50 Secrets of Surry Hills & Redfern

50 Secrets of Surry Hills & Redfern reveals just how vibrant local history can be—particularly in inner-city Sydney. Journalist and speechwriter Michael Bodey explores the rich history and the personal stories, oddities and peccadilloes of Redfern and Surry Hills.

Take an entertaining ride through two idiosyncratic suburbs that evolved from once scrubby grasslands to become multicultural enclaves, home to early Australian industry and spiritual home to Indigenous Australians.

Celebrate the bohemia, crime and cosmopolitan nature of suburbs that developed from the earliest land grants and feature everything from the Victoria Barracks and Centennial Park in the east to The Block in the west.

Michael will also discuss how 50 Secrets of Surry Hills & Redfern emerged from a fundraising project for Bourke Street Public School, how the project evolved and what can be learned from their novel process.