Newtown is an inner-city suburb about 5 kilometers. from the Sydney CBD. The area has gone through a number of social transformations since it was first established in 1862, when 200 houses were formed into the municipality of Newtown. Originally it was home to Sydney’s bourgeoisie, but by 1900 it had been transformed into a working class stronghold, home to the factory, waterside and domestic workers of that era.

Throughout much of the last century Newtown and surrounding suburbs have been home to workers who were strongly unionised and voted Labor. In 1931 there was a battle between members of the Unemployed Workers Movement and police, when a family in Union Street were about to be evicted. Around thirty militants and police were injured.

The 1950s saw an influx of migrants move in, giving Newtown a distinctly cosmopolitan feel. In the 1970s they were joined by a wave of young, educated and often politically active people. Newtown became popular with artists, filmmakers, writers, students, academics, unionists, teachers - people who were setting the agenda in the arts, politics, gay and lesbian culture, the women’s movement and the environmental movement. Many of them still live in the suburb, sharing it with residents who were born here and a new wave of city workers - many employed in the media, finance, entertainment, government and legal sectors.

Newtown’s King street and Enmore Road are packed with restaurants, pubs, coffee shops, weird and wonderful specialty shops and bookshops. The footpaths are always busy and the traffic is terrible.

The eclectic mix of Goths, professionals, artists, tattooed, pierced and spikey young things plus the down and out and homeless always makes for a rich tapestry of contemporary Sydney society.

All Photos kindly reproduced from 'Newtown (A Pictorial History)' By Alan Sharpe. Kingclear Books 1999.