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Paddington, New South Wales

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Paddington is bordered to the west by Darlinghurst, to the east by Centennial Park and Woollahra, to the north by Edgecliff and Rushcutters Bay and to the south by Moore Park.

History

Aboriginal people

The suburb of Paddington is considered to be part of the region associated with the stories of the Cadigal people. These people belonged to the Dharug (or Eora) language group, which includes what is now known as the Sydney central business district. It is known that the ridge, being the most efficient route, on which Oxford Street was built was also a walking track used by Aboriginal people. Much of the Aboriginal population (estimated at the time to be ca. 1000 people) of Sydney died due to the smallpox outbreak of 1789, one year after the First Fleet arrived in Sydney. Some Anthropologists maintain that the tribe moved to other areas of the shared Eora language group. At the time when Robert Cooper began to build his first house in Paddington, approximately 200 Koori people were living in Woolloomooloo in housing which Governor Macquarie had built for them.

Post European settlement, Paddington has generally not been a suburb with a dense Indigenous population. In the 1930s, when parts of Sydney such as Redfern and Glebe became hubs for Aboriginal people entering the labour force, Paddington continued to be a suburb mostly inhabited by European working-class people.

European settlement

1788–1800

In 1788 the First Fleet arrived in Sydney Harbour and established a settlement in Sydney Cove. Three kilometres to the east lay the land that would become Paddington. With a high sandstone ridge, eroded by streams leading to a marshy rush-filled cove too shallow for ships, the area was ignored by the newcomers, except for collecting rushes for thatch.

1801–1840

On a path used by local Aboriginal people, a road of some form was built by Governor Hunter to South Head as early as 1803. Governor Macquarie upgraded the road in 1811 for strategic purposes to accommodate wheeled vehicles. The road was improved by Major Druitt in 1820 to give faster access to the signal station at South Head. It was also to give access to the salubrious villas built by the colony's emerging plutocracy. The road was renamed the Old South Head Road after construction of New South Head Road along the Harbour foreshore was begun in 1831.

The first land grant in the Paddington area, of 100 acres (40.4 hectares), was made to Robert Cooper, James Underwood, and Francis Ewen Forbes by Governor Brisbane in 1823, allowing them to commence work on the Sydney distillery at the eastern end of Glenmore Road. A mill was located at the end of Gordon Street and run by the Gordon family grinding wheat from the early 1830s. It remained a prominent feature of the local landscape as houses were built, and as wind power was replaced by steam.

Cooper built his mansion, Juniper Hall, on the South Head Road ridge while Underwood built his house on Glenmore Road, between today's Soudan Lane and the former distillery. The suburb's name came about when in October 1839 James Underwood subdivided 50 of his 97 acres. He called his subdivision the Paddington Estate after the London Borough of that name. It extended from Oxford Street down to present day Paddington Street.

1841–1900

After the commencement in 1841 of Victoria Barracks the village of Paddington soon emerged, much of it around the cottages of the many artisans –stonemasons, quarrymen, carpenters and labourers – who were working on the construction of the Barracks. What emerged was a clear class distinction; the working-class located largely on or near the South Head Road and the emerging gentry living in villas facing the harbour in 'Rushcutters Valley'.

Rapid growth followed, with large estates being subdivided for speculative terrace style housing. In 1862 there were 535 houses with 2,800 residents. By 1883 the number of houses increased to 2,347. In 1871 Paddington's population density was 10.2 people per acre. By 1891 it had jumped 44.1.

1901–2000

In the first decade of the twentieth century Paddington was in its prime, with the population reaching 26,000 living in 4,800 houses. General health improved with the area being sewered.

The World War I left a legacy of social problems, tensions and alcohol abuse. Paddington suffered death rates of 5 per 1000 residents in the influenza epidemic of 1919. Developers were disparaging about densely populated areas like Paddington, describing them as unhealthy, and promoting sanitised garden suburbs such as Haberfield. In Paddington the unskilled, those with a trade and those renting were hit hard during the Depression, with 30% unemployment.

The post-war County of Cumberland planning scheme for metropolitan Sydney slated Paddington as a slum ripe for total redevelopment. A 1947 map titled 'Paddington Replanning' proposed demolition of virtually all existing housing to be replaced by blocks of flats. However, with the newly arrived migrants from Europe finding Paddington affordable and a convenient place to live, slum clearance faded from the political agenda. In the 1960s, a middle class 'Bohemian' invasion began and Paddington became very 'multi-cultural'.

From 1960 many professional people, many who may have returned from living abroad, recognised Paddington's potential, particularly the suburb's close proximity to the CBD. With the restoration of often derelict houses there developed a new awareness and interest in the historical and aesthetic qualities of the area. In 1968 in a complete reversal of planning and housing orthodoxy at the time, four hundred acres of terrace housing was rezoned as the first conservation area in Australia. The resident action group, the Paddington Society, founded in 1964, was a catalyst in this development.

Heritage Conservation Status of Paddington

Paddington is a rare and largely intact example of an early Victorian residential suburb. Its unique qualities may be attributed to its close proximity to the city, the topography of its harbour location, the process of development and subdivision of early land grants, and the short period in the late 19thC in which it was largely built out.

The distinctly Australian 'terrace' evolved from earlier Georgian and Regency models to form an exceptionally cohesive dormitory suburb. The heritage conservation status of Paddington, its streets and houses, its rooms and details is recognised as being of National and State significance.

With this conservation status comes an obligation for all generations to look after the place, in all its detail, so as to retain its cultural and heritage significance for future generations. We are but custodians of our heritage. Source: The Paddington Society

The aforementioned preservation of prominent Victorian architecture has drawn comparisons to London. In 1996, one travel journalist visiting Sydney for The New York Times noted, "in a city often said to look Californian–indeed, the 1920s California bungalow is a common type of suburban home–Paddington, also known as Paddo, more closely resembles parts of London, particularly given the predominance of the London terrace".

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