Darlington, New South Wales
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Darlington Sydney, New South Wales |
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Royal Hotel, Darlington |
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Population: | 2040 (2001 census) | ||||||||||||
Postcode: | 2008 | ||||||||||||
Area: | 0.5 km² (0.2 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
Property Value: | AUD $536,000 (2007) | ||||||||||||
Location: | 3 km (2 mi) south of Sydney CBD | ||||||||||||
LGA: | City of Sydney | ||||||||||||
State District: | Bligh | ||||||||||||
Federal Division: | Grayndler, Sydney | ||||||||||||
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Darlington is a small, inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Darlington 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 and is part of the region of the Inner West.
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[edit] History
Darlington was part of the area first occupied by the Cadigal band of the Dharug people. The Cadigal people were decimated in the smallpox epidemic of 1789 and it is said only three Cadigal people were left by 1791. It is suggested that some Cadigal people may have escaped to the Concord area. [1]
William Shepherd, a botanist, was offered 200 acres (0.8 km²) by the British colonists in 1827. He refused the grant because he wanted to live closer to town and was given land to the north-east. In 1835, he held about 28 acres here where he cultivated a nursery garden. He named it Darling Nursery, in honour of Governor Ralph Darling. The suburb became known as Darlingtown, which gradually was corrupted to Darlington. Street names such as Ivy, Vine, Rose, Pine and Myrtle recall the nursery origins. [2]
[edit] Developments
Although Darlington is small, it can be split into a number of sub-suburban divisions including the Golden Grove locality. The western half of the suburb is a campus of the University of Sydney, the eastern half is an area largely populated by students from the university because housing is relatively cheap. Darlington is bordered by City Road to the west, Cleveland Street to the north, Abercrombie Street to the east, the railway yards to the south, and Golden Grove Street to the south-west. A small group of shops is located on Abercrombie Street.
Most of Darlington is built on the terrace house model. This means that undetached, two storey terraces face one another across a small street, often crowded with parked cars. Behind these houses is usually a back lane, of one-car width, or a pedestrian access lane. These lanes were colloquially known as dunny lanes because they were originally used to provide access for sani-men or human waste collectors, to the bucket style toilets located in sheds at the fence-line of the backyard. With the introduction of sewerage to Darlington, the backyard dunnies generally became sheds, and the lanes became defunct. Back lanes are now generally used for storing garbage bins, dumping general refuse and occasionally accessing properties from the rear. The street-lane system affords raked varigated views on both sides, with both sides heavily cultivated by gardeners.
On the north-east border of the suburb is The Block, a housing area around Eveleigh Street, owned by the Aboriginal community. The Block is an enclave of Redfern, on the Darlington side of the railway line.
[edit] Landmarks
Darlington was historically a suburb of the industrial working class. It has often been used as a student dormitory suburb due to its proximity to the University of Sydney's Camperdown campus. Controversially, the University of Sydney acquired a large number of houses in Darlington in the 1980s and destroyed a significant portion of the suburb to make way for a new Darlington campus. This destroyed much of the historical character of the suburb, and the remains are dominated by the University and University related housing. The only part of the civic centre that remains is the Old Darlington School, which is on the grounds of the University and is used these days by the Music Department, especially the gamelan group. All the records held by the old Darlington municipal council were lost at some point, which makes it difficult research how houses in the area used to look.
The former Eveleigh Railway Yards is now 'CarriageWorks', a centre for nurturing, development and presentation of contemporary arts. It is located off Wilson Street and are part of the adjacent suburb of Eveleigh. [3] CarriageWorks contains two theatre spaces, a gallery, a scenery construction workshop, exhibition spaces, offices, a bar and café.
[edit] Transport
Darlington is served by buses on the City Road route and CityRail railway stations at Redfern and Macdonaldtown.
[edit] Notable Residents
[edit] References
- ^ Heiss, Anita Barani; Indigenous history of Sydney city City of Sydney
- ^ The Book of Sydney Suburbs, Compiled by Frances Pollen, Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1990, Published in Australia ISBN 0-207-14495-8
- ^ http://www.carriageworks.com.au/index.html CarriageWorks
[edit] External links
- Darlington, New South Wales is at coordinates Coordinates:
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