Erskineville, New South Wales


Erskineville is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 6 kilometres south west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. Erskineville is a diverse suburb homing to a wide variety of ethnicity from its varying Southeast Europe and Aboriginal community. Erskineville is colloquially known as Erko.
Erskineville is bordered by the suburbs of Newtown to the west, Redfern to the north, St Peters to the south, and Alexandria to the east. The locality of Camperdown sits over the north-west border.
Erskineville is a residential suburb. Erskineville Oval is located on the eastern border of the suburb.

History

The suburb was originally called after an earlier subdivision in 1846 in the south of Erskineville owned by Stephen Macdonald. The streets around the early Macdonaldtown subdivision are named after relations of the Macdonald family - Amy, Flora, Eve, Coulson and Rochford. Knight Street is named for Henry Knight, one of the earliest brickmakers in the district and the first mayor of Macdonaldtown. Devine Street is named for the first grant holder, Nicholas Devine, the first principal superintendent of convicts. He called his property Burren Farm, after a region of County Clare in his native Ireland.
Erskineville is named after Erskine Villa, the home of Wesleyan minister, Reverend George Erskine, built in 1830. After changing owners a few times, the property was eventually left to the Church of England and became the rectory for the Holy Trinity Church at Macdonaldtown.
The area was first incorporated on 23 May 1872, with the name of the "Municipal District of Macdonald Town". On 19 July 1872, the first council, consisting of six aldermen in one electorate, was elected, with Henry Knight elected as the first mayor at the first meeting on 23 July 1872.
In 1893 Macdonaldtown was renamed as Erskineville, when the Parliament of New South Wales passed the "Borough of Erskineville Naming Act, 1893", effecting the municipal name change. In the late nineteenth century, the inhabitants were originally market gardeners, though brick making and tanning also became dominant industries. The Victorian cottages and small rows of Victorian terraces that dominate the built form of the suburb were the homes of the workers in these industries, which explains their smallness: a four-metre wide terrace is large by Erskineville standards.
In the early twentieth century, manufacturing in the area diversified, and Erskineville became a resolutely working class inner city suburb. In 1938 the Erskineville Public Housing Scheme was inaugurated on the western end of Erskineville Park, as an early response by the NSW Government to the Housing Improvement Act 1937 towards the problem of slum clearance in the inner city. From the 1970s, Erskineville underwent gentrification with new residents attracted to the village atmosphere, public transport links and the proximity to the CBD.

From the 19th century until the second half of the 20th century, the south-eastern section of Erskineville was taken up by large industrial uses. Bakewell Brothers brick and pottery works operated until 1956, and Metters Limited had a large factory that made items such as the "Kooka" stove operating from 1907 to 1974. Steelworks like McPherson’s Pty Ltd and Hadfields Steel Works also operated until the 1970s. The site of these industrial works were identified since 1998 as a site for urban renewal, with the land east of the rail line, south of Ashmore Street and north of Coulson Street known as the "Ashmore Estate". The Ashmore Estate is currently identified for major residential redevelopment as part of the urban renewal process.

Transport

Trams

The Erskineville line opened as an electric double track tramway in 1909. It branched from tracks at Regent Street in Chippendale, and passed west along Meagher Street, then south into Abercombie Street. It followed Abercrombie Street south across the junction with Cleveland Street through Golden Grove, before swinging south into Golden Grove Street then right into Wilson Street. The line then passed under the railway lines at Burren Street, adjacent to the entrance to Macdonaldtown railway station. The line then became a single track loop passing up Burren Street to Erskineville Road, then west along Erskineville Road to Septimus Street, then Albert Street before rejoining the tracks at Burren Street. Services operated from Circular Quay using the Pitt and Castlereagh Street lines. The line south of Cleveland Street closed in 1940, with the northern section used by other services until its closure in 1958.
The Henderson Road line was a short line that branched from the Alexandria line tracks at the corner of Henderson and Mitchell Roads in Alexandria and passed along Henderson Road to Park Street in Erskineville, and later to Bridge Street adjacent to [Erskineville railway station. Services operated from Circular Quay with the line opening to Park Street in 1906 and to Bridge Street in 1909. The line was an electrified single track throughout. The line was an early closure in 1933 and was replaced by a private bus service that no longer operates.

Trains and buses

Heavy rail was extended south from Central railway station to Erskineville between 1884 and 1893 via the Illawarra railway line. Today, Erskineville is served by the T3 Bankstown Line of the Sydney Trains network. Newtown railway station, Macdonaldtown railway station and St Peters railway station also service the suburb and are within close distance from the centre of Erskineville.
Buses provide a service from Marrickville Metro shopping centre at Marrickville to Surry Hills.

Popular culture

At the 2016 census, there were 8,014 residents in Erskineville. 59.1% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 7.2%, New Zealand 3.2% and China 2.5%. 74.6% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 2.5%, Spanish 1.5% and Cantonese 1.4%. The most common responses for religious affiliation were No Religion 54.8% and Catholic 14.1%. On the day of the Census, 45.9% of employed people used public transport as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 28.1% used car. The main housing types were flats or units 55.3%, semi-detached or townhouses 40.2% and separate houses 3.5%. Just over half of residents were renting, compared with the national average of 30.9%.

Notable residents

There are two schools within Erskineville itself, both catering for the primary-level :
In addition, Erskineville is serviced by several public secondary schools. The suburb itself is within the catchment-area of the Newtown High School of the Performing Arts, while Alexandria Park Community School, Marrickville High School and Tempe High School are the closest comprehensives.

Heritage

Heritage Conservation Areas

Erskineville is covered by HCAs in approximately 75% of its area. These include: