NSWFarming
Surry Hills
Sandhill farm country that became Sydney’s most crowded suburb.
1793Foveaux’s Surrey Hills Farm granted
WHAT STARTED IT
In 1793 Captain Joseph Foveaux was granted land east of the town boundary, which he named Surrey Hills Farm, on sandy, clay-capped ground poor for crops. The neighbouring estate of John Palmer was auctioned in allotments in 1814, and the hard clay that defeated farmers fed the brick kilns that later built the suburb.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Edward Riley’s disputed estate and clashing official road plans left Surry Hills with crooked streets that bend where old property lines meet. Between the gold rushes and the 1890s depression it filled with brick terraces, workshops, tanneries and clothing outworkers, and by 1891 almost 30,000 people lived there. Overcrowding and the 1900 plague made it a byword for slums, and it stayed working-class until gentrification began in the late 1960s.
TURNING POINTS
1793Captain Joseph Foveaux receives the grant that becomes Surrey Hills Farm.
1814The Provost Marshal auctions John Palmer’s Surry Hills lands in allotments on 1 October to meet a court judgment.
1826Samuel Terry lays the foundation stone of his Albion Brewery.
1834Surveyor General Thomas Mitchell proclaims a new street plan, starting decades of disputes with landowners.
1859The city council calls tenders to roof the new Crown Street Reservoir.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A dense inner-city suburb of restored terraces, converted warehouses and cafes, centred on Crown Street.