Balmain is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

in the

Inner West The Inner West of Sydney is an area directly west of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. The suburbs that make up the Inner West are predominantly located along the southern shore of Port Jackson (Parramatta River) ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, New South Wales, Australia. Balmain is located west of the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or ...

, in the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

of the

Inner West Council Inner West Council is a local government area located in the Inner West region of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Inner West LGA makes up the eastern part of this wider region, and was formed on 12 May 2016 from the merg ...

. It is located on the Balmain peninsula surrounded by

Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...

, adjacent to the suburbs of

Rozelle Rozelle is a suburb in the inner west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 4 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Inner West Council. Location Rozelle s ...

to the south-west, Birchgrove to the north-west, and

Balmain East Balmain East is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Balmain East is located three kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Inner West Council. ...

to the east.

Iron Cove Iron Cove is a bay on the Parramatta River, in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately due west of Sydney's central business district. It is surrounded by the suburbs of Birchgrove, Balmain ...

sits on the western side of the peninsula, with White Bay on the south-east side and

Mort Bay Mort Bay is a bay located in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. It was named after Commander Morton C. Mumma of the United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the ...

on the north-east side. Traditionally

blue collar A blue-collar worker is a person who performs manual labor or skilled trades. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involve manufacturing, retail, warehousing, mining, carpentry, electrical work, custodia ...

, Balmain was where the industrial roots of the

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ist movement began. It has become established in Australian

working-class culture Working-class culture or proletarian culture is a range of cultures created by or popular among working-class people. The cultures can be contrasted with high culture and folk culture, and are often equated with popular culture and low culture (t ...

and history, due to being the place where the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

formed in 1891 and its social history and status is of high cultural significance to both Sydney and New South Wales. Today, the ALP contends with the

Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly referred to simply as the Greens, are a Left-wing politics, left-wing green party, green Australian List of political parties in Australia, political party. As of 2025, the Greens are the third largest politica ...

for political prominence in Balmain, and

Kobi Shetty Kobi Lee Shetty is the member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Balmain for the Greens since 2023. Shetty has served as an Inner West Council Inner West Council is a local government area located in the Inner West ...

of the Greens holds the State seat of Balmain. In the 21st century however, Balmain is often considered to be an affluent area. According to the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Balmain had a Median weekly household income of $3,039, and a 2021 article on the

Domain A domain is a geographic area controlled by a single person or organization. Domain may also refer to: Law and human geography * Demesne, in English common law and other Medieval European contexts, lands directly managed by their holder rather ...

website called Balmain comparable to

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

History

Prior to European settlement, the area was inhabited by indigenous

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

Gadigal The Gadigal, also spelled as Cadigal and Caddiegal, are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands are located in Gadi, on Eora country, the location of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. However, since the colonisation of Australia ...

and

Wangal The Wangal people (; Wanngal or Won-gal) are a clan of the Dharug Aboriginal people whose heirs are custodians of the lands and waters of what is now the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, centred around the Municipality of Strathfield, ...

people. Stories from early settlers in the area tell of how the local indigenous people used to hunt

kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

by driving them through the bushy peninsula, down the hill to Peacock Point at the east end, where they were killed. The area now known as Balmain was part of a grant to colonial surgeon

William Balmain William Balmain (2 February 1762 – 17 November 1803) was a Scottish-born naval surgeon and civil administrator who sailed as an assistant surgeon with the First Fleet to establish the first European settlement in Australia, and later to take up ...

(1762–1803) made in 1800 by Governor John Hunter. A year later, Balmain transferred his entire holding to settle a debt to

John Borthwick Gilchrist John Borthwick Gilchrist (19 June 1759 – 9 January 1841) was a Scottish surgeon, linguist, philologist and Indologist. Born and educated in Edinburgh, he spent most of his early career in India, where he made a study of the local languages. In ...

before returning to Scotland. The legality of the land transfer from Balmain to Gilchrist for only 5

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

s was challenged by Balmain's descendants and further development of the area was blocked. The area subsequently became known as Gilchrist's place, though court documents refer to the area as the Balmain Estate. During the many years of legal challenges, the land was leased for farming and cattle purposes. In 1814 the adjacent homestead of Birchgrove was sold to

Roland Warpole Loane Rowland Walpole Loane (died 8 October 1844), a merchant descended from a family of protestant English landlords based in County Cork, was an early settler in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. He was more focused on creating personal wealth a ...

, a merchant and settler descended from a family of English landlords. One hundred acres on the adjoining Balmain estate were leased to Loane. Lever Brothers Balmain - Feb 1939

In 1833, Gilchrist transferred

power of attorney A power of attorney (POA) or letter of attorney is a written authorization to represent or act on another's behalf in private affairs (which may be financial or regarding health and welfare), business, or some other legal matter. The person auth ...

to Frederick Parbury. When Loane's lease finally expired in 1836 and the land retrieved from his possession, Parbury commissioned surveyor John Armstrong to sub-divide the land into six parcels. Three parcels were sold to Thomas Hyndes in 1837. The area was rapidly sub-divided and developed during the 1840s and by 1861 had been divided into the well populated eastern suburb of Balmain and the sparsely populated western area, extending to the gates of

Callan Park Callan Park, with the heritage listed name Callan Park Conservation Area & Buildings, is a heritage listed site in Lilyfield, a suburb in Sydney's Inner West in New South Wales, Australia. Callan Park is located in the suburb of Lilyfield on ...

, known as Balmain West.

Industry

The peninsula changed rapidly during the 1800s and became one of the premier industrial centres of Sydney. Industries clustered around Mort Bay included shipbuilding, a metal foundry, engineering, boilermaking and the

Mort's Dock & Engineering Company Mort's Dock is a former dry dock, slipway, and shipyard in Balmain, New South Wales, Australia. It was the first dry dock in Australia, opening for business in 1855 and closing more than a century later in 1959. The site is now parkland. Histor ...

works which opened in 1855—in 1958 Mort's Dock closed and is the site of Mort Bay Park. Increasing industrialisation at Balmain created a demand for cheap housing. This was satisfied by the dock owners selling small blocks of land to entrepreneurs who then built tiny cottages and rented them to the workers. The Balmain Reservoir was built in 1915. Rozelletram

Lever Brothers Factory, owned by the British parent company, opened in 1895.

Colliery

A coal mine was opened in 1897 beside what is now Birchgrove Public School by an English company. The winding engine was said to be the largest in the southern hemisphere. However, with the endless labour disputes,'' Cessnock Eagle & South Maitland Recorder'' 17 November 1933, p.1. Sydney Collieries Limited took over ownership. A further new shaft was sunk in 1904. From the bottom of the shafts a decline led down to a seam of coal situated under the harbour between Ballast Point and Goat Island. Because of the availability of the coal,

Balmain Power Station The Balmain, New South Wales, Balmain Power Station was located at Iron Cove, from Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The station no longer exists and residential properties now occupy the site. This plant is often confused with the White Ba ...

was erected in stages from 1909. However, there were major industrial disputes in the 1920s and calls were made by some shareholders in 1928 to close the mine. The following year the colliery still employed 299 miners. By 1930 the colliery owners had given up and it had been taken over by the Balmain Coal Contracting Company, established by the Miner's Federation to keep the pit operational, to no avail as disputes continued. On 13 October 1930 the Miners' Lodge declared the mine "blacked" as well as the manager, whose dismissal they demanded. The colliery closed in 1931. In 1933 it was proposed to extract natural gas for commercial use from the now disused mine. In 1936 calls were made for the Sydney City Council to take over the mine to no avail. One local waterman who benefited from the Balmain coalmine was Bob Miller, who resided at 102 Glassop Street. He purchased a small tug and barge and secured a contract to remove the mine tailings, which he on sold to local councils as fill for a handsome profit. This was the beginning of the

RW Miller R. W. Miller was an Australian company that had interests in coal mining, pubs and shipping. The company was named after its founder Robert William Miller (1879-1958). History R. W. Miller was founded in 1923 as a colliery proprietor and coal de ...

industrial conglomerate. By 1924 his family had moved to Louisa Road.

Tramway

The opening of the tramway in the 1920s further established Balmain and it gained a reputation as a rough working-class area of Sydney. A large influx of immigrants boosted Balmain's population in the 1950s.

Gentrification

Gentrification of Balmain began in the 1960s as industry waned. Balmain's desirability to the middle class was due in part to its waterfront location and proximity to Sydney's CBD. The Balmain Association was formed in 1965. Increasing property values and waterfront development continued to push the suburb's remaining industry out. In 1996, the Lever Brothers site became a series of apartment complexes with a handful of original buildings preserved. The power station was demolished in 1998 to make way for apartments. However, many aspects of Balmain's industrial past have been retained as heritage.

Heritage listings

Balmain has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * 1 Blake Street: Ewenton * Booth Street:

Balmain Hospital Main Building Balmain Hospital Main Building is a hospital building and former cottage in Balmain, New South Wales, Balmain, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. It was the original building of and remains the administration building for the Balma ...

* Glassop Street: Dawn Fraser Swimming Pool * 12b Grafton Street: Hampton Villa * 37 Nicholson Street: Waterview Wharf Workshops * Thames, Mort, College, McKell, Cameron, Yeend Streets:

Mort's Dock Mort's Dock is a former dry dock, slipway, and shipyard in Balmain, New South Wales, Australia. It was the first dry dock in Australia, opening for business in 1855 and closing more than a century later in 1959. The site is now parkland. Histor ...

* 2 Wells Street: Louisaville

Demographics

At the , the population of Balmain was 10,454. At the , it had a population of 10,453. In 2021, 64.8% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 9.1%, New Zealand 2.8%, United States 1.7%, Ireland 1.3% and China 1.2%. 83.4% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 1.5% and Italian at 1.2%. The most common responses for religion in Balmain were no religion 51.9%, Catholic 20.7%, Anglican 9.9%, not stated 5.3% and Eastern Orthodox 2.2%. 37.6% of dwellings were flats, units or apartments, 39.9% were semi-detached terraced houses or townhouses and 21.8% were separate houses.

Commercial area

Darling Street Darling Street is a 3.1 kilometre street in Sydney, Australia running from Victoria Road, Sydney, Victoria Road to Balmain East ferry wharf. It is the main thoroughfare and high street of the suburbs of Rozelle and Balmain, New South Wales, Bal ...

, Balmain's main thoroughfare, features boutique shops, quality restaurants and cafes alongside old

drinking establishments A drinking establishment is a business whose primary function is the serving of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises. Some establishments may also serve food, or have entertainment, but their main purpose is to serve alcoholic bev ...

. Landmarks on this street include the Post Office and Court House, alongside Balmain Town Hall, the historic Westpac Bank, Balmain Fire Station and Balmain Working Men's Institute. Other commercial developments are scattered throughout the suburb. The headquarters of the NSW Water Police moved to Cameron Cove in Balmain in late 2007.

Transport

Balmain has several ferry wharves including Thames Street Balmain serviced by the

Cockatoo Island ferry services The Cockatoo Island ferry service, officially known as F8 Cockatoo Island, is a commuter ferry service in Sydney, Australia. Part of the Sydney Ferries network, it is operated by Transdev Sydney Ferries and services the Balmain, New South Wales ...

, Elliot Street, Balmain West and Darling Street,

serviced by the

Cross Harbour ferry services The Cross Harbour ferry service, officially known as F4 Cross Harbour, was a commuter ferry service in Sydney, New South Wales. Part of the Sydney Ferries network, it was operated by Transdev Sydney Ferries and serviced the Darling Harbour, Lave ...

. Services run to

Circular Quay Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping terminal, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on the northern edge of the ...

Transdev Sydney Ferries Transdev Sydney Ferries, formerly Harbour City Ferries, is a subsidiary of Transdev Australasia, and is the operator of ferry services in the Sydney Ferries network since July 2012. It currently operates the ferry network under a contract unti ...

' maintenance and repair base is at Balmain Shipyard. Balmain's road network feeds into three main roads—Darling Street, Beattie Street and Montague/Mullen Street. These streets have limited speeds, typically 40 km/h and are all

single carriageway A single carriageway (British English) is a road with one, two or more lanes arranged within a one carriageway with no central reservation, central reservation/median strip to separate opposing flows of traffic. A single-track road is a type of ...

with parallel parking. Due to the geography of the peninsula, all of these roads feed into Victoria Road and the Western Distributor. Sections of Balmain were to be demolished to make for the North-West Expressway but this was prevented after green bans were placed by the NSW Builders Labourers Federation. Trams once ran all the way down Darling Street to the wharf at Balmain East. Due to the very steep incline at the bottom of the street, the trams used a complex 'dummy' counterweight system constructed under the road surface. The trams were pushed up the steep hill by the dummy, and rode the dummy on the way down to safely descend the hill.

Transit Systems Transit Systems Group is an Australian-based public transport company, which also operates overseas through its subsidiary Tower Transit Group. Transit Systems Group is a subsidiary of the Kelsian Group, formerly SeaLink Travel Group. History ...

bus services that service Balmain are: *433 Balmain to

Railway Square Railway Square is a plaza at the southern end of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia, formed by the confluence of Broadway, Sydney, Broadway, Lee Street, Pitt Street and George Street, Sydney, George Street. The squa ...

. *441 Birchgrove to

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most import ...

, *442 Balmain to the

Queen Victoria Building The Queen Victoria Building (abbreviated as the QVB) is a heritage-listed late-19th-century building located at 429–481 George Street, Sydney, George Street in the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. D ...

*445 Balmain to Campsie

Culture

The

Balmain bug Balmain may refer to: Places * Balmain, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia * Electoral district of Balmain, an electoral division in New South Wales, Australia * Balmain East, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia * Balmain Ho ...

(''Ibacus peronii''), a type of

slipper lobster Slipper lobsters are a family (biology), family (Scyllaridae) of about 90 species of Achelata, achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda clade Reptantia, found in all warm oceans and seas. They are not lobster, true lobsters, but are more closely rel ...

commonly eaten in Sydney, is named after Balmain.

Historic hotels

Balmain is home to many historic hotels, including the Cat and Fiddle Hotel, Cricketer's Arms Hotel, Dick's Hotel,

Dry Dock Hotel The Dry Dock Hotel is a heritage-listed pub located in Balmain, a suburb in the inner west region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The pub is the oldest licensed hotel in Balmain and one of a number of establishments which ...

, Exchange Hotel, Forth & Clyde Hotel, Kent Hotel, Unity Hall Hotel, London Hotel, Mort Bay Hotel, Norfolk Pines Hotel, Pacific Hotel, Royal Oak Hotel, Shipwright's Arms Hotel, Star Hotel, Town Hall Hotel,

Volunteer Hotel The Volunteer Hotel was a pub in the suburb of Balmain in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The pub is named because of its association with a group of volunteer firefighter A firefighter (or fire figh ...

and the West End Hotel. The Riverview Hotel is a heritage-listed corner building built in 1880 in the

Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

style. Between 1888 and 1913 the pub was named Bergin's Hotel after the publican Joseph Bergin. Australian swimming champion

Dawn Fraser Dawn Fraser (born 4 September 1937) is an Australian freestyle champion swimmer, eight-time olympic medallist, a 15-year world record holder in the 100-metre freestyle, and former politician. Controversial, yet the winner of countless honours, ...

was publican of the Riverview from 1978 to 1983.

Pop culture

Numerous phrases have been used to describe the suburb and its inhabitants, including "Balmain boys don't cry" (former NSW Premier

Neville Wran Neville Kenneth Wran, (11 October 1926 – 20 April 2014) was an Australian politician who was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1986. He was the national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and chairman o ...

at the Street Royal Commission); "You can take the boy out of Balmain, but you can't take Balmain out of the boy" (Unknown); "There are only two types of men in this world: those who were born in Balmain and those who wish they were" (a Police Commissioner of New South Wales). Australian Prime Minister

Paul Keating Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and trade unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996. He held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), having previously ser ...

commented on the suburb's gentrification by using the term "Basket weavers of Balmain". Until the 1970s, older Balmain people would refer to "going to Sydney". The Post Office/ Court/ Police building and vicinity was generally referred to as the "Town Hall", with the Post Office clock often called the Town Hall clock. This was probably due to the Post Office & Court Building being built in between the earlier Town Hall & Town Hall Hotel. In the mid-1960s Balmain was the setting for the popular

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

situation comedy series '' My Name's McGooley, What's Yours?'', starring

Gordon Chater Gordon Maitland Chater AM (6 April 1922 – 12 December 1999) was an English Australian comedian and actor, and recipient of the Gold Logie, he appeared in revue, theatre, radio, television and film, with a career spanning almost 50 years. B ...

John Meillon John Meillon ( ; 1 May 1934 – 11 August 1989) was an Australian character actor known for dramatic as well as comedy roles. He portrayed Walter Reilly in the films '' Crocodile Dundee'' and '' Crocodile Dundee II''. He also voiced advertiseme ...

and

Judi Farr Judith Mary Stuart Farr (5 October 1938 – 30 June 2023), also credited as Judy Farr, was an Australian actress of theatre, film and television, with a career spanning some seven decades, she was best known for several situation comedy roles ...

. Balmain was the setting for the 1994 Australian film '' The Sum of Us'', which starred Jack Thompson,

John Polson John Polson (born 6 September 1965) is an Australian actor, director and founder of Tropfest. Polson is perhaps best known for his role starring opposite Russell Crowe and Jack Thompson in '' The Sum of Us'' (1994). In February 2001, Polson ...

and

Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor and film director. Russell Crowe filmography, His work on screen has earned him List of awards and nominations received by Russell Crowe, various accolades, including an Academy Award, two Gold ...

. The former Pacific Hotel (from 2019, now converted into a residential property) - as well as several other locations in Balmain - were used extensively as the set of the Australian television

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

, '' E Street''.

Parks and reserves

Balmain has a number of parks including Gladstone Park, Birrung Park and White Bay Park. The wider peninsula has many more parks in close proximity, particularly along the foreshores. In earlier times Punch Park was the goto place for park footy (rugby league), though it was always referred to by the boys then as Punch's Park

Sport and recreation

Balmain is home to the

Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995 to 1996) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain, New South Wales, Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and on ...

district rugby league football club that is now represented in the NRL by

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

club. The club was formed in mid-1999 by a joint venture between the Balmain Tigers and the

Western Suburbs Magpies The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) is an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as the club is commonly ...

in preparation for the 2000 season. In 2005 the Tigers defeated the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

in the Grand Final to win the premiership. The Balmain Rugby Football Club, founded in 1873, took part in the very first competition structure and in fact winning their first premiership in 1875. Players lost fighting in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

forced the club to merge with the Glebe "Dirty Reds" RUFC in 1919, to form the Glebe-Balmain RFC. As a merged club they had enormous success during the Twenties, winning four premierships. In 1931, as a depression project, Drummoyne Oval, as it is now known, was constructed on the site of a small oval which Glebe and Balmain had used for junior matches since 1892. To ensure longevity of tenure, and because there were just not enough sporting grounds in Sydney—with some reluctance—the Glebe-Balmain Club decided to change its name to the Drummoyne District Rugby Football Club. It did so without giving up its long-held traditions, the scarlet jumpers of Glebe and its world-famous tag, "The Dirty Reds" and the black and gold of Balmain, colours still worn proudly by today's players in their socks. Drummoyne Rugby Club is still in existence and still upholds it proud history and traditions. The suburb is also home to the

Balmain Australian Football Club Balmain Australian Football Club is a NSWFL foundation Australian Football club competing in the Sydney AFL Premier League and based out of the Sydney suburb of Balmain. The team train at Rozelle Parklands from 6pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. ...

, a founding member in 1903 of the

Sydney Football League AFL Sydney is an Australian rules football League, based in metropolitan Sydney, Australia which has been run since 1903. In 1980 was known as the "Sydney Football League" and renamed the "Sydney AFL" in 1998 before adopting its current name ...

. Balmain is also home to Balmain FC, who are a semi-professional football club, playing in the

National Premier Leagues NSW 3 The Football NSW League is an Australian soccer league based in New South Wales that was founded in 2022 and administered by Football NSW. It consists of two divisions that were named after the Football NSW League's breakaway of the National Prem ...

. In 2015 they qualified for the Australia-wide FFA Cup Round of 32 and were drawn against

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

club

Melbourne Victory FC Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under North American professional sports leag ...

in which they were defeated 6–0 in front of 5,000 fans at

Leichhardt Oval Leichhardt Oval is a rugby league and soccer stadium in Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently one of three home grounds for the Wests Tigers National Rugby League (NRL) team, along with Campbelltown Stadium and Western Syd ...

Balmain Sailing Club Balmain Sailing Club is a sailing club in Municipality of Leichhardt in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The club currently has approximately 300 members and races a keelboat fleet and a dinghy fleet. The cl ...

is located in nearby Birchgrove and is home to the annual Balmain Regatta.

Balmain Rowing Club Balmain Rowing Club is the fourth oldest rowing club in continuous operation on Sydney Harbour, Australia, and was established in July 1882 at Balmain, New South Wales, Balmain, Sydney. It has occupied its current site at the bottom of White St, G ...

was formed in July 1882, and still occupies its original White Street location. The club adopted black and yellow colours from its formation, which soon became the district colours. The great

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal Regions of New South Wales, region in the southeast of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast, New South Wales, South Coast region. It encompas ...

sculling Sculling is the use of oars to propel a boat by moving them through the water on both sides of the craft, or moving one oar over the stern. A long, narrow boat with sliding seats, rigged with two oars per rower may be referred to as a scull, its ...

champion Bill Beach had a close association with the club and wore their black and gold colours in competition.

Housing

The post-industrial

gentrification Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...

of Balmain has resulted in a suburb of considerable charm and interest where the modest, pretty houses command high prices. However, Balmain still retains a diverse mix of residents due to the Housing Commission unit blocks in the suburb. Much of the suburb is a heritage conservation area and creative design is required to modernise the Victorian and Edwardian housing stock. In 2013 a contemporary Balmain house designed by architect

Harry Seidler Harry Seidler (25 June 19239 March 2006) was an Austrian-born Australian architect who is considered to be one of the leading exponents of Modernism's methodology in Australia and the first architect to fully express the principles of the Bauh ...

sold for $6m. The

Tom Uren Thomas Uren (28 May 1921 – 26 January 2015) was an Australian politician and Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1975 to 1977. Uren served as the Division of Reid, Member for Reid in the Australian House of Representatives from ...

House in Gilchrist Place was designed by

Richard Leplastrier Richard Denis Leplastrier (born 1939, Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian architect and AIA Gold Medal recipient. He was a Professor of Practice (Architecture) at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Career After graduation from Sydney ...

Notable residents

Notable past and present residents include: * Sir Harold Alderson, sports administrator *

Peter Bonsall-Boone Peter "Bon" Bonsall-Boone ( 1938 – 19 May 2017) was an Australian LGBT rights activist. He was a foundation member of the Campaign Against Moral Persecution (CAMP) and participated in the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Biography Pe ...

, LGBT rights activist *

Edgar Britt Edgar Clive Britt OAM (30 October 1913 – 28 January 2017) was an Australian jockey, who won every British Classic Race except the Derby. Early life Career One of the first of many Australian jockeys who came to ride in Britain after ...

, jockey * Geraldine Brooks, author and journalist *

Rose Byrne Mary Rose Byrne (born 24 July 1979) is an Australian actress. She made her screen debut in the film ''Dallas Doll'' (1994) , and continued to act in Australian film and television throughout the 1990s. She gained her first leading film role in ...

, actress *

Clive Caldwell Clive Robertson Caldwell, (28 July 1911 – 5 August 1994) was the leading Australian flying ace, air ace of World War II. He is officially credited with shooting down 28.5 enemy aircraft in over 300 operational sorties, including an List of a ...

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Notes

# Postcode 2041 covers the suburbs of Balmain, Balmain East and Birchgrove. # Combined population for all residents of postcode 2041. # Median house price for all properties of postcode 2041.

References

External links

Local History Collection, Leichhardt Council

Balmain Association
*

CC-By-SA A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work". A CC license is used when an author wants to give other people the right to share, use, and bui ...

] * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balmain, New South Wales Balmain, New South Wales, Suburbs of Sydney Inner West Council