Redfern Oval – part 2

G’day, Charles Touma here; and today I’m back at the “Holy Land”, as the Rabbitohs faithful know it, Redfern Oval. Last week I spoke about the initial origins of the Rabbits being based here from 1948, and today I’m going to bring back a few of the old stories of some of the legends who have played at Redfern Oval. In 1955, playing for the Rabbits against Manly here, the little master, Clive Churchill, broke his wrist early on in the match. It was such a bad break, it ruled him out for rest of that reason. However, on that day, Clive created a cast for his wrist out of paddle pop sticks and cardboard and played on, ending up kicking a side-line conversion to win the game 9-7. There’s a great piece of footage on Youtube of the famous day in 1982 when the Rabbits came from behind here against the table-topping Paramatta Eels to win it very late, courtesy of a Ken Wright field goal, which I’ll link to in the post with this video. Of course, the Rabbits name has a great story attached to it. Apparently, somewhere around 1900, the local players would earn some money by selling rabbits on the streets. They would walk through the streets of Redfern and surrounding areas shouting “Rabbits for sale”, with dead rabbits draped over their shoulders. As they sold one, they would skin it on the spot for the customer.

The Rabbits played 319 games at the Redfern Oval, winning 197, losing 114, with four being a draw. As mentioned last week, the piece of land that became Redfern Park was once known as Boxley’s Lagoon, which was a swamp which was permanently wet until the water was drained to be used by the Waterloo Mills. In fact, around 1822, there were regular horse racing meetings undertaken on the circuit around Boxley’s Lagoon, which contained a huge amount of eels. On December 10, 1992, Prime Minister Paul Keating decided to use the Redfern Oval to make one of his most important speeches, the speech that launched the International Year of The World’s Indigenous Peoples. It became known as the “Redfern Address”. It was the first public acknowledgment by the Government of the dispossession of the first Australians. The speech was voted by ABC Radio listeners as the third most unforgettable speech in history behind Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech and Jesus Christ’s “Sermon on the mount.” Now this lockdown has had a substantial impact on the housing market in Redfern. In particular, it has caused a big uplift to four and five bedroom houses in the area.

The median price for a four-bedroom house in Redfern jumped by 7.7% last year, and so far has jumped a massive 31.7% this year. In 2019, the median for a four-bedroom house was $1.875 million and it currently stands at $2.66 million. As I’ve sold the majority of those four or five bedroom homes in Redfern, I’d say the single biggest reason for the price growth has been that buyers have been looking for more space due to the fact that living spaces have also become home-working spaces, and our marketing has attracted multiple interested buyers from various different locations. I hope you enjoyed the stories about Redfern Oval and the Bunnies. I’m passionate about this area and want to keep our history and stories alive. My name’s Charles Touma, and my office on Thurlow Street is always open for you to come in and have a chat.