Regent Street railway station, Sydney

Sydneyclosedstation
NAME= Regent Street (Mortuary)


LINE=Rookwood
DISTANCE= 0.450 km
PLATFORMS= 1
TRACKS= 1
STATUS=Reused
OPENED=29th June, 1869
CLOSED=Not closed

coord|33.886867|S|151.202388|E|type:landmark_region:AU-NSW_scale:2000|display=inline,title|name=Regent Street railway station

Regent Street was a railway station on Sydney's Rookwood Cemetery railway line. Funeral trains departed the station, bound for Rookwood Cemetery. The station found later use as a part of Sydney Yard. The ornate station building is still standing on the western side of Sydney Yard, close to Central railway station and Railway Square.

History

The station opened as Mortuary on 29th June 1869. At some point its name was changed to Regent Street, after the street on which it is locatedState Rail Authority of New South Wales Archives Section, "How & Why of Station Names: meanings and origins...", Second Edition, 1982, State Rail Authority of New South Wales, ] . It has also been referred to by different names, including the Necropolis Receiving Station and the Mortuary Station. [Oakes, J. (2002) From Central Sydney in Australian Railway Historical Society, pp.58-27 ] .

The Receiving station in Regent Street, Redfern was built as part of the larger Rookwood Cemetery line. It was completed on the 22nd March 1869 but had been used since the 1st January 1869. [ Singleton, C.C. (1989) The Rookwood Cemetery Line in The Sleeping City: The Story of Rookwood, Society of Australian Genealogists, NSW.] It was also one end of the service that ran to the Woronora General Cemetery in Sutherlans located in Sydneys south and for trains heading to Sandgate Cemetery in Newcastle.

This station was built in conjunction with the Receiving House at Rookwood Cemetery. Both of the stations were designed by colonial architect James Barnet using elements from the Venetian 13th century Gothic style. Principle sculptors, Thomas Ducket and Henry Apperly worked on the elaborate carvings that were a feature of the stations. These included angels, cherubs, and gargoyles. [Singleton, (1989) ] Although both buildings were designed to look like churches, both in structure and it in the symbol elements that adorned them, they were never used as places of worship. [Buckle, E.G. (1987) A station of the cross : All Saints Anglican Church, Ainslie, Canberra, The Church. ]

From 14th March 1938 the station found a new use as a platform for horses and dogs. From February 1950 it was used as a platform for parcels..

It was restored by the State Rail Authority in 1981. By this time it had also been classified by the National Trust of Australia and the Australian Heritage Commission and made part of Permanent Conservation by the Heritage Council of NSW. The cost of restoring the site was approximately $600,000. It was reopened on the 21st of April 1985 by Neville Wran. [ Oakes, (2002) ]

In 1986, Peter Shield and John McNally set up the 'Magic Mortuary', a pancake restaurant that used railway carriages to house the diners. Patrons bought ‘tickets’ from the former ticket office and then presented them to an attendant to eat their meal. However, the restaurant did not enjoy a long period of success and all the restaurant cars were removed in February 1989. [Oakes, J. (2002)]

Since then, the station has been used to launch special train services and public displays of trains and associated rail information (Oakes, 2002). In recent years the station building has seen use as a function centre [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20050209225037/http://bluerock.com.au/venues/all2.asp Internet Archive entry] for [http://bluerock.com.au Blue Rock Catering] , February 9th, 2005.] , and during 1993 it was the venue for a number of boutique dance parties held both in the night and during the day. [ [http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt.rave/search?group=alt.rave&q=mortuary+station+rave&qt_g=Search+this+group alt.rave usenet postings for "Platform 31" and "Trance Induction"] ]

Notes

Image Gallery

The ornate stonework of the Regent Street station building.

Neighbouring stations