Eveleigh facts for kids
Quick facts for kids EveleighSydney, New South Wales |
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Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh
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| Postcode(s) | 2015 | ||||||||||||||
| Location | 3 km (2 mi) south of Sydney CBD | ||||||||||||||
| LGA(s) | City of Sydney | ||||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Newtown | ||||||||||||||
| Federal Division(s) | Sydney | ||||||||||||||
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Eveleigh is a suburb located in the inner southern part of Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. It is about 3 kilometres south of the main city centre, known as the Sydney central business district. Eveleigh is managed by the City of Sydney local government.
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A Look Back at Eveleigh's History
Eveleigh got its name from an estate owned by Lieutenant J. R. Holden. He named it after his birthplace in England. In the early days, a large part of the nearby suburb of Redfern was actually called Eveleigh. Even Redfern railway station was first known as Eveleigh railway station. The important Eveleigh railway yards were just south-west of this station.
The Famous Eveleigh Workshops
The Eveleigh Railway Workshops are very important to Australia's history. They show how industries, military efforts, and society changed over time. These workshops were where the very first steam locomotives in Australia were built. They also have a full collection of old engineering tools and machines from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many of these are now kept in a museum within the old Locomotive Workshop.
Work began on these new workshops in the early 1880s. They covered a huge area of over 60 acres (about 240,000 square metres). The workshops were built to fix and maintain the growing number of trains in New South Wales. By 1908, Eveleigh started making brand new steam locomotives. More than 3,000 people worked there at that time. Many workers lived nearby, but some came from other suburbs. Until the 1980s, these commuting workers would get off at Macdonaldtown railway station. This station was built specially for them, right in the middle of the workshop complex.
The Eveleigh site also played a role in Australia's defence. It was used to make weapons and supplies during both World War I and World War II.
Eveleigh is also famous in the history of Australian unions. In 1892, workers and unions successfully agreed to a six-day working week. Later, in 1917, a huge strike began with 3,000 workers at Eveleigh. This event, known as the 1917 General Strike, spread across Australia. Nearly 100,000 people took part in it nationwide.
The locomotive workshop closed in 1988. The main rail workshops then moved to Enfield. A company called 3801 Limited used the Large Erecting Shop from 1986 to 2017.
Public Housing in Eveleigh
The Eveleigh area has a lot of social housing. There are four housing estates nearby. One notable estate has one or two-story townhouses around South Sydney rotary park. These were built in the early 1990s. Two other estates on Golden Grove Street and Newton Street were built a few years earlier.
Recently, a residential area in Carriageworks was updated. Old buildings were replaced with a new apartment block. Most of these new units are for social and community housing. This project was finished in 2018. After that, an older housing block across Wilson Street from Carriageworks was taken down. It is now being rebuilt.
Who Lives in Eveleigh?
At the 2021 census, Eveleigh had 606 residents.
In the 2016 census, there were 663 people living in Eveleigh. About 53.3% of these people were born in Australia. Also, 57.1% of people spoke only English at home. When asked about religion, 36.4% said they had No Religion, and 20.1% were Catholic.
New Developments in Eveleigh
In 1991, the NSW Government started a big project. They worked with three universities: the University of Sydney, University of Technology, Sydney, and UNSW. Together, they turned part of the old workshops into the Australian Technology Park. This park is on the Alexandria side of the site. Another part of the old workshops, facing Wilson Street, has been turned into a large theatre space.
The Australian Technology Park is built on the land where the old Eveleigh railway yards used to be. It is now a busy place for researchers, business owners, and technology companies. Many new businesses and educational groups are based there.
The buildings at the Australian Technology Park are also often used for filming. You might have seen them in advertisements or TV shows. For example, MasterChef Australia, So You Think You Can Dance, and the auditions for Australian Idol have all used these locations. The park will also soon have large film and television production facilities. This includes a new digital film studio built by Kennedy Miller Mitchell for movies like Mad Max 4 and Happy Feet 2. The Seven Network and NEP Group also have high-definition television studios there.
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