|
Surry Hills , directly east of Central Station from Elizabeth Street, was traditionally the centre of the rag trade, which still finds its focus on Devonshire Street . Rows of tiny terraces once housed its original poor, working-class population, many of them of Irish background. Considered a slum by the rest of Sydney, the dire and overcrowded conditions were given gritty life in Ruth Park's The Harp in the South trilogy, set in the 1940s . The area went on to become something of a cultural melting pot with European postwar immigration, and doubled as a grungy, studenty, muso heartland in the 1980s. By the mid-1990s, however, the slickly fashionable scene of neighbouring Darlinghurst and Paddington had finally taken over Surry Hills' twin focal points of Crown Street , filled with trendified pubs, cafes, swanky restaurants - like MG Garage , where you dine alongside classic cars - designer galleries and funky clothes shops, and leafy Bourke Street , where a couple of Sydney's best cafes lurk among the trees. As rents have gone up, only traffic-snarled Cleveland Street , running west to Redfern and east towards Moore Park, retains its ethnically varied population with cheap Indian and Turkish restaurants lining its way.
Your Tip for Surry Hills
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Surry Hills - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Surry Hills - visit the main Surry Hills forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Surry Hills webguide section below! Thanks.
|
