Redfern as the Heart(h): Living (Black) in Inner Sydney

Before the arrival of the ‘white fella’ over 200 years ago, the G adigal people and others of the E ora D arug occupied the place where the city of S ydney now stands. At the heart of this second tier global city, the inner‐city suburb of R edfern has become a mainstay of urban A boriginal identity. Yet, this troubled and stigmatised focal point of populist media representations and government policy does not reflect the diversity of urban A boriginal life in inner S ydney. This paper draws on a range of sources about living in R edfern, from the difficult politics of establishing and retaining an A boriginal urban space and place in the contemporary gentrifying city – achieved in large part through the establishment of now long‐standing service provision – through to the rise of alternate visions and lives and many more ‘ordinary’ ways of living in the city. This paper seeks to highlight that A boriginal people variously inhabit, occupy, and sometimes thrive in A ustralia's first colonial city and the site of invasion. It also provides several of the author's personal experiences of engagement with some of these processes.