Five Dock is a suburb 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 Rive ...

of Sydney, 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. Five Dock is located 10 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the

City of Canada Bay The City of Canada Bay is a local government area in the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The city was formed on 1 December 2000, following the merger of Concord and Drummoyne councils. The city covers an area of and as at ...

Location

Five Dock lies roughly at the foot, or southern end, of the Drummoyne peninsula. More precisely, Five Dock lies between

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 ...

and the City West Link to the south and Hen & Chicken Bay, on the

Parramatta River The Parramatta River is an intermediate tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With an average depth of , the Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson. S ...

, along with the suburbs of Wareemba and Russell Lea, to the north. Its total area is . Rodd Point lies to the east. Haberfield adjoins Five Dock to the south-east.

Iron Cove Iron Cove is a bay on the Parramatta River, in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately due west of Sydney's central business district. It is surrounded by the suburbs of Birchgrove, Balmain, ...

forms a small section of the suburb's eastern boundary. Ashfield and

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extens ...

lie on the other side of

, to the south. The suburbs of Canada Bay and Concord adjoin Five Dock's western boundary. Burwood lies just beyond Croydon, to the south-west. From the heart of the shopping centre, it is approximately to the Sydney central business district, measured in a straight line from the

General Post Office The General Post Office (GPO) was the state mail, postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Before the Acts of Union 1707, it was the postal system of the Kingdom of England, established by Charles II of En ...

Martin Place Martin Place is a pedestrian mall in the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. Martin Place has been described as the "civic heart" of Sydney.

. By road, this same distance is about , depending on the route taken.

History

Origin of the name

The earliest written reference to ''Five Dock'' is in ''The Sydney Gazette'' of 3 February 1805, which mentions Five Dock Bay. All of the sources referenced are in agreement that it was derived from the shape of the bay along the

. According to a publication from the

Maritime Services Board The Maritime Services Board was a statutory authority of the Government of New South Wales responsible for marine safety, regulation of commercial and recreational boating and oversight of port operations. History The Maritime Services Board (MSB ...

, Port of Sydney, (Volume 9, No 3, September 1965), "At the NE point of the bay there were five water worn indentations that were likened to docks, hence the name Five Dock." There is widely contradictory information, however, about how many of these natural formations still exist. The Maritime Services Board publication concludes that there "are two of the five remaining". However, Eric Russell's ''Drummoyne: a western suburbs' history from 1794'' states that one was lost with the construction of the 1881

Gladesville Bridge Gladesville Bridge is a heritage-listed concrete arch road bridge that carries Victoria Road over the Parramatta River, linking the Sydney suburbs of Huntleys Point and Drummoyne, in the local government areas of Canada Bay and Hunter's Hil ...

, but "the others remain in 1982". Other sources give different numbers again.

Local names

Many Five Dock streets are named after mayors, aldermen and other associated with local government, including Charles Street, Corden Avenue, Henley Marine Drive, Hill Street, Howley Street, Ingham Avenue, Kerin Avenue, McGrath Avenue, McKinnon Avenue, Myler Street, Preston Avenue, Sutton Street, Timbrell Drive, Udall Avenue, West Street and William Street. Another series of streets is named after early landowners, subdividers and prominent local businessmen, including Ramsay Road, Taylor Street, Mitchell Street, Betts Avenue, Friend Avenue, Harris Road, Gildea Avenue and Bennett Avenue. Rickard Street, Noble Street, Heath Street and Augusta Street were named after Sir Arthur Rickard and members of his family. Rodd Road, Trevanion Street and Barnstaple Road are named after Brent Clements Rodd and members of his family. A few streets take their name from local residents, including Mackaness Close and Langsworth Way. The

Great White Fleet The Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the group of United States Navy battleships which completed a journey around the globe from December 16, 1907 to February 22, 1909 by order of President Theodore Roosevelt. Its mission was t ...

visited Sydney in August 1908 and several local

street name A street name is an identifying name given to a street or road. In toponymic terminology, names of streets and roads are referred to as hodonyms (from Greek ‘road’, and ‘name’). The street name usually forms part of the address (th ...

s recall ships in the fleet. Connecticut Avenue is named after . Illinois Street is named after . Minnesota Avenue takes its name from . New Jersey Road takes its name from . A few streets are named after prominent people: Queens Road after

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

; Garfield Avenue after

American President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United St ...

James Garfield James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881 until Assassination of James A. Garfield, his death six months latertwo months after he was shot by an as ...

, Kingsford Avenue after

Charles Kingsford Smith Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith (9 February 18978 November 1935), nicknamed Smithy, was an Australian aviation pioneer. He piloted the first transpacific flight and the first flight between Australia and New Zealand. Kingsford Smith was ...

, Bevin Avenue after

Ernest Bevin Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman, trade union leader, and Labour Party politician. He co-founded and served as General Secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union in the years 1922–19 ...

and Henry Lawson Avenue after

Henry Lawson Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial perio ...

, who lived on Great North Road briefly in 1922. The name of Coronation Avenue commemorates the

coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The coronation of George VI and his wife, Elizabeth, as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and as Emperor and Empress of India took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on Wednesday 12 May ...

Churches

St Alban's Anglican Church is a 1924

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

church, constructed of brick and stone. It is well-built church, using locally quarried stone, and remains very well preserved. It is a heritage item and is listed in the Department of the Environment and Heritage's Australian Heritage database. Significant or attractive features of the church include its interior carpentry, the

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''rank ...

(which dates from 1891 and was built by W. Davidson) and its stained glass. St Alban's rectory is on the same large site as the church, and together they form an important group. The foundations of the rectory, like those of the church, are constructed of local stone. In 2008 the church was part of an amalgamation with the Parishes of Ashfield and Haberfield, forming Christ Church Inner West Anglican Community.

Schools

All Hallows' Parish School, Domremy College, Five Dock Public School, Lucas Gardens School, Rosebank College. The foundation stone of Five Dock Public School was laid in the grounds of St Albans church in 1858, and it opened in 1861.

Domremy College Five Dock

Named after Joan of Arc's birthplace, Domremy, Domremy College is a Catholic Secondary School for girls. It is located on First Avenue, opposite Five Dock Park. The school was founded in 1911, initially having just 12 students. The school originally taught students from infants through to the end of senior school. This was later scaled back to just years 7 to 10. However, since 1985, the school has taught girls from year 7 through to year 12. The Domremy Convent group is listed on the NSW Heritage Office State Heritage Register.

Houses

Housing in Five Dock consists mainly of detached dwellings. Like many suburbs in the inner-west of Sydney, Five Dock has some well-preserved examples of Australian

Federation architecture Federation architecture is the architectural style in Australia that was prevalent from around 1890 to 1915. The name refers to the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901, when the Australian colonies collectively became the Commonwealth of ...

and California Bungalow style residences. Many of these homes have been renovated however, and have not retained all of their original features. Many dwellings in Five Dock are detached houses, frequently with generously sized gardens. According to the 2011 census, of the 3,760 dwellings in the suburb, 1,676 consist of separate houses, 472 were other types of houses and 1,228 were flats or apartments. Despite the preponderance of houses, Post-World War II development has involved a high proportion of apartment construction. Recently, several major

residential development A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family resi ...

s have been completed. An example is the 'Pendium' development in Garfield Street, which includes 102 apartments, a refurbished supermarket and the local library. Another recent example is the redevelopment of the former

EnergyAustralia EnergyAustralia (formerly TRUenergy) is an electricity generation, electricity and gas retailing private company in Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based and listed China Light and Power ( CLP Group). EnergyAustralia als ...

site in Fairlight Street into 93 unit

As of October 2005, there are a total of 51 items in the suburb that are heritage listed by the NSW Heritage Office. In addition, the skateboard track in Five Dock Park is being considered for listing as a heritage item under the State Heritage Items Project.

Commercial area

The Five Dock retail and commercial centre is made up of a long line of shops, banks, restaurants and other services which run for about along Great North Road (Australia), Great North Road in a section between Lyons Road and Queens Road. It features a high proportion of small local businesses. There are a number of shops selling Italian foods which reflects the number of residents of Italian background. The Five Dock telephone exchange is located at 190-192 Great North Road. Previously home to independent supermarket retailer, Supabarn, Coles purchased key locations from Supabarn and is now the primary supermarket in Five Dock.

Parks

Five Dock has two separate stretches of publicly accessible foreshore on the

. One of these foreshore stretches constitutes a small section of the Bay Run, a popular 7 km walking and cycling track which passes through several other suburbs along its way around

. The other foreshore area lies on Hen & Chicken Bay and Kings Bay, and features a pedestrian and

bike path A bike path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "Class III bikewa ...

leading around the bay towards Abbotsford. In addition, there are several public parks located around Five Dock, the three largest being Timbrell Park, Five Dock Park and Halliday Park. A large section of Barnwell Park Golf Course, which is owned by Canada Bay Council, is located in Five Dock. A nine-hole

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". The ...

was constructed in 1963-4, and a second nine holes was completed in 1974 with much of the course lying on

reclaimed land Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...

Timbrell Park

Timbrell Park comprises a number of multi-use sports fields and an amenities block. This field is the home ground of the Five Dock Falcons baseball team. Also located at Timbrell Park is an all abilities playground, Livvi's Place - an initiative of the

, Touched by Olivia Foundation and Leighton Contractors. Livvi's Place was developed to reduce the barriers experienced by those with special needs, and allow children of all abilities to play together, side by side. In 2010, Livvi's Place in Five Dock was named as the best play space in the country by Parks and Leisure Australia. Located outside Livvi's Place is Livvi's Cafe which opened in 2014.

Five Dock Park and Oval

Five Dock Park was the first park in the borough with 28 acres of land being purchased from the government in 1883 for 5000 pounds. It is listed on th
NSW Heritage Office State Heritage Register
and centres around The Five Dock War Memorial. The plaque at the memorial says that the foundation stone was laid in 1923. The memorial was renovated and rededicated in 1987. The park also contains a number of recreational facilities, including a large skate boarding area, a bowling club,

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be ...

s, an oval (used for junior rugby league matches and cricket), childcare facilities and an off-leash area for dogs. Originally constructed in 1979, the park's skate boarding and bmx area was extremely popular during the 1980s but gradually fell into disrepair. An article published in the Village Voice in 2002 said the National Skateboarders' Association had nominated Five Dock

skate park A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, scootering, wheelchairs, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairset ...

as one of the three worst in NSW because it was in such a poor condition, with a subsequen
article
discussing calls for its upgrade. The new skatepark opened in 2007 was built next to the 'old bowl' and was designed by Mick Mulhal

Transport

The major regional roads that run through or adjoin Five Dock include

, Lyons Road, Queens Road, Great North Road (Australia), Great North Road and the City West Link. Five Dock is connected to the city centre and surrounding suburbs by

Busways Busways is an Australian bus company operating services in Sydney, and in the Central Coast, Great Lakes, Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales and Adelaide. It is the largest privately owned bus operator in Australia. History The ori ...

and

Transit Systems Transit Systems Group is an Australian-based public transport company, which also operates overseas through its subsidiary Tower Transit Group. Transit Systems Group is a subsidiary of the Kelsian Group, formerly SeaLink Travel Group. History ...

operated bus routes.

Croydon station Croydon Station, often spelt as Croyden Station, is a pastoral lease and sheep station. Description It is located approximately south west of Port Hedland in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The property occupies an area of appro ...

was originally named Five Dock station when it opened in 1875. The name was changed to Croydon soon afterwards.

Proposed Metro Station

Five Dock is a future rapid transit station that will be built as part of the Sydney Metro West project.

Demographics

Five Dock is an established suburb with a population of 9,356 in the 2016 census. The most common reported ancestries in Five Dock were Italian 18.9%, Australian 16.1%, English 15.8%, Irish 7.7% and Chinese 5.8%. 61.9% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were Italy 8.2%, England 2.9%, China 2.8% and New Zealand 2.0%. 61.3% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Italian 13.4%, Mandarin 3.2%, Cantonese 2.4%, Greek 2.1% and Spanish 1.6%. The most common responses for religion were Catholic 43.2% and No Religion 23.3%. Like the nearby suburbs of Haberfield and Leichhardt, Five Dock has a large population of Italian immigrants. This Italian influence is reflected in several ways, for instance in the style of the suburb's restaurants, cafes and delis. Five Dock Public School has had an

Italian language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about 8 ...

teaching program since 1981 and there are local private language schools offering Italian classes. In addition, Five Dock has an annual

street festival A street fair celebrates the character of a neighborhood. As its name suggests, it is typically held on the main street of a neighborhood. The principal component of street fairs are booths used to sell goods (particularly food) or convey infor ...

called Ferragosto, based on the traditional Italian festival of the same name.

Notable residents

Jeff Fenech Jeff Fenech (born 28 May 1964) is an Australian former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2008. He won world titles in three weight divisions, having held the IBF bantamweight title from 1985 to 1987, the WBC super-bantamweight t ...

, (born 1964) boxer. * John Harris, (1754-1838) a military surgeon and magistrate, one of the first European landowners. * Thomas Henley, (1860-1935) alderman and mayor of Drummoyne who was largely responsible for the reuniting of Five Dock and Drummoyne Councils in 1902. *

Lachlan Ilias Lachlan Ilias (born 9 May 2000) is a international rugby league footballer who plays as a for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the National Rugby League (NRL). Background Ilias is of Greek and Scottish heritage . He grew up in the Sydney subu ...

, (born 2000) rugby league player * Samuel Lyons, (1798-1851) an English-born former convict who became a wealthy landowner and prominent Australian citizen, purchasing ''Five Dock Farm'' in 1838. *

Peter Dodds McCormick Peter Dodds McCormick (28 January 183330 October 1916) was an Australian schoolteacher and songwriter, known for composing the Australian national anthem, "Advance Australia Fair". He published under the pseudonym Amicus, Latin for "friend". Ea ...

, (born in Scotland, (1833-1916) -

Waverley, New South Wales Waverley is a suburb in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Waverley is located 7 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council. Waverley ...

) the composer of Australian

National anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europe ...

Advance Australia Fair "Advance Australia Fair" is the national anthem of Australia. Written by Scottish-born composer Peter Dodds McCormick, the song was first performed in 1878, sung in Australia as a patriotic song. It first replaced " God Save the Queen" as the ...

, became headmaster of Five Dock Public School in 1865. * Rex Mossop, (1928-2011) rugby union, rugby league player, and sportscaster

Politics

Five Dock is in the federal seat of Reid, an

electoral division An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

which includes the surrounding suburbs of Burwood, Concord, Drummoyne, Haberfield,

Homebush Homebush 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, in the local government area of the Municipality of Strathfield. The nam ...

Mortlake Mortlake is a suburban district of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes. Historically it was part of Surrey and until 1965 was in the Municipal Borough of Barnes. For many c ...

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

and

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 ...

. A

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

seat since its inception in 1922, it elected a Liberal member for the first time in the 2013 federal election. In the

NSW parliament The Parliament of New South Wales is a bicameral legislature in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), consisting of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (lower house) and the New South Wales Legislative Council (upper house). Each ...

, Five Dock is in the

Electoral district of Drummoyne Drummoyne is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by John Sidoti. Originally elected as a member of the Liberal Party; Sidoti stood down from the party in 2021 whilst un ...

, which is somewhat smaller than the federal division, but occupies much of the same area.

Gallery

Image:Five Dock shops old and new.jpg, Older style shops on Garfield Street with new development in the background. Image:Great North Road, Five Dockl, NSW, Australia, Towards Parramatta Road.JPG, Great North Road, view to Parramatta Road Image:FiveDock Continentaldeli.jpg, Italian deli on Great North Road Image:FiveDockWarMemorial.jpg,

War Memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

in Five Dock Park Image:FiveDockSkateBowl.jpg, The skate bowl in Five Dock Park Image:Iron Cove Creek at Timbrell Park, Five Dock.jpg,

Iron Cove Creek Iron Cove Creek (also known as Dobroyd Stormwater Channel), a southern tributary of the Parramatta River, is an urban stream west of Sydney Harbour, located in the inner-western Sydney suburbs of Croydon, Ashfield, Haberfield and Five Dock in ...

at Timbrell Park Image:FiveDockFerrogosto.jpg, Ferragosto Festival street stalls