Marrickville

Marrickville is a suburb in the Inner West and South Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.

Marrickville is a suburb in the Inner West and South Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Marrickville is located 7 kilometres (4 miles) south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the largest suburb in the Inner West Council local government area.

Marrickville sits on the northern bank of the Cooks River, opposite Earlwood and shares borders with Stanmore, Enmore, Newtown, St Peters, Sydenham, Tempe, Dulwich Hill, Hurlstone Park and Petersham. The southern part of the suburb, near the river, is known as Marrickville South and includes the historical locality called The Warren.

Marrickville is a culturally diverse suburb consisting of both low and high density residential, commercial and light industrial areas.

The area's original name is Bulanaming. The first inhabitants were the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation.

The Gadigal or Cadigal people of the Eora Nation have lived in the Bulanaming/Marrickville area for tens of thousands of years. Their connection continues today. The area along the Cooks River was an important area for fishing. Pemulwuy, the Aboriginal resistance leader, was based around the river and led many attacks against settlers in the 1790s until his murder by colonists in 1802. In the 1830s, Aboriginal people were seen fishing in on the river on what is now the Marrickville Golf Course.From the time the Aboriginal Protection Board in 1883, until post World War II, there are few records available of Gadigal people along the river, but post-war saw the migration of many Aboriginal people back to Marrickville. "Many live close to the Cooks River and have developed a strong custodial sense for the river, its history and its heritage". According to the 2016 Census there are 415 Aboriginal people living in Marrickville.

The name Marrickville comes from the 24.3 ha (60 acres) 'Marrick' estate of Thomas Chalder, which was subdivided on 24 February 1855. He named it after his native village Marrick, North Yorkshire, England. The estate centred on the intersection of Victoria Road and Chapel Street. William Dean, the publican of the Marrick Hotel, in Illawarra Road (now the site of the Henson Park Hotel) is credited with adding the "ville" to Marrick when it was gazetted in 1861.

The first land grant in the area was 100 acres (0.4 km2) to William Beckwith in 1794. Thomas Moore received 470 acres (1.9 km2) in 1799 and another 700 acres (2.8 km2) in 1803. Dr Robert Wardell purchased most of this land for his estate that stretched from Petersham to the Cooks River. His estate was broken up after he was murdered by escaped convicts in September 1834.

Thomas Holt (1811–1888) was a Sydney business tycoon who built a castellated Victorian Gothic mansion named 'The Warren' in 1857 in Marrickville South. It was designed by architect George Mansfield, and contained an impressive art gallery filled with paintings and sculptures from Europe. It had elaborate stables built into imposing stone walls, and large landscaped gardens filled with urns overlooking the Cooks River. Holt gave it that name because he bred rabbits on the estate for hunting, as well as the grounds being stocked with alpacas and other exotics. The Warren was a landmark in the district for some decades; the still-operating Warren View Hotel in Enmore as evidence of this.

Renovations were undertaken in 1866. There were also bathing sheds and a Turkish Bath built on the river. The 100-acre (0.4 km2) property was south of Wardell's and covered the area from today's Unwins Bridge Road to Illawarra Road and Warren Road. Thomas Holt was a large land holder in Sydney with another mansion at the edge of Gwawley Bay, Sylvania Waters, New South Wales in 1881,(his last and greatest residence, the monumental forty room Sutherland House mansion which was destroyed by fire in 1918) and vast property holdings from Sutherland to Cronulla.

As Holt's health began to be an issue, the Warren was subdivided in 1884 with the land around the immediate building's grounds being sold off - and the family returning to Britain for the remaining years of his life. He died in 1888.

The estate stables were demolished some time between 1884 and 1886, with the nearby Ferncourt Public School being originally built as a house "Prosna" by Polish born artist, Gracius Joseph Broinowski, from sandstone blocks of the stable, and a cedar staircase and marble mantelpiece purchased from Holt's estate installed in it.

It is obvious today the last block remaining where the mansion stood as it is indicated by the newer houses of the 1920s-1930s as well as, obviously the name of the road, driven down the western side of the block -"Mansion Street" - and "Holt St" adjacent to it forming the lower side of the square perimeter).

The Warren became a nunnery when the mansion and 12 acres (5 ha) of land were purchased by a French order of Carmelite nuns. The Carmelites were evicted from The Warren in 1903 for outstanding debts. By this stage the grounds appear to be bare with a high wood fence installed on the western side of the building about this time. It then was used during WWI for an artillery training range and this fenced area also appears in photos along with smaller buildings on the grounds nearby. It was resumed in 1919 by the New South Wales government was finally demolished in around 1922 - the land subdivided to build a housing estate for returned soldiers.Sir John Sulman was engaged to build this.

Not much remains of the once imposing castle-like building except for two stone turrets from the building indicating what was once on the general spot (this was recently vandalised and the commemorative plaque stolen; noted 2010. Originally piers from the back entrance of the building, which had been stored by the council for many years - they were placed on the headland with a memorial fountain in 1967 at Richardson's Lookout in Holt Street. Other remains are garden paths with flags and liners, one or two of the original stone blocks from the walls, and the base of what was probably a garden feature such as an urn or fountain. An area with a few cobblestones in the grass, remains under some native fig trees, and was probably a drive that led to the back of the stables.Also on the bank of the river below are the crypts that Thomas Holt built into a sandstone overhang for his family. No bodies were subsequently laid to rest except for the Mother Superior of the Carmelite order who was interred for a short time.

"Ferndale" in Kent Lane, Newtown, is the earliest of his four houses and the last surviving residence connected with Thomas Holt. It is heritage-listed.Marrickville became a municipality on 6 November 1861. In 1948, it merged with neighboring municipalities of St Peters and Petersham to form Marrickville Municipal Council.

The first school opened in August 1864 and the post office opened in 1865. The railway line to Bankstown opened in 1895. The station was known as Illawarra Road during construction. Later, when it was decided that Marrickville was a more appropriate name, the original Marrickville station was renamed Sydenham.

There has been a gradual change in Marrickville, with some media reports calling it "the new Paddington". There has been an influx of young professionals, as well as artists and musicians. A bohemian vibe has been cultivated and some say Marrickville is "the new Newtown", not Paddington. Marrickville has been referred to as the number one emerging "Sydney hipster suburbs of 2017", due to its youthful population, increasing numbers of liquor licences and numerous "foodie" eateries.