page_title: Paddington, New South Wales
section_title: European settlement
hierarchical_section_title: Paddington, New South Wales / History / European settlement
caption_attribution_description: English: Victoria Barracks, Paddington, Sydney, (Kodachrome slide scanned at low res) photo by Sardaka 02:55, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
context_page_description: Paddington is an inner-city area of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Located 3 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, Paddington lies across two local government areas. The portion south of Oxford Street lies within the City of Sydney, while the portion north of Oxford Street lies within the Municipality of Woollahra. It is often colloquially referred to as "Paddo".
  Paddington is bordered to the west by Darlinghurst, to the east by Centennial Park and Woollahra, to the north by Edgecliff and Rushcutters Bay and to the south by Moore Park.
context_section_description: 1788-1800
  In 1788 the First Fleet arrived in Sydney Harbour and established a settlement in Sydney Cove. Three kilometres to the east lay the land that would become Paddington. With a high sandstone ridge, eroded by streams leading to a marshy rush-filled cove too shallow for ships, the area was ignored by the newcomers, except for collecting rushes for thatch.
  1801-1840
  On a path used by local Aboriginal people, a road of some form was built by Governor Hunter to South Head as early as 1803. Governor Macquarie upgraded the road in 1811 for strategic purposes to accommodate wheeled vehicles. The road was improved by Major Druitt in 1820 to give faster access to the signal station at South Head. It was also to give access to the salubrious villas built by the colony's emerging plutocracy. The road was renamed the Old South Head Road after construction of New South Head Road along the Harbour foreshore was begun in 1831.
  The first land grant in the Paddington area, of 100 acres (40.4 hectares), was made to Robert Cooper, James Underwood, and Francis Ewen Forbes by Governor Brisbane in 1823, allowing them to commence work on the Sydney distillery at the eastern end of Glenmore Road. A mill was located at the end of Gordon Street and run by the Gordon family grinding wheat from the early 1830s. It remained a prominent feature of the local landscape as houses were built, and as wind power was replaced by steam.
  Cooper built his mansion, Juniper Hall, on the South Head Road ridge while Underwood built his house on Glenmore Road, between today's Soudan Lane and the former distillery. The suburb's name came about when in October 1839 James Underwood subdivided 50 of his 97 acres. He called his subdivision the Paddington Estate after the London Borough of that name. It extended from Oxford Street down to present day Paddington Street.
  1841-1900
  After the commencement in 1841 of Victoria Barracks the village of Paddington soon emerged, much of it around the cottages of the many artisans –stonemasons, quarrymen, carpenters and labourers – who were working on the construction of the Barracks. What emerged was a clear class distinction; the working-class located largely on or near the South Head Road and the emerging gentry living in villas facing the harbour in 'Rushcutters Valley'.
  Rapid growth followed, with large estates being subdivided for speculative terrace style housing. In 1862 there were 535 houses with 2,800 residents. By 1883 the number of houses increased to 2,347. In 1871 Paddington's population density was 10.2 people per acre. By 1891 it had jumped 44.1.
  1901-2000
  In the first decade of the twentieth century Paddington was in its prime, with the population reaching 26,000 living in 4,800 houses. General health improved with the area being sewered.
  The World War I left a legacy of social problems, tensions and alcohol abuse. Paddington suffered death rates of 5 per 1000 residents in the influenza epidemic of 1919. Developers were disparaging about densely populated areas like Paddington, describing them as unhealthy, and promoting sanitised garden suburbs such as Haberfield. In Paddington the unskilled, those with a trade and those renting were hit hard during the Depression, with 30% unemployment.
  The post-war County of Cumberland planning scheme for metropolitan Sydney slated Paddington as a slum ripe for total redevelopment. A 1947 map titled 'Paddington Replanning' proposed demolition of virtually all existing housing to be replaced by blocks of flats. However, with the newly arrived migrants from Europe finding Paddington affordable and a convenient place to live, slum clearance faded from the political agenda. In the 1960s, a middle class 'Bohemian' invasion began and Paddington became very 'multi-cultural'.
  From 1960 many professional people, many who may have returned from living abroad, recognised Paddington's potential, particularly the suburb's close proximity to the CBD. With the restoration of often derelict houses there developed a new awareness and interest in the historical and aesthetic qualities of t
caption: Officer's quarters, Victoria Barracks
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