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.
