The Forty Thousand Years mural stretches across the brick side of the Redfern Community Centre, dominated by a vibrant, swirling depiction of a creator spirit in ochre, yellow, and blue. Painted in nineteen eighty-three by Carole Ruff and…
Redfern Aboriginal History
Walk through the birthplace of modern Aboriginal self-determination to see where landmark civil rights, health, and legal services were fought for and won.
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1. 40,000 Years mural
2. Aboriginal Housing Company
The Aboriginal Housing Company building stands out for its curved, brightly colored facade that mimics the shape of a boomerang. Established in nineteen seventy-three, it emerged from the long struggle of the Black Power movement in…
3. Redfern Community Centre
The Redfern Community Centre features a striking, sweeping roofline made of zinc that curves upward toward the sky. It sits on the former site of the Redfern Railway Workshops, replacing a derelict industrial space with a vibrant hub for…
4. Welcome to Redfern
The Redfern railway station sits at the center of the neighborhood with its distinctive brick clock tower rising above the suburban skyline. Opened in eighteen eighty-five, the station once served as the primary gateway for thousands of…
5. National Centre of Indigenous Excellence
The National Centre of Indigenous Excellence stands out for its curved, glass-fronted architecture that wraps around a central courtyard. It occupies a former naval storehouse that once held heavy equipment for the Australian military. In…
6. Aboriginal Medical Service Redfern
The red brick facade on Turner Street holds the original site of the Aboriginal Medical Service. Founded in nineteen seventy-one, it began as a temporary shopfront staffed by volunteers who refused to accept that Indigenous Australians…
7. 119 Redfern St
The brick facade at one hundred nineteen Redfern Street features a distinctive rounded corner entrance and decorative masonry that marks it as a relic of the neighborhood's commercial past. Built in the early twentieth century, this…
8. Redfern Legal Centre
The red brick facade of the Redfern Legal Centre stands on a quiet corner, defined by its tall, arched windows and the worn stone steps at its entrance. This building began as the Redfern Court House in the late eighteen hundreds. Local…
9. Redfern Park
Redfern Park is defined by the sweeping canopy of Moreton Bay fig trees that line its outer edges. In two thousand eight, the park underwent a massive redesign to restore its Victorian layout, but the central circular pathway remains the…