Newtown street art: Can I do a Sydney street art tour?

Forget the CBD – if you want to see street art in Sydney, you’ll find it in the Inner West around Newtown. Culture Scouts runs Sydney street art tours for the uninitiated, including works by Ox King, Will Coles and the Goddard Street Gallery.

Unlike Melbourne, where the city centre laneways are heavily doused in street art, Sydney’s CBD is relatively mural-free. That doesn’t mean that you can’t see street art in Australia’s largest city, though. You just have to look elsewhere.

Street art in Sydney’s Inner West

The inner western suburbs are where Sydney’s cultural heart beats. The Chippendale neighbourhood is fashionably hip and heavily-promoted. But arts organisations, indie cafés, bookstores and theatres cluster around the Newtown, Enmore and Marrickville.

The Inner West is the best place in Sydney to see street art. Sydney street art doesn’t cluster as well as it does in Melbourne’s laneways, but there are several excellent murals. Many top Inner West murals can be found within a short walk of Newtown Station.

The Inner West Council has actively embraced street art, and runs the Perfect Match programme to encourage it. This scheme puts Inner West homeowners who want murals on their outside walls in touch with street artists. In most cases, the resulting work adds value to the house, so it’s a win-win for everyone.

Newtown Graffiti Map is a useful site for identifying the locations of the best street art in Sydney, although it could do with updating. A lot of the street art spills into neighbouring Erskineville, Camperdown and Enmore, too.

Newtown street art tours

Alternatively, Culture Scouts runs Newtown street art tours. Costing $65, these two hour walking tours take in several of the best Newtown street art stencils and murals. Guides also explain the techniques and styles of some of the artists. Ox King, for example, does everything on Photoshop first. Will Coles, meanwhile, leaves little pop art-meets-conceptual sculptures lying around.

If there’s one Sydney street that has the mass concentration of street art that can be seen in Melbourne’s laneways, it’s Goddard Street. The ‘Goddard Street Gallery’ shows off work gallery-style – works are contained within frames. Make that your starting point if you want to see street art in Sydney.

More reasons to venture away from Sydney Harbour

Frank Gehry architecture in Ultimo

Chin Chin restaurant in Surry Hills.

Cheap accommodation in Sydney caravan parks.

Snorkelling at Clovelly Beach.

The Bondi to Coogee Clifftop Walk from Bondi Beach.