Redfern Aboriginal Community Housing

In December 1972 a ban was placed on the demolition of empty houses on Eveleigh and Louis streets, Redfern which were occupied by Indigenous residents. Big developer IBK had purchased most of the houses, evicting tenants to renovate the properties into expensive townhouses. After spokespeople for the group, Bob Bellear and Dick Blair, reached out to Bob Pringle the BLF informed the development company that all work on the project was henceforth barred. This ban assisted significantly in Aboriginal resistance against the developer and ultimately led to the Federal Government’s purchase of the disputed houses on behalf of the Indigenous community in March 1973 as a community-run Aboriginal housing scheme. Known as the Redfern Aboriginal Housing Scheme, it provided much-needed low-rent accommodation in the form of 65 houses bounded by Louis, Caroline, Eveleigh, and Vine streets. Factories were converted into a cultural centre, a preschool, a medical centre, and a multipurpose hall; all operated and managed by Indigenous residents.

References
Verity and Meredith Burgmann, Green bans, red union: the saving of a city, 1998.

Research provided by Isabella Maher