Website and Self-Guided Tour Content Development … Eveleigh... · seeks to combine existing...

Eveleigh Treasures and their Stories

Website and Self-Guided Tour

Content Development Strategy

Prepared in partnership with

Archaeological and Heritage Management Solutions and

Art of Multimedia

Blacksmiths' Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops, c1890s.

Image courtesy State Library NSW (GPO 1-06679)

CONTENTS

1 PROJECT BACKGROUND ............................................................................................ 3

1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 3

1.2 The Place and Its Context ...................................................................................................................... 5

1.3 The significance of the site, the ERW Precinct and its components ..................................................... 5

1.4 Summary Significance of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops .................................................................. 6

2 THE STRATEGY .......................................................................................................... 9

2.1 National, State and Local Historic Themes ............................................................................................ 9

2.2 Audiences for Interpretation ................................................................................................................ 9

2.3 Selecting the Stories and the proposed format .................................................................................. 15

2.3.1 Formats....................................................................................................................................... 15

Attachment 1 ................................................................................................................................................... 19

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 The Central to Eveleigh Corridor within the Central to Eveleigh Study area. ........................................... 4 Figure 2: Map of ATP Site- the focus of Eveleigh Stories ........................................................................................ 6

TABLES

Table 1: Linking stories to themes at Eveleigh and the broader Central to Eveleigh Corridor ............................. 10 Table 2: Element Guidelines for developing new stories ..................................................................................... 16 Table 3: Themes and 50 word descriptors ........................................................................................................... 19 Table 4: Eveleigh Treasures Stories to be completed by AHMS and Art of Multi-media ..................................... 23

Acknowledgements

The first draft of this Strategy was first written by Susan McIntyre-Tamwoy and AHMS as part of the ATP Heritage Interpretation project 2015.

C2E STORIES CONTENT DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

1 PROJECT BACKGROUND

1.1 Introduction

The Australian Technology Park (ATP) interpretation Strategy, Eveleigh Treasures and their Stories seeks to combine existing successful interpretation initiatives including the volunteer led tours of the site and conservation and management of the collection by volunteers with modern technology that will facilitate increased public access to the site’s history and heritage. This Content Development Strategy forms the guideline for the future development of Story content for the self guided tour and website designed and developed by Art of Multimedia (AoM) in partnership with Archaeological and Heritage Management Solutions (AHMS) and ATP.

Eveleigh Stories’ will be the most interesting, funny, engaging and resonant stories of the people, work and social history of Eveleigh, as well as the earlier colonial, and Indigenous histories and stories of its recent adaptive re-use as a Business Park . The Moveable Heritage Collection will also form a significant part of the subject matter of these Stories. Elements of the collection, and places within the Park, and wider Precinct, are to form prompts, props and catalysts for telling the social and cultural history of Eveleigh, to provide these relics with relevance through context and association. There are a myriad of ways in which to tell these stories, some will focus on machinery relics and objects, some will focus on places, buildings and fixed machinery installations, some on workers, local people and others involved in the site (past and present).

The brief for the Strategy was to respond to, and communicate the heritage significance of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops (ERW) Precinct, the ATP site, Bays 1 and 2, and the Locomotive Workshops Moveable Collection. However, as part of the process of developing the website and self guided tour of ATP, a logical step to expand the study area for this Project was taken to include the broader Central to Eveleigh (C2E) Urban Transformation precinct, and facilitate immediate interpretation of the important heritage sites and assets across this wider area.

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Figure 1 The Central to Eveleigh Corridor within the Central to Eveleigh Study area.

This Strategy therefore considers a wide range of themes and relevant stories that might be told for the Precinct. However, this Strategy is envisaged as an evolving document responding to the needs of the community and changing content of the precinct, with future decisions about the best stories to tell to be made over time.

Future web and self guided tour content development will be guided by this Strategy and a range of future priorities have been identified here. Despite this, it is expected that content development will be flexible and respond to community needs, changing conditions and development within the C2E Precinct. This Content Development Strategy is therefore proposed as a guide to future content development, but is intended to be a work in progress, being updated and revised as the Project progresses to ensure the range of Eveleigh Stories prepared is coherent.

The aim of this Strategy is therefore to provide a framework to guide the future development of the interpretive content, therefore the Strategy:

• Identifies detailed interpretation objectives, audiences and desired visitor experiences;

• Identifies key stories and themes for immediate development - including matching of themes against Eveleigh Treasures (built fabric & physical evidence and relics);

• Identifies some key stories and themes for consideration in future content development (over the next 2 – 4 years), including matching of themes against Eveleigh Treasures and C2E historic features.

It is envisaged that, over time, as content is developed to address the wider Central to Eveleigh study are, new themes will be added and new story ideas generated. Future content development

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will be guided by this Strategy and it is expected that content development be flexible and respond to conditions and development within the C2E Precinct. This Content Development Strategy is therefore proposed as a guide to future content development, but is intended to be a work in progress, being updated and revised as the Project progresses to ensure the range of Stories prepared is coherent.

Some stories already developed may provide a convenient segue into a C2E stories. For example the story “Time” which focusses on the ERW could link to a related story on Building the Central Station Clock Tower (for which many interesting images exist). Such links should be encouraged to maintain the coherence of the website over its life.

1.2 The Place and Its Context

As noted the Project will interpret the ERW Precinct through stories that focus on the ATP site, Bays 1 and 2, and the Moveable Collection. However, the interpretation of the site within the broader Central to Eveleigh Study Area context provides the opportunity to place the site firmly within its wider context. This includes both physical and social associations with surround suburbs and the broader Sydney rail network.

The 51 hectare ERW site is bounded by Wilson Street, Henderson Road, Garden, Cornwallis and Lawson Streets in inner south Sydney. The ERW site comprises a number of land parcels, structures and artefact collections. The principal ERW building clusters and associated artefact collections are located in the former Locomotive Workshops precinct the Carriage Workshops precinct, and the active railway line and corridor including Redfern Station; Sydney Trains service workshops, the Large Erecting Shop, the Gasometer, and the various buildings and structures of the Chief Mechanical Engineers and Paint Shop precincts in North Eveleigh. ERW are located at one end of the Central to Eveleigh Corridor with Central station at the other. Also in the corridor is the Redfern Station complex and the Sydney Mortuary Station.

1.3 The significance of the site, the ERW Precinct and its components

The Central to Eveleigh Study Area has complex and layered cultural heritage significance. Its primary significance relates to its industrial and railway heritage which is recognised in the various listings of State and local significant places along the corridor. These places include the Central Railway Group, The Sydney Mortuary Station, the Railway Institute, the Redfern Railway Station Group, the Chief Mechanical Engineers Office and the Eveleigh Railway Workshops. The corridor has played a pivotal role in the development of the NSW rail network since 1855 and is inextricably linked to the commercial and industrial growth of Sydney.

Central railway station is Australia’s largest and busiest railway station. The station and its associated marshalling yards developed from the original Sydney terminus located to the south of Devonshire Street. The core of the station was constructed between 1901 and 1906 then later expanded with the most-notable element being the clock tower designed by Government Architect, Walter Liberty Vernon added in 1921. Further lines were added to the site in the 1920s with the construction of the City Circle line. It has a layered history built on the site of the resumed

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Devonshire Street Cemetery. Devonshire Street Cemetery was Sydney's principal burial ground from 1820 to 1866. Originally referred to as the Sandhills Cemetery, the cemetery was closed in 1867 and in 1901 was resumed for the construction of Central Railway Station.

The role of the rail network in linking the city to the bush also explains the areas multi-cultural diversity and gave rise to its importance to successive generations of Aboriginal Australians who were drawn to the area in the quest for employment and the hope of a life free of the oppressive restrictions of life on reserves and in country towns.

In addition the area provides an opportunity to interpret the story of the pre -colonial natural environment and the evolution of the cultural landscape from pre-colonial to modern times.

Figure 2: Map of ATP Site- the focus of Eveleigh Stories

1.4 Summary Significance of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops

There are many documents that detail the significance of the ERW and its various components. Some are now quite dated but some of the more recent ones that have updated statements of significance are:

Otto Cershalmi + Partners P/L 2002 Eveleigh Carriage works CMP

Otto Cershalmi + Partners P/L 2002 Eveleigh Locomotive Workshops DRAFT CMP

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Otto Cershalmi + Partners P/L Blacksmiths Shop Building CMP

3D Projects 2012 ERW Heritage Interpretation Plan

2014 GML ATP Conservation Management Plan (endorsed)

2015 FuturePast Draft ATP Moveable Collection Management Plan

The following statement of significance is from the endorsed Conservation Management Plan (GML 2014).

ATP provides important evidence of the founding and gradual expansion of the largest railway workshops in NSW over a period of 100 years. The Eveleigh Railway Workshops was a highly significant and ambitious public endeavour of a type that rarely occurs today. Eveleigh was a government-established and government-run industrial workshop designed to provide self- sufficiency for the Sydney and NSW railways, without reliance on private operators who did not possess the funds or workforce to cope with demand during the nineteenth century. It employed and developed the best technology available at the time and continued to innovate in response to changes in the NSW railways system and management policy throughout its years of operation.

The ATP site contains an amalgam of land gradually resumed for railway use during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The land was resumed for a number of expansions of the Locomotive Workshops, establishment of the Alexandria Goods Yard and construction of the Eastern Suburbs Railway connection to the Illawarra line, and involved demolition of an area of housing north of Henderson Road. At its peak, the area was the most important rail precinct in NSW.

Three of four remaining buildings and a significant machinery collection from the State-significant Eveleigh Locomotive Workshops are contained within the ATP site. The Locomotive Workshops building, New Locomotive Shop and Works Manager’s Office form a historically and aesthetically significant group that demonstrates the scale and importance of the Eveleigh Locomotive Workshops and are a landmark along the western railway. The distinctive, highly detailed industrial Australian Technology Park—Conservation Management Plan, December 2013 93 buildings provide powerful evidence of the importance of the workshops as a major industrial undertaking in NSW during the late nineteenth century.

Individual items of the Locomotive Workshops Machinery Collection remain significant items of technical achievement. These range from the Davy Press, a unique machine in Australia and rare in a world context, to the Departmental Lathe, a precision machine built locally. While the Machinery Collection is not entirely intact, it retains a high level of significance and the collection within the blacksmiths workshop is relatively complete.

The ATP site holds great significance for members of the local community and current and former workers within the NSW railways and is central to many local community members’ connection with the Redfern/Darlington area. As the site of the former Eveleigh Locomotive Workshops, ATP is emblematic of a type of work no longer common in NSW and the remaining buildings are seen as a testament to the many thousands of workers and their families that made their living within its walls. The pride in the history of the Eveleigh Locomotive Workshops is evident through the dedication of

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the many volunteers that continue to work in the Large Erecting Shed, the blacksmith business in Bays 1 and 2 South and the open days and tours led by former workers, as well as the many views expressed during the community consultation process.

The ATP site has strong historical connections with the surrounding area, including North Eveleigh and Redfern Station, as well as a historical connection with the expansion, pattern and type of development that occurred in adjacent suburbs. While the former Eveleigh Locomotive Workshops are significant in their own right, this significance is increased by their relationship to the Eveleigh Railway Workshops as a whole, including the former Carriage and Wagon Workshops at North Eveleigh and the former Macdonaldtown Gas Works. (GML 2014:92)

The interpretation Plan for the ERW site and notes that in terms of interpreting the significance of the site:

The place is significant for its relics, its role and its social history - it's significant to different people for different reasons. As such this study recognises the need to explore all the layers of ERW's significance without emphasising any particular strand over another. (3D Projects - February 2012:7)

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2 THE STRATEGY

This strategy is structured around the expected audience, the proposed media i.e. website, smart phone adapted format web, signage, multimedia kiosk in Bay 1 North and self-guided tour guide book. It is intended that this will guide not only the development of the stories in the current project but also provide a guide for the development of future stories to ensure overall product consistency and ease of integration.

2.1 National, State and Local Historic Themes

The national, state and local themes that apply to the corridor and the ERW are outlined in the table below. These have been matched to specific stories in the right hand column. The national and state themes can be used to look at sites across NSW or Australia wide and compare places that have similar histories and values. However they do not effectively express the individual qualities of sites and places which often require a more local theme. To focus the themes on the specific elements of the site itself, the themes will be matched against Eveleigh Treasures (built fabric and physical evidence) to be presented in initial interpretative content produced in the course of this heritage interpretation project.

State and Local themes will also provide a way of navigating through the information on the website and the mobile applications.

2.2 Audiences for Interpretation

Conveying and commemorating the cultural heritage meaning of places is a fundamental to interpretation, but to some extent the range of potential audiences will also determine the opportunities that are most suited to interpretation of the cultural heritage of the corridor.The main audiences for interpretation within the Central to Eveleigh Study Area are likely to be:

• Local residents from neighbouring suburbs both existing community and new populations introduced through redevelopment of the area;

• Pedestrian and commuter traffic- the high volume traffic moving rapidly during city peak hours provide unique challenges and opportunities for interpretation;

• Commercial and business communities and especially those working within ATP/Carriageworks and within the C2E Corridor;

• Visitors and tourists, including ex workers and their families, and attendees at ATP and Carriageworks events and functions.

At present school groups are not a significant part of the expected audience/ target population. Already there is range of interpretative material accessible to visitors to the ATP site, there is almost no onsite interpretation in the north Eveleigh precinct and there is only minimal interpretation elsewhere along the corridor.

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Table 1: Linking stories to themes at Eveleigh and the broader Central to Eveleigh Corridor

Eveleigh Stories theme

[navigational THEME on the

website]

Australian theme

NSW theme [sub theme for navigation

through the website]

Related Stories in the theme and Eveleigh Treasure Stage 1

Related Stories in the theme and Eveleigh Treasure

Future Development

Indigenous Connections

2. Peopling Australia 2.1 Living as Australia’s Earliest inhabitants 5. Working 5.7 Surviving as Indigenous people in a white-dominated economy

Aboriginal cultures and interactions with other cultures

• Indigenous Connections with Eveleigh (ATP Cornwallis Street entrance)

• Aboriginal diaspora histories (country to city railway connections)

• Portraits of Indigenous workers

Community: Our Eveleigh

2. Peopling Australia 2.4 Migrating

Ethnic influences Migration

• Multiculturalism-Portraits of Migrant workers


Sport Leisure

• Play- social events at the workshops –Contemporary cultural events


2.4 Migrating 2.4.5 Changing the face of rural and urban Australia through migration

Migration • Food: War-time rations to markets to Masterchef

The Paddocks -Colonial Eveleigh

4. Building settlements, towns and cities 6. Educating 6.3 Establishing Schools 9. Marking the phases of life 9.7 Dying

Towns, suburbs and villages Education

• Chisolm Estate & Calder House (Meriton Apartment Wilson Street)

• Devonshire St Cemetery • The Grange

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Eveleigh Stories

theme [navigational

THEME on the website]

Australian theme





Future Development

The Railway 3. Developing local, regional and national economies 4. Buildings Settlements Towns and Cities 4.2 Supplying urban services (power, transport, fire prevention, roads, water, light and sewerage

Transport Technology Events

• The Role of Eveleigh in the NSW Railway System

• Connecting City and the Bush • Central Station • Redfern Station

The Railway 9. Marking the phases of life 9.7 Dying 9.7.1 Dealing with human remains

Transport • The Mortuary Station • Devonshire St Cemetery

The Workshops (Like a Living Thing)

3. Developing local, regional and national economies 3.6 Recruiting labour 3.8 Moving goods and people 3.8.5 Moving goods and people on land 3.8.6 Building and maintaining railways 5. Working

Technology Labour Industry

• The Roaring Giant – Steam Power • Establishment of the Railway workshops-

Development at Eveleigh • The Davy Press • Blacksmithing now and then • Chief Mechanical Engineers Office • The Pump House and Hydraulic Power

System • Governor General’s Carriage • Spring Forming and Testing (Bay 3)

• Carriage Workshops

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Eveleigh Stories

theme [navigational


Australian theme





Future Development

Working Life 3. Developing local, regional and national economies 3.10.2 Encouraging women into employment 5. Working 5.2 Organising workers and work places Governing 7.8 Establishing regional and local identity

Labour • ‘They all had their own buckets’ • Time [Note this could be linked to a

related C2E story on building the Central Station Clock tower]

• ‘An all Australian Triumph’ – Building the Governor General’s Carriage

• Humour- Workmates, nickname and jokes

• Pride – the Eveleigh workshops as a source of workers pride

• Portraits of female workers • The General Store/Clothing Store

Worker’s Rights 5. Working 5.1 Working in harsh conditions 5.1.1 Coping with unemployment 5.1.2 Coping with dangerous jobs and workplaces 5.2 Organising workers and work places 7. Governing 7.2 Developing institutions of self-government and democracy 7.2.1 Protesting 7.2.2 Struggling for inclusion in the political process 7.2.3 Working to promote civil liberties 7.2.4 Forming political associations

Events Labour

• Strikes, Unions and Activism including the Lily Whites

• Working conditions – e.g. Wash Basins in NIC and Urinal outside the Loco workshop. Red Square, 1917 strike

• Accidents and Death

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Eveleigh Stories

theme [navigational


Australian theme





Future Development

Eveleigh at War 7. Governing 7.7 Defending Australia 7.7.3 Going to war 8. Developing Australia’s Cultural Life 8.8 Remembering the fallen 9. Marking the phases of life 9.7 Dying 9.7.3 Remembering the dead

Defence • WWI

• Air Raid Shelters (both sides of the tracks?)

• LES Honour Roll • WWII

People (Faces in the Crowd)

9. Marking the phases of life 4.6 Remembering significant phases in the development of settlements, towns and cities

Events Persons

1. JJ Cahill and James McGowen (the former NSW Premier)

2. Mary Lions

• John Whitton and George Cowdery

• John Joseph Cahill • James McGowen • William McKell • Ben Chifley • Eddie Ward • JP McGowan • Thow, Lucy and Burnett • Portraits of female workers • Portraits of Indigenous workers • Portraits of migrant workers

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Eveleigh Stories

theme [navigational


Australian theme





Future Development

Evolving Eveleigh/ Adapting Eveleigh

3. Developing local, regional and national economies 3.23 Catering for tourist 4. Buildings Settlements Towns and Cities 4.1 Planning Urban settlements 4.1.2 Making suburbs 4.6 Remembering significant phases in the development of settlements, towns and cities

Towns, suburbs and villages

3. Development of the ATP- Tom Forgan • The Switch to Diesel • Closure of Eveleigh Workshops • National Trust plaques that

stopped the machinery being scrapped.(Attached by jack Bruce, last job done in the locksmiths shop formerly the ponies stables before the works closure - interview don Godden for complete story).

• The Carriage Works Performing Arts Centre

• Gentrification • Tourism and Interpretation

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2.3 Selecting the Stories and the proposed format

Eveleigh and C2E Stories content shall be developed for inclusion on the website, but shall be easily adaptable (with necessary permissions and copyright clearances) for use in all future interpretation media.

The ‘content types’ or formats of additional Eveleigh Stories to be prepared would generally include: a post card incorporating 50 words + 1 great image (hero image), a short form story of 500 words and with multiple great images/video/audio). If required a script for use in multi-media applications (350 words) may also be included.

In future stages, stories to be developed might also include a long form story (1500 words + multiple great images/video/audio). This will depend on the Story, material available and likely audiences. While it is noted that this long form story is less suited to multiple uses across the website, on site kiosk and guide book, it may be relevant in specific cases.

2.3.1 Formats

Each story will include a title of no more than 40 characters1, theme, key or ‘hero’ image, post card summary (50 words) and script/short form story (500 word).

The themes will be the local themes identified in Table 1 and these will include a 50 word descriptor (see Table 2) Sub themes will be the relevant NSW State heritage themes (also described in Table 2). Stories may be cross referenced to more than one theme.

In the 500 word short form story the first paragraph (25 word backgrounder) will be highlighted on the webpage as the introduction to that story. This means that the first paragraph of the story should be written to be captivating and human story. A quote may be an appropriate backgrounder.

The hero image will form a link between postcard, the synopsis for the story and story page itself. Due to the design of the website featuring black and white images with the ATP trademark yellow gold accent, the hero photo selected should be suitable for reproduction in black and white.

As well as the hero image each story should be accompanied by other high resolution audio and visual resources including: video or audio file, additional images, and research/source material notes. Each story will identify the Eveleigh Treasure to which it relates (built fabric & physical evidence and relics) and be identified by a GPS point.

1 Characters include letters and spaces

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Table 2: Element Guidelines for developing new stories

Element Guidelines Example Eveleigh Stories theme (Website navigation)

40 characters Max + An Indigenous Place

Eveleigh Stories Theme description

50 word description Aboriginal connections to the land extend from long before the construction of the Eveleigh Railway workshops. Then the locality was open forest along Blackwattle Swamp Creek. They continue through the working life of the workshops with connections born of Aboriginal employees, political activism and the role of the rail system generally in the Aboriginal diaspora.

NSW Theme (sub theme for website navigation the website)

NSW Historical Themes produced by OEH 2001.


Sub-theme description 50 word description from the NSW Historical Themes produced by OEH 2001.

Activities associated with maintaining, developing, experiencing and remembering Aboriginal cultural identities and practices, past and present; with demonstrating distinctive ways of life; and with interactions demonstrating race relations

Story Title 40 characters Max +

Indigenous Connections with Eveleigh

Story descriptor/Postcard 50 word descriptor for the navigation by story function (same as postcard text)

The workers lined up at the gate at the end of the day, waiting for the whistle and the gates to open. Then they charged up the hill like ants to get to the pubs before 6 o’clock closing. Allan Madden, Recollections of Eveleigh.

Eveleigh Treasure and/or C2E Feature

Each story should identify the item/building/ or location that is the treasure that grounds the story

Bell Tower -Work’s Managers Office

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Element Guidelines Example Location Each story needs GPS location of Treasure/C2E

feature (longitude and latitude) (longitude and latitude)

Sub-Locations Other GPS/Treasure locations to map (longitude and latitude)

Date Key date for the story ( for inclusion on timeline

Other Dates or Date Range Other dates for inclusion in timeline Hero Image High Resolution with Copyright clearance and

source acknowledgements

Story backgrounder

25 word max backgrounder story quote or first paragraph of story (explanatory feature to accompany story headline in large type adjacent to hero image)

Tick tock tick tock… life was measured to the minute for Eveleigh workers, and the time clock at Eveleigh also influenced the surrounding suburbs.

Story 500 words Matched to theme (s) Additional images (Hi Res) 5 quotes (minimum) – to convey human/personal stories and additional quotes if required for possible voice over.

Other Images High Resolution with Copyright clearance and source acknowledgements

Voice Over Video script 350 words using quotes from Story see above.

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Element Guidelines Example (if required) Audio/Video/Photo resources (research links)

Additional features such as video clips and or audio clips as appropriate /if available.

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Attachment 1

Table 3: Themes and 50 word descriptors


[This becomes the navigational THEME on the website]

50 word descriptor NSW theme

[This becomes the sub theme for navigation through the website]

50 word description

[This descriptor comes from the NSW Historical Themes produced by OEH 2001)

An Indigenous Place Aboriginal connections to the land extend from long before the construction of the Eveleigh Railway workshops. Then the locality was open forest along Blackwattle Swamp Creek. They continue through the working life of the workshops with connections born of Aboriginal employees, political activism and the role of the rail system generally in the Aboriginal diaspora.


Activities associated with maintaining, developing, experiencing and remembering Aboriginal cultural identities and practises, past and present; with demonstrating distinctive ways of life; and with interactions demonstrating race relations


The Eveleigh community is diverse: comprised of ex-railway employees, local residents in surrounding suburbs, employees and businesses that work at the Australian Technology Park and railway heritage enthusiasts. Together these people feel a sense of ownership and connection to the ERW. These evolving connections are grounded in history.

Ethnic influences Activities associated with common cultural traditions and peoples of shared descent, and with exchanges between such traditions and peoples.

Migration Activities and processes associated with the resettling of people from one place to another (international, interstate, intrastate) and the impacts of such movements

Leisure Activities associated with recreation and relaxation

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50 word description


Sport Activities associated with organised recreational and health promotional activities

The Paddocks -Colonial Eveleigh

In the days of the early Colony of NSW, before the development of the ERW the landscape was semi- rural. The first Redfern Station was constructed in a location called Cleveland Paddock and the site of the railway workshop was dairy paddocks associated with the Chisolm Estate.


Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages.

Education Activities associated with teaching and learning by children and adults, formally and informally.

The Railway In 1854, the first public line was built from Sydney to Parramatta Junction. The railways quickly expanded becoming allowing rapid transport of goods and passengers between major centres and the city and the bush. The construction, maintenance and evolution of rail transport in NSW mirrors the history of the ERW.

Transport

Activities associated with the moving of people and goods from one place to another, and systems for the provision of such movements.

Technology Activities and processes associated with the knowledge or use of mechanical arts and applied sciences.

Events Activities and processes that mark the consequences of natural and cultural occurrences

The Workshops (Like a Living Thing)

The ERW was a place of noisy vitality. The sounds of steam engines and machinery have been likened to the bellowing and breathing of a living entity. The workshops provide a backdrop to the

Technology

See above

Labour Activities associated with work practises and organised and unorganised labour.

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50 word description


industrial technology and systems in operation there.

Industry Activities associated with the manufacture, production and distribution of goods.

Working Life The stories of camaraderie and mateship at Eveleigh arise from a tough industrial environment where working conditions were often tough and always grimy. Despite this the ERW was a place of opportunity for many people drawn to the area in the search of reliable work.

Labour See above

Worker’s Rights ERW were significant in the history of Australian unionism. On this battleground many rights that Australian workers take for granted were won at painful cost. In 1917 the General Strike began with the 3000 workers at Eveleigh, and spread to involve almost 100,000 nationwide

Events

See above

Labour See above Welfare Activities and process associated with the provision

of social services by the state or philanthropic organisations

Eveleigh at War The Eveleigh site was also used to manufacture munitions in both World War I and World War II.

Defence Activities associated with defending places from hostile takeover and occupation

People (Faces in the Crowd)

You will be surprised at the number of famous people who have been associated with Eveleigh and the C2E corridor. In addition there are many individuals who while not famous where notable character sin the daily life of the ERW and

Events See above Persons

Activities of, and associations with, identifiable individuals, families and communal group

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50 word description


provide the human face of Eveleigh and the NSW railways.

Evolving Eveleigh/ Adapting Eveleigh

The ERW evolved over the period of its industrial life; adapting from steam to diesel and electrification of the railway system. The C2E corridor has similarly experienced progressive changes to landscape and stations. The evolution continues with the establishment and growth of the ATP and the C2E redevelopment project.


See above

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ATTACHMENT 2

Table 4: Eveleigh Treasures Stories to be completed by AHMS and Art of Multi-media

Eveleigh Stories

Synopsis Eveleigh Treasure(s) Sources

They all had their own bucket

Working Conditions: The dirt- that's what most workers remember about the Eveleigh Workshops. The dirt, the dust, the grime, the grease, the heat and the buckets. It was filthy work, maintaining machinery, servicing engines, and peeling dead animals, sewerage and other debris from the undercarriage of trains: 'you had to hold your breath', recalled Hal Alexander, an electrician at Eveleigh Workshops in the 1950s. 'All workers were issued with a bucket of water to help with the dirt, along with a fortnightly scoop of 'soft soap' and, every two months, a fresh 'sweat rag', which doubled as a face washer. They were expected to 'wash up' before morning tea, before lunch and in the afternoon before they left for the day. 'We washed in buckets for thirty years and personally,' one worker, Keith Johnson, reflected, 'it was disgusting.' But there was a comradery to the routine. As Carl Ellefsen recalled, 'You had men all round you, you got to know them and the work they were doing … but they had a bucket as well. You wasn’t on your own with a bucket, they all had their own buckets.'

Sample Bucket (moveable heritage items display location)

Possible Media: footage of workers covered in grime; images of buckets and washing routines; video of interviews with past workers. Interview with Hal Alexander, conducted by Joan Kent on 15 April, 1996 for the Eveleigh Social History Project, See Eveleigh Railway Workshops Field Day Report, 34. Eveleigh Railway Workshops Field Day Report, 35. Eveleigh Railway Workshops Field Day Report, 31.

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Eveleigh Stories


The shifting Terminus

Central Railway Station was not the original terminus of the railway line as many believe and Redfern station has not always been in its current location. When it opened on 26th September in 1855 Redfern was the name of the principal Sydney terminus. It was located to the south of Devonshire Street in an area known as Cleveland Fields. This original Redfern station comprised one wooden platform in a corrugated iron shed. In 1874 this was replaced by a brick building and two platforms. This second station, which grew to 14 platforms, was designed for through traffic if the lines were extended in the city direction. On the 4th August 1906 a new terminus todays Sydney Central station opened and soon after the 1874 station was demolished In 1876 Eveleigh station was opened 1.3 km west of the original Redfern. 1885 Eveleigh reconstructed at the current location of Redfern station –still called Eveleigh. 21 October 1906 Eveleigh Station renamed Redfern

Redfern Station, Central Station (possible GPS marker at Old Redfern Station)

Opening of Central Station Sydney Morning Herald 6 August 1906, p6. S170 listinghttp://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=4801095 Archives Investigator Activity 154 Railway and Tramway construction NRS 17514/1/2 [47] The Railways of New South Wales 1855-1955 Central Station – in-depth history (February 2013) athttp://www.cityrail.info/about/history/central_station_in-depth John Gunn, Along Parallel Lines: a history of the railways of New South Wales 1850-1986, Melbourne University Press, 1989 Robert Lee, The Greatest Public Work: The New South Wales Railways – 1848 to 1889, Hale & Iremonger, 1988 R.G. Preston, 125 Years of the Sydney to Parramatta Railway, NSW Rail Transport Museum, 1980

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_railway_station,_Sydney

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_railway_station,_Sydney


Eveleigh Stories


The Roaring Giant Steam Power – is development use, sound. The Eveleigh Workshops were like a living organism, with every machine and every worker combining to keep the heart of the state's transport system going. The site had its own power supply and a dedicated water supply, while the railways came through like veins. The steam engines themselves were 'like a living thing': 'they breathed and they worked and they expanded and contracted with the heat just like human beings do, you know,' one worker, Bob Matthews recalled, 'and when they got angry, they blew their top just like human beings.' In 1939 Stan Jones, the Secretary of the Eveleigh Sub-Branch of the Australian Railways Union, evoked the dynamic nature of his workplace: Row upon row of drab smoke-grimed buildings, housing a throbbing energy which pulses forth to the accompaniment of the thump, thump, thump of giant presses torturing white-hot steel into servitude. That is Eveleigh workshops, the heart of the State's transport system. There is a steady drone of high-powered machinery, drilling, boring and turning in every possible fashion, the clatter of overhead cranes, hurrying and scurrying, fetching and carrying, and the staccato noise of the boilermakers' rattler. All this is somehow resolved into a unity of sound, disturbed only by an occasional burst of excessive violence from any one part. Seemingly submerged in this medley is the human element – 2,600 individuals, the strongest of them but puny weaklings besides the machines they control. Yet they make it all possible. Without them the roaring giant would be but a whispering ghost.

External to Bays 2 and 3- the location of the four boilers in the Boiler Annex

Possible media: Audio and video of Eveleigh workshops in action; video of interviews with past workers, stock footage of steam trains. Interview with Bob Matthews conducted by Joan Kent on 20 February 1996 for the Eveleigh Social History Project; Interview. Stan Jones as quoted in: Taksa, L. in Locality, Newsletter of the Centre for Community History, University of New South Wales, Vol. 10 No. 1, 1999 (Industrial Heritage edition)

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Eveleigh Stories


An all Australian Triumph

Artistry and Industry: Crafting the Governor General’s Carriage. The Eveleigh Workshops were a place of artistry as well as industry. In 1901, Eveleigh workers built a Royal Carriage with walls of solid clear oak, elaborately embossed ceilings, lavish carpets and bedrooms with white ivory panels, covered in gold leaf. It was heralded by one writer in 1922 as 'an all-Australian triumph' which exhibited the 'excellence of workmanship and artistic craftsmanship' of the Eveleigh workers: the 'men on the work put their hearts into the job and turned out a blue and gold masterpiece.' The Royal Carriage was first used to take the Duke and Duchess of York from Melbourne to Brisbane after they opened the first Federal Parliament. It was used again by the Prince of Wales in 1920 when he laid the foundation stone of Parliament House in Canberra, in 1927 by the Duke and Duchess of York when they visited Australia to open the Federal Parliament in Canberra, and in 1954 on the grand Royal Tour of Queen Elizabeth II. An electrician at the Eveleigh Workshops, Hal Alexander, recalled fitting out the Queen’s carriage with air-conditioning in advance of her 1954 visit: “That was my great claim to fame, I air-conditioned the Queen’s carriage. And at the end of it, all the larrikins got on the back and we had to go for a test run to see if it worked and down the track and everywhere we’d stop at a railway station, we’d all stand and give them the royal salute to all the mob”.

The Carriage (in Power House Museum Location within ATP - Carriageworks

Possible media: video footage of 1954 Royal Tour; Images of Carriage, then and now; historic photos of carriage in operation Interview with Hal Alexander, conducted by Joan Kent on 15 April, 1996 for the Eveleigh Social History Project, See Eveleigh Railway Workshops Field Day Report, 34. Interview with Bob Matthews conducted by Joan Kent on 20 February 1996 for the Eveleigh Social History Project; Interview

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Eveleigh Stories


Spring Forming and Testing to be interpreted in Bay

The Spring shop at Eveleigh manufactured all types and sizes of springs but mostly leaf springs and coil springs used in the suspension for locomotives and carriages.

Bay 3 (where spring forming machines will be moved in September 2015)

NSW State Record image "forming a coil spring on the Witham Spring Coiler in the old Spring shop c1920's" [B281357] 'Forming a flat Spring in the old spring shop C 1920s NSW State Records [B281358] Draft management plan for the Eveleigh Locomotive Workshops' machinery collection

Strikes, Unions and Activism

The Eveleigh workshops played a key role in the development of working conditions now considered a fundamental part of Australian cultural identity, such as the weekend and the eight-hour day. Its long association with the labour movement and the sheer scale of its employment base gave Eveleigh immense social and political capital. The Workshops were initially seen as a positive instrument of state socialism and later as the site of important labour actions and of restrictive work practices. On 2 August 1917 almost six thousand Railway employees walked out on the job. By the end of the week the strike had grown to ten thousand: it was the beginning of the largest industrial dispute in Australian history. The protest revolved around the new card system technology, which required workers to account for every minute of their working day. Amidst the growing crowd of unhappy workers was a young train driver named J.B. Chifley, the future Prime Minister of Australia. Lily White story

Red Square Possible media: footage of early union work; oral histories; workers' portraits Newspapers

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Eveleigh Stories


People Several people who have played significant roles in the history of NSW are associated with Eveleigh Railway Workshops. • JJ Cahill and James McGowen

Featured people to be confirmed and specific locations to which they were connected Related locations to be determined in consultation with ATP

Some stories, anecdotes in 3D interp plan. Historical sources, newspapers

Aboriginal journeys- Railway and the Aboriginal diaspora

Railways have both served to enforce government policies: e.g numbers of Aboriginal children living on reserves in country areas were forcibly removed from their families and sent to special homes. Train travel by Aborigines was essentially segregated. Their ability to travel elsewhere was restricted, and where travel was approved, the Reserve Manager made the bookings for the train, restricted their presence on the platform until shortly before departure of the train and then placed them in a separate booked compartment. To the Aboriginal community at Narromine, the rail motor which ran twice weekly from that town over the Federation Line to Cootamundra and return was a symbol of fear and oppression because: 'It took our girls away to the girl's home there.' However they were also a road to freedom for some with many Aboriginal people moving to the city to escape the restrictions of life in country towns and settling in the suburbs around Redfern and Eveleigh. Railways also connected communities from City to Bush.

Redfern Railway Station (GPS Marker at the Ticket Office-since that is listed on the State Heritage Register)

McKillop, RF, 'Narromine: a railway history', ARHS Bulletin, Vol. 48, No. 711, January 1997, pp. 3-22. NSW Railways (RailCorp) Thematic History 1997? Ray Davis, Alan Madden stories Michael Davis on behalf of UGDC- Report

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Eveleigh Stories


Humour – Workmates nicknames and Jokes

Despite the harsh and grimy works conditions or perhaps because of them there are many recollections of workplace humour which sometimes reflects the prejudices of the times but often demonstrates the strong camaraderie that developed between workmates

John Willis on nicknames: 'My dad used to come home and tell some funny stories. Different names came up, funny names — Petrol Pete, Smoke-box Jack.' Bill Casley on workplace humour: 'The stories were there … they had a young chap there, he was a shop boy and he was only about 2 bob in the pound and anyway, one of the tradesmen said to him, look, will you go up and get me a meat pie? Oh do I have to? He said look, here are here’s the money, get two, you can have one yourself and here’s the money for me. Oh all right, so off he went, and he came back and he’s munching a meat pie, and the bloke said, well where’s mine? He said they only had one, here’s your change.' Bob Matthews on workers as 'brothers': 'Our work mates were great chaps and the trades all got together because we were all in the same sort of situation and so there was quite a lot of friendliness amongst all the different trades that worked in there... because you were more or less like a brotherhood'.

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