Redfern Park is a heritage-listed park bounded by Redfern, Elizabeth, Phillip and Chalmers streets in the inner-city suburb of Redfern in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The park's layout was designed by the civil engineer Charles O'Neill in 1888. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 21 September 2018.
History
Traditional owners 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 (suburb) 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.
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