Local Street History: Danks Street, Waterloo

Danks Street has had many incarnations over its life.

It runs for just a few blocks, from South Dowling Street to Morehead Street, crossing Broome, Crystal, Bourke and Young Streets. We take a quick trip through its short history.

The origins of Danks Street

According to the City of Sydney, Danks Street was named after a local Mayor and businessman, Thomas Danks.

Thomas Danks was born in Staffordshire, England, in 1854. He married Jemima Shephard in 1876 and they had two children before arriving in Sydney in 1879.

Thomas and Jemima lived at 22 Elizabeth Street, Waterloo, and had a further two children. In the mid-1880s, Danks established a factory at Zetland, which became one of the largest of its kind in NSW. It was equipped with the most up-to-date machinery for canister making and tin printing.

Danks was very active in the local community, serving as an alderman on Waterloo Council for 21 years, and being elected Mayor five times (in 1899, 1904, 1906-07 and 1915).

He was a member of the Chamber of Manufacturing and sat on its Council for many years, and was the Returning Officer for the Alexandria Electorate. Danks was also involved in other community endeavours as a long-term member of the Redfern Freemason Lodge, vice-president and one of the trustees of the Waterloo Working Men’s Institute, president of the Waterloo Relief Society and a member of the Redfern Bowling Club, where he was described as “popular”.

In 1905, a banquet was held in his honour, where the local community paid tribute to the qualities of Alderman Danks, both as a citizen and as an alderman of the borough”. Danks’s good works also saw him lauded as “a man of gold”.

In an election pitch printed in the Truth in 1911, Danks promoted his long tenure on council, achievements in keeping “a strict supervision on the finances” and other community activities.
“I have always taken an active part in the Empire Day celebrations, assisting in giving the school children a good day… I have taken an active part in the Hospital Saturday Collection, being one of the Superintendents, and have, with the assistance of my wife, carried out some of the largest benefit concerts ever held in the district,” he wrote.

Industry past

For over a century, Waterloo was industrial. Like most of the area, Danks Street was home to a variety of different types of industries. For example, in 1935, plans for a new factory to produce Holbrooks jam were unveiled (it’s no longer on Danks Street but is still a brand today and you can buy its Worcestershire Sauce).

This photo from the late 1970s shows Berk Printing called number 1 Danks Street home, with another large factory looming in the background. Over the decades, Danks Street was also home to construction company depots, motor workshops, photo processing labs and clothing wholesalers.

Danks Street: a foodie revolution

The suburb of Waterloo has transformed itself this century, and Danks Street has been an integral part of that story.

It all began with art galleries moving into old factory buildings in the early 2000s. However, Danks Street rapidly became a foodie destination when ‘slow food’ café and bar Danks Street Depot was established in 2002. More bars and restaurants quickly sprang up in converted factories and rustic warehouses, including the original Fratelli Fresh, as Danks Street was redefined as a cafe and dining precinct.

This legacy continues today, with bars, cafes and restaurants like Kepos Street Kitchen, Nem Kitchen, Danks Street Diner and Ora.

An homage to water: Danks Street South Precinct

Last year, Sydney City Council revealed concept plans for Danks Street South Precinct - although it has been in the works since 2017.

Bounded by Danks, Bourke, McEvoy and Morehead Streets, the precinct is part of the Green Square urban renewal area. It is set to house up to 2,500 future residents, with new streets, pedestrian and cycle links, a central park and neighbourhood pocket park, and a plaza with heritage buildings.

The Gadigal people were the first inhabitants of Waterloo and, before European settlement, the area was a diverse wetland, with streams and low scrub, dominated by the large swamp. The swamp and several creeks and dams are visible on this early map in the 1886-1888 Atlas of the Suburbs of Sydney - prior to Danks Street even being created (Bourke Street and Morehead Street are already there).

The Waterloo area continued to be an important water source even after colonisation. One of the heritage buildings referred to in the precinct plan is the Art Deco pumping station, built in the 1920s, by the Metropolitan Board of Water Supply & Sewerage, who acquired the site in 1910.

Hidden underground, this infrastructure that’s vital to Sydney’s water supply remains today. Concept designs aim to honour this heritage, while also recognising and incorporating First Nations cultures and peoples.

Danks Street today

We currently have 102/18 Danks Street, Waterloo on the market, with a price guide of $860,000 - $910,000. A stunning split-level one bedroom apartment in the award-winning Casba building, designed by SJB Architects and BKH Interiors, it offers a fabulous 77 sqm on title and luxe finishes. East Village and Green Square are both nearby, and you’re right on Danks Street, with its bars, cafes, shops and restaurants.