Redfern Park

About

Redfern Park is a heritage-listed park at Elizabeth, Redfern, Chalmers and Phillip streets, Redfern, Sydney, Australia. It was designed by Charles O'Neill. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 21 September 2018.

The Gadigal People of the Eora Nation are recognised as the traditional custodians of the land on which Redfern Park and Oval are now located, as well as the greater Redfern area. The Gadigal have a rich culture and strong community values. The area now forming Redfern Park has always been a significant place for Aboriginal people. This part of Sydney was originally park of a diverse wetland that connected to the Tank Stream and an important meeting place.

The British invasion brought smallpox, which had a catastrophic impact on the Aboriginal clans of the Sydney area, and the colony itself soon spread to the Redfern area, partly in pursuit of clean fresh water following pollution of the Tank Stream. Many Aboriginal people moved to La Perouse and elsewhere, and began to become prominent in city life again from the 1930s, when working class suburbs like Pyrmont, Balmain, Rozelle, Glebe and Redfern became central places for Aboriginal families to live, where housing was relatively cheap and there was plenty of work in nearby factories. Many travelled from northern and western NSW for the increased work opportunities after the outbreak of World War 2. Changes in government legislation in the 1960s provided freedom of movement enabling more Aboriginal people to choose to live in Sydney.

Redfern's natural landscape was defined by sand hills and swamps. The Carrahdigang, more widely known as the Cadigal people, valued the area for its abundant supply of food. The name originates from an early land grant to William Redfern in 1817. It was previously known as Roberts Farm and Boxley's Swamp. Redfern (1774?-1833) was a surgeon's mate in the Royal Navy and was aboard HMS Standard when its crew took part in the revolt in 1797 known as the Mutiny of the Nore. Because he had advised the men to be more united, he was included among leaders who were court-martialled. Although sentenced to death, he was reprieved because of his youth and in 1801 arrived in Sydney as a convict. He served on Norfolk Island as an assistant surgeon. In 1803 he was pardoned, but remained on the island until 1808, when he returned to Sydney and was appointed assistant surgeon after being examined in medicine and surgery by Surgeons Jamison, Harris and Bohan.

In 1816 he took charge of the new Sydney Hospital, and maintained a private practice. In 1814 he reported on conditions on convict transport ships and his recommendation that all have a surgeon on board whose duties were to superintend the health of convicts was put into practice.

Redfern resigned from Government service in 1819 when not appointed to succeed D'Arcy Wentworth as principal surgeon. Despite his valuable service, many were contemptuous of him as he was an emancipist, although he had the friendship of Governor Macquarie. In 1818 Redfern received a grant of 526 hectares (1,300 acres) in Airds and later received more land in the area and by his death in 1823 he owned, by grant and purchase, over 9,308 hectares (23,000 acres) in NSW.

In 1817 he had been granted 40 hectares (100 acres) in the area of the present suburb of Redfern. The boundaries were approximately the present-day Cleveland, Regent, Redfern and Elizabeth Streets. The commodious home Redfern built on his land was considered to be a country house, surrounded by flower and kitchen gardens. His neighbours were John Baptist (at the 16-hectare (40-acre) Darling Nursery in today's Chippendale ) and Captain Cleveland, an officer of the 73rd regiment, remembered by today's street of that name, and before its demolition, by Cleveland House, his home.

The passing of the Sydney Slaughterhouses Act in 1849 brought other businesses to the district. This act banned abattoirs and noxious trades from the city. Tanners, wool scourers and wool-washers, fellmongers, boiling down works and abattoirs had ten years to move their businesses outside city boundaries. Many of the trades moved to Redfern and Waterloo - attracted by the water. The sand hills still existed but by the late 1850s Redfern was a flourishing suburb housing 6,500 people.

The Municipalities Act of 1858 gave districts the option of municipal incorporation. Public meetings were held and after a flurry of petitions Redfern Municipality was proclaimed on 11 August 1859, the fourth in Sydney to be formed under the Act. Redfern Town Hall opened in 1870 and the Albert Cricket Ground in 1864. Redfern Post Office came in 1882.

The majority of houses in Redfern in the 1850s were of timber. From the 1850s market gardeners congregated in Alexandria south of McEvoy Street, around Shea's Creek and Bourke Road.

Redfern Park remained swamp land while residential and industrial Redfern was built up around it, and it became known as Boxley's Lagoon and seen as a nuisance and a waste land. In 1885 South Sydney Council resumed five hectares (twelve acres) of the swamp for the park construction. Redfern Park was gazetted for the purpose of public recreation on 10 November 1885 and named as "Redfern Park" on 20 November 1885. South Sydney Council was appointed Trustee of the park under the Public Parks Act on 10 December 1885. Council prepared by-laws for the park in 1887 and installed a caretaker in 1888.< The park was styled as late Victorian Pleasure Gardens with Botanical Plantings and Landscape Design.

Around 1886 planting began using tree saplings supplied by the Royal Botanic Gardens including Moreton Bay figs, deciduous figs, and Canary Island palms. The plantings used in the park reflect the preferences or botanical palate of the successive directors of the Botanic Gardens with Charles Moore (director 1848-1896) favouring Port Jackson and Moreton Bay figs and Joseph T. Maiden (director 1896-1924) deciduous figs and Canary Island pines.

The park's layout was designed by the civil engineer Charles O'Neill in 1888. This design split the park into a southern section for sporting activities and a northern half comprising a formal landscaped garden for passive recreation which included extensive specimen plantings, lawns, flower gardens, seating, shaded walkways across the park and around the perimeter, decorative gates, and the Baptist fountain in the centre. A raised bandstand was located in the centre of the entire park.

Prominent local resident John Baptist Jr., of Portuguese background, donated the fountain and several urns for installation in the new landscaped park in 1889-1890. Baptist's father, John Baptist (Sr.) arrived in Sydney as a free man in 1829. He opened a nursery in Redfern to the east of what became Redfern Park (in what is now the Marriot Street Reserve area). The nursery originally focussed on vegetables but later expanded to include ornamental plants. In time, his nursery grew to comprise most of East Redfern. The Baptist fountain is extant (and has recently been restored) while the urns were removed in 1965. The cast iron fountain, which features a bronze finish, was manufactured in Coalbrookdale, England and imported to Australia as a kit which was then constructed on site. A number of these fountains were imported at this time. Today only a few survive: there is one at Forbes, NSW; one in the botanical gardens in Adelaide, SA ; and another partial or incomplete one in the Fitzroy Gardens in Melbourne, Victoria. These remaining examples are slightly different designs, with the Redfern example with its "boy and serpent" motif being individual.

While the park was under construction, the citizens of Redfern put together a subscription to erect sandstone gates at the northern entrance. This demonstrates the nature of the local civic pride that had led to the construction of the park. In 1891 the Redfern Street gates, which comprised two white painted sandstone piers supporting decorative wrought iron gates featuring a prominent Waratah motif, were installed.

Redfern Park was officially opened in 1890. By the time it was finished it was a typical Victorian "pleasure ground" incorporating ornamental gardens, exotic plantings, cricket wickets and oval, bowling green, bandstand, and sporting pavilions. As such, from the beginning this park incorporated a mixture of pleasure and sporting facilities.

Soon after construction of the park had begun, South Sydney Council was inundated with requests from local sporting clubs (rugby union, cricket, etc.) to use the oval. The park was initially designed with a cricket oval and wickets (1887-1890) and a bowling green and sporting activities may have commenced as early as 1886. In the decades following the opening of the oval it was used for rugby union during the winter and cricket during the summer. Rugby Union was first played at the park in May 1888. To further the use of the oval for cricket purposes a cricket pavilion, donated by the Redfern (South Sydney) Mayor, was opened in 1892.

From the early decades of the twentieth century sporting usage began to dominate at Redfern Park with the sporting facilities being used for tennis, rugby league, cricket, baseball, boxing, and many other sports. By 1909 the oval had been found to be too small for cricket and the Council moved to increase the size of the sports area of the park and enclose it within a seven foot fence. This likely had the unfortunate effect of separating "Redfern Park" into two distinct areas: a park and oval.

During the early twentieth century Rugby League became an increasing popular sport in the local area (and Sydney). The NSW Rugby Football League competition was formed on 17 January 1908 with South Sydney being one of the nine founding clubs. In 1911 Redfern Oval was first leased to the NSW Rugby Football League for the majority of the season beginning a regular arrangement. The oval may also have been used as a training venue by the South Sydney Rabbitohs from this time. The story that the "Rabbitohs" are named after the rabbit hawkers who plied their trade around Redfern Park during the early twentieth century (or was it the 1890s depression) suggests an early connection between the club and Redfern Oval.

Following the horror and loss of life of WWI many communities across Australia chose to honour and remember their local soldiers through living or static memorials. The Redfern community chose to erect a large sandstone/marble/granite memorial with statues to commemorate its dead. To fund its construction a large carnival (or several) were held in Redfern Park after the war. These efforts were successful and the extant WWI war memorial was constructed in the northwest corner of the park in 1919-1920.