Chifley 2036

The suburb of Chifley in Randwick's south was named in 1964 after the inspirational wartime Treasury Minister and then Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Benedict (Ben) Chifley. Although the area is moderns, it had one of the first private houses built in the Randwick area - 1825. Many streets are associated with Australian history. 

Chifley took over the role as Prime Minister when John Curtin, exhausted and unwell, passed away shortly before the end of World War Two. Both mens' health was impacted by the toll of leading the nation during the darkest days of this long global conflict. Chifley's personal history, as a humble train driver from Bathurst, resonates with the local history of Randwick and the great general train strike of 1917 in New South Wales.  The transport workers at the Randwick Tram Depot joined this unprecedented strike in solidarity. 

Chifley grew up in Bathurst and never gave up on fighting for poor people. His advocacy for the working classes and his coining of the phrase 'hip pocket nerve' show his sensitivity to the electorate he served and his understanding of the common working people. He is quoted as saying 'I hate bloody injustice'. Much of his story still resonates today in the contemporary cost of living pressures, search for renewable energy, domestic manufacturing industries and the Australian migrant story. 

It is understandable why Randwick's local politicians honoured Chifley for his service to the Australian people, when South Matraville was subdivided in the 1960s. Chifley was then envisaged as 'the working man's suburb'. In 1961 Part of South Matraville became Hillsdale allocated to the Botany Municipality, named after Pat Hills Minister for Local Government in New South Wales.

Read Ben Chifley's official biography in the Australian Dictionary of Biography