Surry Hills 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. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in 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 ...

. Surry Hills is surrounded by the suburbs of

Darlinghurst Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Syd ...

to the north, Chippendale and Haymarket to the west, Moore Park and

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

to the east and Redfern to the south. It is often colloquially referred to as "Surry". It is bordered by Elizabeth Street and Chalmers Street to the west, Cleveland Street to the south, South Dowling Street to the east, and

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and ...

to the north. Crown Street is a main thoroughfare through the suburb with numerous restaurants, pubs and bars. Central is a locality in the north-west of the suburb around

Central station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

Prince Alfred Park Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Surry Hills is sur ...

is located nearby.

Strawberry Hills Strawberry Hills is an official Urban Place in Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Strawberry Hills is located east of Central railway station, within the suburbs of Surry Hills and Redfern which are part of the local govern ...

is a locality around Cleveland and Elizabeth Streets and Brickfield Hill to the east of that. A multicultural suburb, Surry Hills has had a long association with the Portuguese community of Sydney.

History

The first land grants in Surry Hills were made in the 1790s. Major

Joseph Foveaux Joseph Foveaux (1767 – 20 March 1846) was a soldier and convict settlement administrator in colonial New South Wales, Australia. Early life Foveaux was baptised on 6 April 1767 at Ampthill, Bedfordshire, England, the sixth child of Joseph Fo ...

received . His property was known as Surry Hills Farm, after the Surrey Hills in Surrey,

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 ...

. Foveaux Street is named in his honour. Commissary John Palmer received . He called the property George Farm and in 1800 Palmer also bought Foveaux's farm. In 1792, the boundaries of the Sydney Cove settlement were established between the head of Cockle Bay to the head of Woolloomooloo Bay. West of the boundary, which included present-day Surry Hills, was considered suitable for farming and was granted to military officers and free settlers. After Palmer's political failures, his reduced financial circumstances forced the first subdivision and sale of his estate in 1814.

Isaac Nichols Isaac Nichols (29 July 1770 – 18 November 1819) was an English born Australian farmer, shipowner and public servant who was a convict transported to New South Wales on the Third Fleet, on the Admiral Barrington. He was transported for seven ...

bought Allotment 20, comprising over . Due to the hilly terrain, much of the suburb was considered remote and 'inhospitable'. In the early years of the nineteenth century the area around what is now Prince Alfred Park was undeveloped land known as the Government Paddocks or Cleveland Paddocks. A few villas were built in the suburb in the late 1820s. The suburb remained one of contrasts for much of the nineteenth century, with the homes of wealthy merchants mixed with that of the commercial and working classes. In 1820, Governor Macquarie ordered the consecration of the

Devonshire Street Cemetery The Devonshire Street Cemetery (also known as the Brickfield Cemetery or Sandhills Cemetery) was located between Eddy Avenue and Elizabeth Street, and between Chalmers and Devonshire Streets, at Brickfield Hill, in Sydney, Australia. It was con ...

. A brick wall was erected before any interments took place to enclose its . Within a four-year period the cemetery was expanded by the addition of to its south. A road was formed along the southern boundary of the cemetery in the first half of the 1830s and was called Devonshire Street. The Devonshire Street Cemetery, where many of the early settlers were buried, was later moved to build the Sydney railway terminus. Central railway station was opened on 4 August 1906. The area around Cleveland and Elizabeth streets was known as

. Strawberry Hills post office was located at this intersection for many years. In 1833, the Nichols estate was subdivided and sold. One purchase was by Thomas Broughton and subsequently acquired by George Hill who constructed Durham Hall on this and adjoining lots. Terrace houses and workers' cottages were built in Surry Hills from the 1850s. Light industry became established in the area, particularly in the rag trade (clothing industry). It became a working class suburb, predominately inhabited by Irish immigrants. The suburb developed a reputation for crime and vice. The Sydney underworld figure

Kate Leigh Kathleen Mary Josephine Leigh (née Beahan; 10 March 1881 – 4 February 1964) (other names included Kathleen Barry, and Kathleen Ryan) was an Australian underworld figure who rose to prominence as a madam, illegal trader of alcohol and cocain ...

(1881–1964), lived in Surry Hills for more than 80 years. In 1896 Patineur Grotesque one of Australia's first films and first comedy routine filmed was shot in Prince Alfred Park by Marius Sestier. Surry Hills was favoured by newly arrived families after

World War II 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

when property values were low and accommodation was inexpensive. From the 1980s, the area was gentrified, with many of the area's older houses and building restored and many new upper middle-class residents enjoying the benefits of inner-city living. The suburb is now a haven for the upper middle class and young rich.

Trams

The West Kensington via Surry Hills Line operated from 1881 down Crown Street as far as Cleveland Street as a steam tramway. It was extended to Phillip Street in 1909, Todman Avenue in 1912, and then to its final terminus down Todman Avenue in 1937. When the line was fully operational it branched from the tramlines in Oxford Street and proceeded down Crown Street to Cleveland Street in Surry Hills, then south along Baptist Street to Phillip Street, where it swung left into Crescent Street before running south along Dowling Street. It passed the Dowling Street Depot, then tuned left into Todman Avenue, where it terminated at West Kensington. The line along Crown Street closed in 1957, the remainder stayed open until 1961 to allow access to Dowling Street Tram Depot. Transdev John Holland routes 301, 302 and 303 generally follow the route down Crown and Baptist Streets as far as Phillip Street.

Urban character

Crown Street-Campbell Street, Surry Hills, Sydney

Surry Hills has a mixture of residential, commercial and light industrial areas. It remains Sydney's main centre for fashion wholesale activities, particularly on the western side. The area is also home to a large LGBTQIA+ community, where Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (Pride Parade) takes place each year. Surry Hills Markets are held in Shannon Reserve at the corner of Crown and Collins Streets, on the first Saturday of every month, and the Surry Hills Festival is an annual community event, attracting tens of thousands of visitors, held in and around Ward Park, Shannon Reserve, Crown Street and Hill Street. The Surry Hills Library and Community Centre sits opposite Shannon Reserve and houses the local branch of the

city library A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and the Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre.

In popular culture

Literature

'' The Harp in the South'' is a novel by Ruth Park. Published in 1948, it portrays the life of a Catholic Irish-Australian family in Surry Hills, which was an inner city slum at the time. A sequel, '' Poor Man's Orange'', was published in 1949.

Transport

Central railway station, the largest station on the

Sydney Trains Sydney Trains is the operator of the suburban passenger Railways in Sydney, rail network serving the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Railways in Sydney, network is a hybrid urban rail, urban-suburban rail system with a central un ...

and

NSW TrainLink NSW TrainLink is a train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, along with limited interstate services into Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. Its primary inter ...

networks, sits on the western edge of Surry Hills. Surry Hills is also serviced by Transdev John Holland and Transit Systems buses. The

Eastern Distributor The Eastern Distributor is a motorway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Part of the M1, the motorway links the Sydney central business district with Sydney Airport. The centre-piece is a tunnel running from Woolloomooloo to Surry Hi ...

is a major road, on the eastern edge of the suburb. Major thoroughfares are Crown Street, Cleveland Street, Bourke Street and Foveaux Street. Surry Hills is within easy walking distance of the Sydney CBD, and is included in a widening network of cycleways. Major construction took place on the Surry Hills section of the

CBD and South East Light Rail The CBD and South East Light Rail is a light rail line in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Construction commenced in October 2015, with services between Circular Quay and Randwick commencing on 14 December 2019 as the L2 Randwick Line, a ...

which opened in December 2019 and April 2020 respectively.

Transport for NSW Transport for NSW, sometimes abbreviated to TfNSW, and pronounced as Transport for New South Wales, is an List of New South Wales government agencies, agency of the Government of New South Wales, New South Wales Government established on 1 Novem ...

managed this project. It has been reported that there has been some disruption to local businesses because of the construction work taking place.

Places of worship

Chinese Presbyterian Church The Chinese Presbyterian Church, also commonly known as CPC, is a Presbyterian church at the corner of Crown and Albion Streets, , in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The church is reputedly the oldest surviving Chinese church in Australia. As ...

* Christian Israelite Church * Cityside Church (Australian Christian Churches) * Dawn of Islam Mosque * Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church * King Faisal Mosque * Self-Realization Fellowshipbr>Sydney Centre
*

Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

* St Frances De Sales Catholic Church * St Michael's Anglican Church * St Peters Catholic Church * Surry Hills Baptist Church * Sydney Streetlevel Mission (

The Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestant church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. The organisation reports a worldwide membership of over 1.7million, comprising soldiers, officers and adherents col ...

) * Vine Church

Landmarks

* Sydney Police Centre * Centennial Plaza * Belvoir Street Theatre * Prince Alfred Park & Swimming Pool * Tom Mann Theatre * Harmony Park * Ward Park, Devonshire Street * Rainbow Crossing, Taylor Square * Surry Hills Library and Community Centre, Crown Street * The Kirk, Cleveland Street

Restaurants

Surry Hills boasts a diverse range of cafes and restaurants serving a wide variety of cooking styles and cultures. The suburb has one of the highest, if not the highest, concentration of restaurants in Sydney. Local chefs include

Andrew Cibej Andrew David Cibej (born 2 February 1970) is an Australian chef and restaurateur in Sydney and Hong Kong. He is currently executive chef at Bacco Osteria in Angel Place, Sydney. Family and education Cibej is of Italian and Australian descent. ...

and

Bill Granger William Granger is a self-taught cook, restaurateur and food writer, based in his native Australia and in London but also working internationally. Career In the late 1980s, Granger relocated from Melbourne to Sydney to study art. He worke ...

Pubs and bars

Because of its industrial and commercial history, the Surry Hills area contains a significant number of

pubs A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

. The style of pubs range from the

Victorian period In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwa ...

Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...

and

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

pubs from the mid-1900s. Many of these have been refurbished in recent years to include restaurants and modern facilities.

Heritage buildings

Surry Hills has a number of heritage-listed sites, including the following sites listed on the

New South Wales State Heritage Register The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Herita ...

: * 197, 199, 201

Albion Street Albion Street is a street in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in the local government area of the City of Sydney. It runs east-west from Elizabeth Street to Flinders Street, and is approximately one kilometre long. The street is notable f ...

: 197, 199, 201 Albion Street terrace cottages * 203-205 Albion Street: 203-205 Albion Street cottages * 207 Albion Street: Durham Hall * 626-630 Bourke Street:

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Surry Hills The Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church is a heritage-listed Greek Orthodox church building located at 626-630 Bourke Street, Surry Hills, City of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by C. R. Summerhayes and built from 1898 to 19 ...

* Centennial Park to College Street: Busby's Bore * Chalmers Street: Railway Institute Building * 146-164 Chalmers Street: Cleveland House, Surry Hills * 356 Crown Street:

Crown Street Public School The Crown Street Public School is a heritage-listed public primary school located at Crown Street, Surry Hills, City of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by George Allen Mansfield and built from in 1869 by A. Scott (maso ...

* 285 Crown Street: Crown Street Reservoir * 397 Crown Street: 1849 Stonemasonry workshop * 416 Bourke Street: Hopetoun Hotel The following buildings are listed on the now defunct

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...

: * Bourke Street Public School, established in 1880 and located in heritage-listed buildings * Children's Court, Albion Street * Former Police Station, 703 Bourke Street (designed by Walter Liberty Vernon) * Former Wesleyan Chapel, 348A Bourke Street * Riley Street Infants School, 378-386 Riley Street *

Meeting House, Devonshire Street * St David's Hall, Arthur Street * St Michael's Anglican Church, hall and rectory, Albion Street

Housing

Surry Hills is largely composed of grand

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

terraced houses and some complexes of public housing units to the west of Riley Street. Examples of converted buildings previously used as hospitals include Crown Street Hospital and St. Margaret's, in addition to other building conversions.

Schools

Bourke Street Public School,

, Sydney Community College, Sydney Boys High School and Sydney Girls High School are notable examples. The

Australian Institute of Music The Australian Institute of Music (AIM) is an Australian private tertiary education provider, with campuses in Sydney, New South Wales and Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1968, AIM delivers education for careers in the Australian music, ent ...

's Sydney Campus is also located in Surry Hills.

Population

Demographically, Surry Hills is now characterised as a mixture of wealthy newcomers who have gentrified the suburb, and long-time residents. According to the 2021 census the population of Surry Hills was 15,828. At the , 69.4% of dwellings are flats, units or apartments, compared to the Australian average of 13.1%. 29.1% are semi-detached terraced houses or townhouses, compared to the Australian average of 12.7%. Only 0.4% of dwellings are separate houses, compared to the Australian average of 75.6%. Surry Hills is categorised as a high wealth area, with a median weekly household income of $2,144, compared to the Australian average of $1,438. Historically, the suburb had an influx of post-war immigrants from Europe, particularly those from

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Surry Hills had a population of 16,412 at the . 42.1% of people were born in Australia. The most common foreign countries of birth were England 6.4%, Thailand 3.9%, China (excludes SARs and Taiwan) 3.6%, New Zealand 3.2% and the United States of America 1.9%. 47.6% of dwellings have no cars, compared to the Australian average of 7.5%. 32.9% of the population walked to work, compared to the Australian average of 3.7%, and 30.2% travelled to work by public transport, compared to the Australian average of 10.4%. In 2016 Surry Hills was a significantly more

irreligious Irreligion or nonreligion is the absence or rejection of religion, or indifference to it. Irreligion takes many forms, ranging from the casual and unaware to full-fledged philosophies such as atheism and agnosticism, secular humanism and ant ...

suburb than the Australian average. A plurality (44.0%) reported no religion whilst 16.9% did not answer the question. The most common religions reported were Catholic 15.6%, Buddhism 6.4% and Anglican 5.6%.

Notable people

Tilly Devine Matilda Mary Devine (née Twiss, 8 September 190024 November 1970), known as Tilly Devine, was an English Australian organised crime boss. She was involved in a wide range of activities, including sly-grog, razor gangs, and prostitution, and ...

(1900–1970), a prominent English-born crime syndicate figure and madam *

(1881–1964), (resided) a figure in the notorious Sydney

razor gang Razor gangs were criminal gangs who dominated the Sydney crime scene in the 1920s. After the passage of the ''Pistol Licensing Act 1927'', the Parliament of New South Wales imposed severe penalties for carrying concealed firearms and handguns. ...

wars *

Jessica Mauboy Jessica Hilda Mauboy (born 4 August 1989) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. Born and raised in Darwin, Northern Territory, she rose to fame in 2006 on the fourth season of ''Australian Idol'', where she was runner-up and subseq ...

, (born 1989) singer and actress * Ruth Park, (1917-2010), author, resided for a time in Surry Hills, where her first book, ''The Harp in the South'' (1948), was set *

Kenneth Slessor Kenneth Adolphe Slessor (27 March 190130 June 1971) was an Australian poet, journalist and official war correspondent in World War II. He was one of Australia's leading poets, notable particularly for the absorption of modernist influences int ...

(1901–1972), poet and author, many of whose poems were set in Surry Hills, Darlinghurst and Kings Cross *

Catherine Sutherland Catherine Jane Sutherland (born 24 October 1974) is an Australian actress. She is known for her portrayal of Kat Hillard, the second Pink Power Ranger and later, the Pink Zeo Ranger and the first Pink Turbo Ranger in the ''Power Rangers'' telev ...

, (born 1974) actress *

Brett Whiteley Brett Whiteley AO (7 April 1939 – 15 June 1992) was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes. He held many exhibiti ...

(1939–1992), artist who resided and had a studio in Surry Hills, now the Brett Whiteley Studio

Gallery

File:(1)Surry Hills Orthodox Church.jpg, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church File:Surry Hills Church 2.JPG, Chinese Presbyterian Church File:Womens hospital albion street.jpg, Crown Street Women's Hospital File:(1)Christian Israelite Church.jpg, Christian Israelite Church, Campbell Street File:Surry Hills The Kirk.JPG, The Kirk, a deconsecrated Methodist church File:Surry Hills Crown Street Public School 1.JPG, Public School, Crown Street File:Surry Hills Bourke Street Public School.JPG, Public School, Bourke Street File:StMichael'sAnglicanChurchSurryHills.jpg, St Michael's Anglican Church File:(1)St Davids Hall Arthur Street-a.jpg, Heritage-listed St David's Hall, Arthur Street

References

External links

CC-By-SA A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyrics ...

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demographics