HERITAGE REPORT

The Old with the New: Refurbishing the Sydney Trades Hall and Reclaiming Union History

Neale Towart

The Sydney Trades Hall is located at 4 Goulburn Street, Sydney at the northern end of the 'Chinatown District'. It was built in 1888 by the Trades Hall Association, the original trade union affiliates responsible for its construction. In 2002 it was sold to the Labor Council of New South Wales (now Unions NSW) which is refurbishing and restoring the historic building with the approval of the Heritage Council of New South Wales.	1
The Sydney Trades Hall, c 1887 Artist: John Smedley, the winner of the design competition held in 1887 Photo courtesy Unions NSW
Sydney Trades Hall has recently been through the sixth stage of its construction, 90 years after the completion of stage five. The early twenty-first century stage required the demolition of some of the early twentieth century work, creating a large open air space that has already become a great venue for functions such as conference breakouts, book launches, exhibitions, and a media centre, and so on. Unions NSW wants the buzz back in the Trades Hall, just as it wants the buzz back into unions, and the revitalization of the building is essential for that buzz.	2
The reopening of the Sydney Trades Hall Building, May Day 2007 with NSW Governor, Marie Bashir presiding. The building's foundation stone had been laid by Lord Carrington, Governor of NSW in 1888. Photo courtesy Unions NSW
So how did Unions NSW go about refurbishing a building that is on the State Heritage Register, a refurbishment that involved destruction of part of that heritage? It has been a process long in gestation. In the 1960s the Labor Council of NSW (as Unions NSW was then), sought to get the Trades Hall Association (Labor Council was a shareholder but not a majority one) to agree to the demolition of the entire building to enable a large scale redevelopment. The Association said no and the Labor Council confined itself to the building at 377–383 Sussex Street, adjoining the Trades Hall. The Hall did not survive unscathed however. A connection corridor was included that demolished the banner room of the Hall.	3
Here I should emphasise the key difference between Sydney and Melbourne Trades Hall.1 Apart from the difference in scale (Melbourne Trades Hall being a much grander building), the Sydney Trades Hall was never run by the peak body of the union movement in the state. The Victorian Trades Hall Council had that role and controlled the Hall as well. The Labor Council of NSW was a tenant and shareholder, not a controlling owner. In 1970 this was a good thing for the Trades Hall building.	. . .