Lewisham is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separ ...

in the

Inner West The Inner West of Sydney is an area directly west of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. The suburbs that make up the Inner West are predominantly located along the southern shore of Port Jackson (Parramatta River ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

, in the state of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. Lewisham is located 7 kilometres south-west of the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or city centre is often referr ...

, in the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

of Inner West Council. The postcode is 2049. Lewisham is surrounded by the suburbs of Petersham,

Dulwich Hill Dulwich Hill is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 7.5 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Inner West Council. Dulwich Hill ...

, Summer Hill, Haberfield and

Leichhardt Leichhardt may refer to: * Division of Leichhardt, electoral District for the Australian House of Representatives * Leichhardt Highway, a highway of Queensland, Australia * Leichhardt Way, an Australian road route * Leichhardt, New South Wales, inn ...

History

Lewisham took its name in 1834 from the estate of Joshua Frey Josephson, a German-born businessman who would later become mayor of

. The estate was named after the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

borough of

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in the London Plan as one ...

, which means Leofsa's village or manor. The original residents of the Lewisham area were the

Cadigal The Cadigal, also spelled as Gadigal and Caddiegal, are a group of Indigenous people whose traditional lands are located in Gadi, on Eora country, the location of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Gadigal originally inhabited the area tha ...

clan of the

Darug The Dharug or Darug people, formerly known as the Broken Bay tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian people, who share strong ties of kinship and, in pre-colonial times, lived as skilled hunters in family groups or clans, scattered throughout much ...

tribe. Artefacts found near the

Cooks River The Cooks River, a semi-mature tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, is a tributary of Botany Bay, located in south-eastern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The course of the long urban waterway has been altered to accommodate various deve ...

indicate at least 7,000 years of habitation in the local area. When the

First Fleet The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command o ...

arrived in 1788, the settlers set up camp in the middle of Cadigal territory. While the first governor

Arthur Phillip Admiral Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first governor of the Colony of New South Wales. Phillip was educated at Greenwich Hospital School from June 1751 until ...

tried to establish cordial relations with the Cadigals and their neighbours, the two groups were competing for the same food sources and tensions inevitably developed. In 1789, a

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

epidemic wiped out the majority of the Cadigals. By 1809, all the land within Lewisham had been granted.

Heritage listings

Lewisham has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Great Southern and Western railway: Long Cove Creek railway viaducts, Lewisham * The Boulevarde: Lewisham Sewer Vent * over Long Cove Creek: Lewisham Sewage Aqueduct

Transport

Lewisham railway station Lewisham is a National Rail and Docklands Light Railway station in Lewisham, south-east London which first opened in 1849. On the National Rail network it is measured from and is operated by Southeastern.SoutheasternStation facilities: Lewish ...

is on the

Inner West & Leppington Line The Inner West & Leppington Line (numbered T2, coloured light blue) is a commuter rail service currently operated by Sydney Trains, serving the inner west and south-western regions of Sydney, Australia. Consisting of 37 stops, the service comm ...

of the

Sydney Trains Sydney Trains is the operator of the suburban passenger rail network serving the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The network is a hybrid urban-suburban rail system with a central underground core that covers over of track and 170 ...

network. This provides access to the city, the interchange station of

Strathfield Strathfield is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the Municipality of Strathfield. A smal ...

and the commercial centres of Burwood, Newtown and

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

. Lewisham is notable in railway history as the termination point for the first train journey in the NSW colony in 1855, although the railway station was not built until 1885. The whipple

truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

over Long Cove Creek was constructed 1885-1886 featuring North American technology developed by Squire Whipple. It is probably the most significant railway bridge site in Australia, certainly in NSW. It has the unique distinction of four different types of bridges from different eras.

Engineers Australia Engineers Australia (EA) is an Australian professional body and not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to advance the science and practice of engineering for the benefit of the community. Engineers Australia is Australia's recognized org ...

designated the Viaduct in 1994 as an historic engineering marker. There are two stations serving Lewisham on the

Inner West Light Rail The Inner West Light Rail is a light rail line in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, running from Central railway station through the Inner West to Dulwich Hill and serving 23 stops. It is the original line of the Sydney light rail network ...

. These are Lewisham West, adjacent to the former flour mill on the border with Summer Hill, and Taverners Hill, near

Parramatta Road Parramatta Road is the major historical east-west artery of metropolitan Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, connecting the Sydney CBD with Parramatta. It is the easternmost part of the Great Western Highway. Since the 1990s its role has been a ...

. Access to the city is quicker by conventional train, but the light rail may be used for some cross-regional journeys. It also interchanges with

Dulwich Hill railway station Dulwich Hill railway station is located on the Bankstown line, serving the Sydney suburb of Dulwich Hill. It is served by Sydney Trains T3 Bankstown line services. History Dulwich Hill station opened on 1 February 1895 as Wardell Road when ...

on the

Bankstown Line The Bankstown Line (numbered T3, coloured orange) is a commuter rail line operated by Sydney Trains in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It serves Canterbury-Bankstown and parts of the Inner West and Western Sydney. The Bankstown railway ...

. The 413 bus service, between Campsie and the city, cuts through the middle of Lewisham and provides an interchange with the railway station. Several bus services (461 - Burwood to the city, 480 & 483 - Strathfield to the city) run along Parramatta Road. These interchange with the Taverners Hill stop. The other bus corridor is along New Canterbury Rd. This is served by the 428/L28 from

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of t ...

to the city via Newtown and route 445 from Campsie to Balmain.Sydney Inner West/South Guide
Transit Systems

Schools

A Trinity Grammar School Infants School was opened in February 2006 at 5 Thomas Street, Lewisham. The site was formerly

Saint Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...

Primary School A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

which was founded in 1855 by the Sisters of Mercy. The school was originally for girls but became co-ed in the 1950s. Christian Brothers' High School is located on 58 - 61 The Boulevarde. Lewisham Public School is located on 71 The Boulevarde Lewisham. Petersham Public School is on the border of Lewisham and Petersham, the John Berne School (formerly the Berne Education Centre) and the Catholic Intensive English Centre are located on the site of the former St Thomas Boys High School, which closed in 1997.

Churches

Saint Thomas Becket's

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

church is located in Thomas Street. The current priest is Fr. Gerald Gleeson. The Servants of Mary Help of Christians operated its Marian Centre from St Thomas Becket Primary School Hall. It is now at 2 Missenden Rd CAMPERDOWN NSW 2049, operating from St. Joseph's church. Lewisham is also the home of the Maternal Heart of Mary Latin Mass Parish, a Personal Parish for the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, of which Fr Duncan Wong FSSP is the Parish Priest. The church is situated behind St Thomas Becket's, on Charles O'Neill Way.

Population

Demographics

Lewisham's population was shown as 3,164 in the and had risen to 4,060 in the 2021 census. According to the , Lewisham had a population of 2927. The character of its population was different from neighbouring suburbs, by having a smaller proportion of residents born overseas. After Australia, the most common countries of birth were

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

(4.0%), New Zealand (2.5%) and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

(1.8%). There were also a reasonable number of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

(3.2%), and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

(2.3%) speakers, who were the most common languages in the area after English.

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

numbered 32 people (1.1%) which was less than the state and national figures. The population had a greater proportion of people in de facto relationships and a smaller proportion of people in registered marriages than the New South Wales and Australian figures. It had a greater proportion of people stating that they had no religion (33.4%) but fewer Anglicans (9.5%) than the state and national figures, while the proportion of Roman Catholics (25.9%) was lower than New South Wales (27.5%) but slightly higher than the national figures (25.3%).

Notable residents

Clive Caldwell Clive Robertson Caldwell, (28 July 1911 – 5 August 1994) was the leading Australian air ace of World War II. He is officially credited with shooting down 28.5 enemy aircraft in over 300 operational sorties, including an ace in a day. In addit ...

(1910–1994),

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

air ace *

Les Haylen Leslie Clement "Les" Haylen (23 September 1898 – 12 September 1977), also known by the pen-name Sutton Woodfield, was an Australian politician, playwright, novelist and journalist. Early life Haylen was born on 23 September 1898 at Gundaroo ...

(1898–1977), author and politician, he was the local federal member of parliament from 1943-1963. * John Shand (1897–1959), prominent Sydney barrister from the 1920s to the 1950s who took on a number of very high-profile cases of the day. * Mother Xavier (1870–1938) who was head of the Little Company of Mary (1899–1929) which ran Lewisham Hospital and helped make it one of the top hospitals in Sydney.Lynch, Annie [Mother Xavier] (1870–1938) Biographical Entry - Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
/ref> * Patrick Joseph Hartigan, Australian bush poet, who wrote under the pseudonym "John O'Grady". * Percy Hordern (1864–1926), a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council died in Lewisham.

References

External links

CC-By-SA A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyric ...

]
Inner West Council - History of Suburbs.
{{Coord, -33.8949, 151.144415, format=dms, type:city_region:AU-NSW, display=title Suburbs of Sydney Inner West