
and
Chippendale. Originally the workshops serviced and repaired the growing NSW rail fleet, but in 1908 Eveleigh began manufacturing steam locomotives. By this time more than 3000 people were employed at the site. Many workers lived in the area, but many lived in other suburbs and until the 1980s commuting workers alighted at the purpose-built
Macdonaldtown Station, located in the middle of the complex.
Included in the complex was a running shed, opened in 1884, for steam locomotives used in the daily duties of train haulage. Originally of three bays, the first was demolished about 1925 and the remaining two in the early 1960s.
In 1989, part of the site was used to house
Paddy's Markets, while the original site at
Haymarket was being redeveloped.
Eveleigh Workshops
The
Eveleigh Railway Workshops
The Eveleigh Railway Workshops is a heritage-listed former New South Wales Government Railways yards and railway workshops and now venue hire, public housing and technology park located at Great Southern and Western railway, Redfern, City of ...
are of great significance to Australia's industrial, military and social history. Eveleigh manufactured the first steam locomotives made in Australia, and it contains the most complete set of late nineteenth and early twentieth century light and medium engineering technologies in Australia (much of which is now preserved in an industrial museum in Bays 1 and 2 of the old Locomotive Workshop). The Eveleigh site was also used to manufacture munitions in both World War I and World War II. It is also significant in the history of Australian unionism—in 1892 unions successfully negotiated to establish a six-day working week, and the
1917 General Strike, which began with the 3000 workers at Eveleigh, eventually spread across Australia, involving almost 100,000 nationwide.
[Teaching Heritage: Chronology of Eveleigh Workshops](_blank)
The locomotive workshop was closed in 1988
and the main rail workshops were moved to
Enfield
Enfield may refer to:
Places Australia
* Enfield, New South Wales
* Enfield, South Australia
** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb
** Enfield High School (South Australia)
...
.
3801 Limited
East Coast Heritage Rail is a not for profit company limited by guarantee formed in June 1985 as 3801 Limited to operate steam locomotive 3801 and its associated rolling stock. The company operated heritage train tours from 1986 until 2017, wit ...
occupied the Large Erecting Shop from 1986 to 2017.
Public Housing Estates
The Eveleigh area is largely social housing, and home to 4 housing estates in its proximity, most notably the estate of 1-2 story townhouses centred around South Sydney rotary park, developed in the Early 1990s along with 2 other estates nearby on Golden grove street and Newton street built around 5-10 years earlier.
Recently, a residential area in carriageworks was redeveloped, being replaced with a unit block of mostly social and community housing, the north Eveleigh precinct redevelopment was completed in 2018. Not long after, another much older run down housing block across Wilson street from carriageworks was completely demolished a year later and is currently being redeveloped
The South Eveleigh Housing Estate around Explorer street is currently under threat of demolition.
Population
At the
2021 census, the population had decreased to 606 residents.
In the 2016 census, there were 663 people in Eveleigh. 53.3% of people were born in Australia and 57.1% of people only spoke English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 36.4% and Catholic 20.1%.
Developments
In 1991, the
NSW Government
The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...
established a consortium including the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...
,
University of Technology, Sydney and
UNSW which transformed Alexandria side of the workshops site into the
Australian Technology Park. Another section of the old workshops, which faces onto Wilson St, has recently been converted into a large theatre space.
Australian Technology Park occupies the site of the former Eveleigh
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
yards. It is the home of a growing community of researchers, entrepreneurs, incubator businesses, start-ups, mature technology companies and education organisations.
The ATP buildings are also frequently used as locations for advertisements and television programs including ''
MasterChef Australia''. ''
So You Think You Can Dance
''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and ha ...
'' and the auditions of ''
Australian Idol''. The ATP site will also soon house extensive film and television production facilities including a new digital film making studio built by production company
Kennedy Miller Mitchell
Kennedy Miller Mitchell (known before 2009 as Kennedy Miller) is an Australian film, television and video game production house in Potts Point, Sydney, that has been producing television and film since 1978. It is responsible for some of Austra ...
for the filming of ''
Mad Max 4'' and ''
Happy Feet 2
''Happy Feet Two'' is a 2011 computer-animated jukebox musical comedy film directed, produced and co-written by George Miller. It is the sequel to the 2006 film ''Happy Feet'', it stars Ava Acres, Elijah Wood, Robin Williams (in his final anima ...
''. The
Seven Network
The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...
and outside broadcast company, Global Television are housed within four purpose-built high definition television studios.
tvauscast - "Sydney’s new film and television production hub" - 29 October 2009
/ref>
Image:Eveleigh3.jpg, Access to electricity cable tunnel, Vice Chancellor's Oval
Image:Eveleigh2.jpg, International Business Centre
File:Eveleigh_Sydney_NSW.jpg, Belltower
Image:Australian Technology Park Pedestrian Entrance.jpg, Path from Redfern railway station
Redfern railway station is a heritage-listed former railway bridge and now railway station located on the Main Suburban railway line in the Inner City Sydney suburb of Redfern in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Aust ...
to the Australian Technology Park
References
{{Sydney City of Sydney suburbs
Suburbs of Sydney