Darlington

Darlington is a small, inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.

Darlington is a small, inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Darlington is located about 3 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. At the time of its incorporation in 1864, it had the distinction of being the smallest municipality in the Sydney metropolitan area, at a mere 44 acres. Darlington is bordered by City Road, Cleveland Street, Golden Grove Street, Wilson Street and Abercrombie Street.

The first Aboriginal inhabitants of Darlington were the Cadigal people of the Eora belonging to the wider Dharug language group.The Cadigal were a coastal people who subsisted on fishing, hunting land animals and gathering shellfish and plants. Darlington was part of their southern range bordered by the Kameygal clan to the south at Botany Bay and the Wangal clan to the west.

The earliest recorded British history of Darlington is linked to school purposes when in 1789, Governor Arthur Phillip received instructions from England to set aside land in the new penal colony for church and school use. In 1819, fifty two acres of land was given to William Hutchinson by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. In 1835, a 28 acres land grant was made to William Shepherd by Governor Richard Bourke. It had been promised earlier in 1827 by Governor Ralph Darling and in his honour, Shepherd named the fruit and flower farm he established 'Shepherd's Darling Nursery'. His nursery is still remembered today in many Darlington street names such as Ivy, Pine, Myrtle, Rose, Vine and Shepherd Streets. By 1844, the Hutchinson estate, much of Shepherd's Nursery and a portion of the adjoining 96 acre land grant to William Chippendale comprised much of present-day Darlington.

By the late 1850s, the University of Sydney to the north of Darlington, at the site of the former Grose Farm was established. The incorporation of Darlington was proclaimed on 16 September 1864 and the first council was elected. The origin of the suburb's name is arguable, possibly being derived from Governor Ralph Darling and the Darling Nursery, or from William Vane, 3rd Earl of Darlington, a well known British politician during the early years of the New South Wales Colony.Rapid subdivision of Darlington continued in the 1880s but by 1891, Darlington was regarded as a slum and was the most densely populated suburb of Sydney. By the late 1890s, the Eveleigh Railway Workshops had been built and were employing many local workers. Other industries operating in Darlington at this time included the Henry Jones and Co. jam factory, iron foundry, a zinc and brass works, two cabinet factories, a cordial factory, a boot factory, a portmanteau factory and other small industries.

In the late 1950s, the State Government re-zoned some 70 acres of the Darlington area as a ‘special uses’ area, for government institutions such as The Department of Housing and the University of Sydney to extend its campus across City Road into Darlington. This resulted, despite increasing community opposition and resentment, in the demolition of about 650 houses as well as shops, factories, banks, the post office, the Town Hall and other amenities, and the population of Darlington decreased by about 2,000.Factories and light industries have mostly closed and the suburb has experienced residential consolidation and urban renewal since the 1990s.