Photograph by Stephen Dupont showing the exterior of Tony Mundine’s Elouera Gym, 2000 (Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW, nZNW6jJn, https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/nZNW6jJn/aMQwgAXOmm2WA)
Author: Professor John Maynard
For over 33 years, Elouera Gymnasium on Redfern’s Eveleigh Street was a magnet for budding young fighters wanting to train under the guidance of one of Australia’s greatest fighters, Tony Mundine.
In 1982, the Aboriginal Housing Company submitted plans to convert the first floor of a factory building on the corner of Vine and Eveleigh streets for use as a gym.[1] The gym was opened in 1984 and a year later, a sign was installed next to the Vine Street entrance, naming it the ‘Elouera youth, fitness and recreation centre, incorporating Kids Corner and the Tony Mundine Gymnasium’.[2]
Tony Mundine started running the gym in 1984 after he retired from a stellar 15-year boxing career. Present on the day of the gym’s opening was Tony’s nine-year-old son Anthony, better known as ‘Choc’ or ‘The Man’.[3] The event must have made an impression on young Choc as he would certainly make his mark on the fight game.
Anthony Mundine was an outstanding NRL player with St George and could have been a top-class basketballer, but he finally switched to boxing and was trained by his father Tony at the Elouera gym. Anthony ‘The Man’ Mundine won 48 of 58 fights including holding three world titles the WBA super-middleweight title twice between 2003 and 2008, as well as the IBO middleweight title from 2009 to 2010, and the WBA interim super-welterweight title from 2011 to 2012.[4]
In 2017 the famous gym was forced to close its doors to make way for the Aboriginal Housing Company’s Pemulway redevelopment project. Tony Mundine reflected at the time on the gym’s closure that:
My dream was to run a gym that could be the centre not just for Aborigines but all inner-city people.[5]
In April 2019 it was announced that the formwork for the ground floor area for the Tony Mundine’s new Elouera gym and gallery had been completed as part of the Pemulwuy development project.[6] Tony Mundine’s gym in the heart of Redfern reopened in 2022.
About the author
Worimi man Professor John Maynard is a leading historian based with the Purai Global Indigenous History Centre at the University of Newcastle.
References
[1] Plan – 36-42 Eveleigh Street Redfern, renovation of first floor factory to gymnasium, 1983, City of Sydney Archives, A-00555596, https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/1421234;
File – 36-42 Eveleigh Street Redfern, use as a gymnasium – Aboriginal Housing Company, 1982-84, City of Sydney Archives, A-00231208, https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/856117;
File – 36 Eveleigh St Chippendale – Renovations of 1st floor factory to gymnasium – Aboriginal Housing Co, 1983-86), City of Sydney Archives, A-00209517, https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/835900.
[2] Plan – 36-42 Eveleigh Street Redfern, Elouera signage, 1984, City of Sydney Archives, A-00558968, https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/1419407.
[3] Murphy, Damian, ‘Tony Mundine’s iconic gym closes after long career in the ring’, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 February 2017, https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/tony-mundines-iconic-gym-closes-after-long-career-in-the-ring-20170202-gu4303.html.
[4] Anthony Mundine, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Mundine, viewed 17 July 2020.
[5] Murphy, Damian, ‘Tony Mundine’s iconic gym closes after long career in the ring’, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 February 2017, https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/tony-mundines-iconic-gym-closes-after-long-career-in-the-ring-20170202-gu4303.html.
[6] Fleming, Amanda ‘Pemulwuy – formwork completed for gym and gallery’, The South Sydney Herald, 1 October 2019, p. 1, https://southsydneyherald.com.au/pemulwuy-formwork-completed-for-gym-and-gallery.
