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Plan of grounds to be appropriated for Sydney Railway, 1849

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State Archives & Records New South Wales
[NRS 905 Colonial Secretary: Main series of letters received, 1826-1982, enclosure to CSIL 49/11712 in [4/2887]. SR Map 6408]
(To accompany Engineer's Report of date November 30th 1849 Transmitted to the Honourable Colonial Secretary with the application from the Director of the Sydney Railway Company of 6th December 1849 Charles Cowper, President)

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Appears in
The Railways of Sydney: Shaping the City and its Commerce
Subjects
Cemeteries Maps Railway stations Railways
Buildings
Benevolent Asylum Carters' Barracks Central Railway Station Cleveland House First city railway terminal
Organisation
Sydney Railway Company
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Cleveland Paddocks Devonshire Street Cemetery Haymarket Prince Alfred Park Surry Hills Surry Hills
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Sydney to Parramatta Railway

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State Archives & Records New South Wales

Statutory body established by the State Records Act 1998. The Act provides for the creation, management and protection of the records of public offices of the State and for public access to those records.

Based at Kingswood, State Archives and Records NSW manage and provide access to the New South Wales State archives collection, a unique and irreplaceable part of Australia's cultural heritage dating back to 1788.

 

The Railways of Sydney: Shaping the City and its Commerce

Across the world, steam railways and electric tramways facilitated the expansion of the small cities of pre-industrial times into vast metropolises. This essay explores the role of railways in shaping the Sydney metropolis we know today.

Railway stations

Railways

Cemeteries

Maps

Central Railway Station

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Central Railway Station, opened in 1906, is Sydney's main rail terminus. Built on the site of the Devonshire Street Cemetery, it replaced a nearby terminus on Devonshire Street.

Cleveland House

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Two storey stucco gentleman's residence, built in brick on stone foundations. Of colonial Georgian style, its design is attributed to Francis Greenway. It was later used as a school, laundry, boarding house and government offices, and as a convent and hospital. It remains significant as one of the oldest houses in Sydney.

Sydney Railway Company

Company which began the first railway in Sydney in 1849 between the town and Parramatta before financial difficulties saw it finished by the colonial government.

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Devonshire Street Cemetery

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Burial ground established in 1820 on the outskirts of colonial Sydney to replace the earlier burial ground on George Street. It was the city's main burial ground until the opening of Rookwood Cemetery. It officially closed in 1867, although people who had family vaults or previously purchased plots were still being buried there until much later. Also referred to as the Sandhills Cemetery due to its proximity to sandhills, it was resumed in 1901 to enable the building of Central Railway Station.

Haymarket

Urban locality in southern part of central business district. Named for the markets of the nineteenth century, it is still home to Paddy's Market as well as Chinese, Thai, Korean and Indonesian communities.

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Prince Alfred Park Surry Hills

Large open parkland in Surry Hills bounded by Cleveland and Chalmers streets which had been part of Cleveland Paddocks between the 1820s and 1865.

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Surry Hills

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Inner-city suburb located immediately to the south east of the central business district. After explosive growth in the second half of the nineteenth century it came to be seen as a slum, then experienced gentrification from the late 1960s.

Carters' Barracks

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Barracks on Pitt Street, running along what is close to contemporary Eddy Avenue, comprising several buildings built to house convict gangs working as carters on the brick fields. It was also used as a boys' barracks and, from 1835 to 1843, as a debtors' prison. Part of the complex was later used as a training facility for women, part of the women's refuge run by Sisters of the Good Shepherd. Another building was used as the Police Barracks. The buildings were demolished by 1901 to make way for Central Railway Station.

Benevolent Asylum

Asylum constructed by the Benevolent Society in 1821 to provide shelter and care to the poor, aged and infirm. Adjacent to the Old Sydney Burial Ground (Devonshire Street Cemetery), it was demolished to make way for the current Central Railway Station in 1901.

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Cleveland Paddocks

Farmland from the 1820s in the area of Regent, Cleveland and Devonshire streets around Cleveland House. A part of the paddocks became Prince Alfred Park in 1865.

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Sydney to Parramatta Railway

The colony's first major line connecting six stations at Sydney, Newtown, Ashfield, Burwood, Homebush, and Parramatta Junction near Granville. It was extended to the current Parramatta station on 4 July 1860.

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First city railway terminal

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Sydney's first railway terminal which was built on the site of the 'Cleveland Paddock' between Devonshire and Cleveland streets and operated between Sydney and Parramatta. It consisted of a single wooden platform covered by a corrugated iron shed, 100 feet long and 30 feet wide (approximately 30.5 by nine metres). It was commonly referred to as Redfern Station due to its proximity to the suburb.