The Hungry Mile

The Hungry Mile is the name harbourside workers gave to the docklands area of Darling Harbour East, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in the Great Depression. Workers would walk from wharf to wharf in search of a job, often failing to find one.cite news
url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/06/03/1054406193082.html
publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald
title=Union leaders walk the Hungry Mile
date=June 4, 2003]

The area was officially known as Millers Point and as part of urban renewal plans, the Government of New South Wales reviewed the name in 2006. cite news
url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/hungry-mile-gets-minor-role/2006/09/11/1157826874231.html
publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald
title=Hungry Mile gets minor role
date=September 12, 2006] The Maritime Union of Australia campaigned to renew the "Hungry Mile" name, as an acknowledgement of the site's historical significance to waterside workers. A public competition was held but the name Barangaroo was selected for the new suburb and officially gazetted in 2007. The name honours Barangaroo, an important indigenous woman from Sydney's early history who was a powerful and colourful figure in the colonisation of Australia. [ [http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=MnqwZxUlKW Extract - Geographical Names Board ] ] She was also the wife of Bennelong, another important indigenous figure after whom Bennelong Point is named, the site of the Sydney Opera House.

Redevelopment

As stevedoring operations moved to ports at Port Botany and Port Kembla, the Government of New South Wales determined that this site should be renewed as an extension of the Sydney CBD with a significant new foreshore park providing recreational areas for a growing Sydney population. [ [http://www.shfa.nsw.gov.au/sydney-Our_Places-Major_projects-Barangaroo.htm Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority - Barangaroo ] ] This area is being redeveloped into a recreational, business and shopping precinct.

There is also ongoing debate regarding the design and size of waterfront developments. The City of Sydney Council and some architectural bodies have expressed concern that the proposed designs will be out of scale with the surrounding environment, as well as causing large unwanted shadows over the immediate area, parts of Darling Harbour and possibly nearby Pyrmont. cite news
url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/monster-so-hungry-itll-eat-the-sunlight/2006/11/01/1162339918416.html
publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald
title=A monster so hungry it will eat all the sunlight
date=November 2, 2006] . Concerns were also expressed by the Danish urban planner Professor Jan Gehl, who warned that large undivided parks would become "fearsome at night" cite news | url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/04/16/1208025283072.html | publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald |title=Hungry Mile wasteland warning |date=April 17, 2008] .

Pop culture

In 1930 'The Hungry Mile' was the title of wharfie poet Ernest Antony's most famous poem, in a published collection titled 'The Hungry Mile and other poems'. cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Ernest Antony and the Hungry Mile
work =
publisher = Union Songs
date = April 11, 2008
url = http://unionsong.com/reviews/tenyears/
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-04-20 ] Memories of the Hungry Mile and Antony's poem became the inspiration for the Waterside Workers' Federation Film Unit 1950s film of the same name.cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The Hungry Mile
work =
publisher = Maritime Union of Australia
date = November 15, 2005
url = http://www.mua.org.au/aboutus/hungrymiles.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2006-09-15 ]

References