Eveleigh, New South Wales

Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb
name = Eveleigh
city = Sydney
state = nsw

---

caption = National Innovation Centre, Australian Technology Park
lga = City of Sydney
postcode = 2015
pop =
area =
est =
propval =
stategov = Heffron
fedgov = Sydney
dist1 = 3
dir1 = south
location1= Sydney CBD
near-nw = Newtown
near-n = Darlington
near-ne = Redfern
near-w = Newtown
near-e = Redfern
near-sw = Erskineville
near-s = Alexandria
near-se = Waterloo

Eveleigh is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, 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.

History

Eveleigh was named after the estate of Lieutenant J. R. Holden, so called after his birthplace in England. Much of the suburb of Redfern was known as Eveleigh in the early days. In fact, Redfern railway station was originally known as Eveleigh railway station. The Eveleigh railway 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 sixty acres, bounded by North Newtown, Erskineville, Redfern, Alexandria 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 [ [http://www.teachingheritage.nsw.edu.au/a_forming/wa2_sshist.html Teaching Heritage: Historian's perspective on the Eveleigh workshops] ] . 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 [Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, September, 1962 pp140-144] .

The Eveleigh Workshops 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 [ [http://www.teachingheritage.nsw.edu.au/a_forming/w1v_clarke.html Teaching Heritage: Heritage value of the Eveleigh workshops] ] (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 [ [http://www.teachingheritage.nsw.edu.au/a_forming/wa2_eveleighchron.html Teaching Heritage: Chronology of Eveleigh Workshops] ] . The locomotive workshop was closed in 1988 [ [http://www.teachingheritage.nsw.edu.au/a_forming/wa2_eveleighchron.html Teaching Heritage: Chronology of Eveleigh Workshops] ] and the main rail workshops were moved to Enfield.

In 1989, part of the site was used to house Paddy's Market, while the original site at Haymarket was being redeveloped.

Developments

In 1991 the NSW Government established a consortium including the University of Sydney, 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 [ [http://www.performancespace.com.au/news.php Performance Space] ] .

Australian Technology Park [ [http://www.atp.com.au/dyncontent.cfm?MenuID=2 Australian Technology Park] ] occupies the site of the former Eveleigh railway yards. It is the home of a growing community of researchers, entrepreneurs, incubator businesses, start-ups, mature technology companies and education organisations.

References

External links