Historical Sydney Suburbs: Alexandria: Was Once the Birmingham of Australia

Alexandria, New South Wales, Australia, is located 4 kilometres south of Sydney's central business district.

Before British settlement, Alexandria was occupied by the Eora and Gadigal people as hunting, fishing and camping grounds. Whilst governor Arthur Phillip may have estimated that there were about 1500 Aboriginal people within a 10-mile radius of Port Jackson in 1788, it is difficult to know how close to the truth this number actually was. Also, by the 1830s, many of the Aboriginal people of inner Sydney had moved away to places like La Persouse, on Botany Bay. Although, there was land set aside for Aboriginal people at Elizabeth Bay and a group were living in the government’s Marine Board boatsheds, on the eastern side of Circular Quay at Bennelong Point from 1879, through to July 1881. (see here)

Aboriginal baskets at the Sydney Museum

Alexandria was once an area of wetlands, dunes and thick shrubland, with low open woodland and forests, in parts. The first European settlers who sighted these areas around Sydney after 1788, regarded the area around what would become Alexandria, as inaccessible, uninviting and "useless", as it is not until recent history that wetlands and biodiversity have been appreciated. The area later became an industrial site of factories and polluting industries, with environmental devastation caused by the drainage and infilling of swamps, building development and the construction of roads.

One of the first uses by settlers at Alexandria were market gardens, mostly by Chinese people. One area of land in the area of Alexandria was a 30-acre grant for the purposes of growing wheat, made in 1822, to J. King and known as the "King's Clear". Later, the vegetables grown beside Shea's Creek were sent to the Sydney markets, where the Queen Victoria Building now stands. Alexandria Parish, however, was established in 1835 and named after the British Empire's military and naval victories over Napoleon. Probably following on from Cooper & Levey calling their warehouse, at the corner of George and Market streets, "Waterloo House". The Battle of Alexandria took place on 21 March 1801.

The tram at the corner of Mitchell Road and Henderson Road early 1900s. P.D.

Simeon Lord's Flour Mill at Botany was one of the early businesses which utilised the water supplies of the botany/Waterloo area. Other entrepreneurs diverted the wetlands water for their use, which resulted in the drainage of the swaps and the loss of habitat for many animals. As abattoirs, tanneries, soap making, sawmills and other industries took over the area, they released their waste into the streams and the surrounding environment. Alexandria, for example, was at various times, the site of four boot factories, two tallow refineries, one smelting works, one vinegar works; Mr. Turner's foundry, the Federal Match Factory, McPherson’s Pty Ltd and Hadfield's Steel Works, which was a heavy engineering steel works that operated on that site until the 1970s.

Hadfields Works - Alexandria, circa 1925, NSW State Archives

Most of the areas that are now known as Alexandria, Waterloo, Rosebery and Zetland, were once owned by William Hutchinson who came to New South Wales as a convict in 1799. After his emancipation, Hutchinson was given a grant of 1,400 acres of land south of Sydney. Hutchinson sold his Waterloo Estate to Daniel Cooper and Solomon Levey in 1825, who were well-known merchants, of George Street, for £2,700. The purchase money was paid over in Spanish dollars to the value of 5/ each. The 1,400 acres are described in the deed of grant as being bounded on the east by the Lachlan Mills farm, and on the other boundaries were Campbell's farm or Redfern's farm, Chippendale farm, Chisholm farm, and the smaller farms owned by a Mr King and Mr Devine. In 1846, Devine's estate was subdivided and called McDonald Town.

By 1890, it was estimated that about 100 members of the Chinese community lived in Retreat Street. Alexandria. Other than market gardening, the Chinese of the area engaged in carpentry, rag-picking, dealing, gambling and opium smoking; (Fitzgerald, Red Tape, p. 95.). The Yiu Ming Temple, the only temple dedicated to Hung Shing in Australia, was constructed in the 1870s by Sydney's Chinese Community.

Entrance gate to Yiu Ming temple precinct in Retreat St, Alexandria, NSW

In 1908, Metters the maker of the famous Early Kooka stove relocated from Alice Street, Newtown to Alexandria, to an area known as the Ashmore Estate. In the 1930s, Metters occupied 10 hectares. of the area and employed thousands of people. In 1913, this estate began to be broken up and developed primarily as industrial estates. It is fitting that Michael O'Riordan, who was the mayor of Alexandria five times, often described the Alexandria area as the "Birmingham of Australia."

By 1943, the Municipality of Alexandria had about 550 factories and was "the largest industrial municipality in Australia". The factories of the area employed 22,238 workers, with "one half of the suburb occupied by large industrial concerns". Alexandria had become one of Sydney’s major industrial suburbs and sites within the Cooper Estate, originally subdivided for residential development, were amalgamated for industrial purposes.

The first hotel at Alexandria was the Waterloo Retreat built by Thomas Roston on the Alexandria side of Botany-road. However, by 1886, there were 22 hotels within a two-kilometre radius. As a mostly working-class suburb, pubs were an important part of the social life of Alexandria.

Corner Botany and Henderson Roads. n.d. NSW State Archives

The Alice Rawson School for Mothers which existed at Bourke Street, Alexandria, was established to combat the high infant mortality rate and to promote hygiene in the area. The government, however, took over the school on 24th August 1914 and Australia’s very first baby health centre began operation. This service, which was often called the Baby Clinic, was originally situated at 221⁄2 Henderson Street, in a small semi-detached house rented by the Department of Public Health.

Nurse and mother with baby outside Alexandria Baby Clinic, Alexandria, NSW
Dated: c. 01/01/1914 NSW State Archives

Nurse with mothers, and their babies at Alexandria Baby Clinic Dated: c. 01/01/1914. NSW Archives

From the 1950s, as Australian manufacturing declined and moved to the western suburbs of Sydney and later during the 1980s, went off-shore to lower-wage countries, large areas of formerly industrial land became available. The working classes, though, no longer being able to easily obtain jobs in the Alexandria area, moved out and young families and urban professionals moved in.

Lawerence Street, Alexandria, NSW, circa 1937. Pcssr.

Tram lines, Mitchell Road, Alexandria early 1950s

In recent years, some of the former factories and industrial complexes in Alexandria have been transformed into apartments.

The Lord Raglan Hotel, Alexandria, NSW, constructed c.1924

Former Commercial Banking Company (CBC) bank building 60 Botany Road, Alexandria

The Grounds of Alexandria is a garden oasis located on the site of a former parking lot (and before that, a pie factory) it now encompasses multiple restaurant areas, a petting zoo, a florist and event spaces.