Newtown is classic example of an inner Sydney suburb transformation from working class to a trendy cosmopolitan one, the narrow backstreets and driveways with parked BMWs instead of Holdens.
Sydney University
Sydney University is nearby, so the whole place has the atmosphere of a University town, mixed with upcoming DINKs, students, punks, goths and newer migrants from many parts of the world - and a favourite with budding artists and writers.
King St Newtown
The main drag, King Street, has speciality shops, some great bookshops, a number of excellent restaurants and numerous cafe’s and eateries.
There are also vintage fashion shops, music stores, antique and import shops.
St Stephen’s Church
At St Stephen’s Church by Camperdown Park, there is a cemetery dating back to the 1800s. The church itself is made of sandstone with a stone steeple, small but towering.
Dunbar Shipwreck
In the graveyard, there are buried the remains of many notable stalwarts of early Sydney and in a mass grave tomb, the vicims of the Dunbar and the Catherine Adamson shipwreck tragedies of 1857.
"Within this tomb were deposited by direction of the government of New South Wales, such remains as could be discovered of the passengers and crew who perished in the Dunbar and Catherine Adamson. The former of which was driven ashore and foundered when approaching the entrance of Port Jackson (now called Sydney Harbour) on the night of the 20th August, the latter after entering this port on the morning of the 24th October AD 1857."
These two tragic events, only weeks apart and costing some 121 lives with only 1 survivor, prompted the building of the lightower now seen on South Head, found just further north of Bondi Beach. See more about Bondi Beach.
Visitors
Visitors are welcome to visit the Camperdown Cemetery during daylight hours and a Memorial Ceremony is held once a year at St. Stephen’s Church.
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