Carriageworks

We commission Australian and International artists to make monumental new work that intersects with contemporary ideas. Reflecting the diverse communities of urban Sydney, our artist-led program is ambitious, radical and always inclusive.

Carriageworks was built between 1880 and 1889 as part of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops. By the 1900s several thousand people worked here, building and maintaining locomotive engines and carriages for the expanding rail network. Those workers shaped the development of our city for over 100 years.

The Carriageworks site was one of the first places to employ Aboriginal people on an equal basis. It is also the place where generations of new migrants were first employed. In 1917, it was within these walls that the Great Strike started, which saw thousands of workers march on NSW Parliament and, through sheer power in numbers, shut it down.

In 2007, the site was redeveloped as a cultural precinct. Today, Carriageworks is the most significant multi-arts centre in Australia.