Strathfield South is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

, 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 States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the state of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, 13 kilometres west of the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, 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 ...

, in the Strathfield local government area. The area was historically part of Druitt Town. Later it was part of Enfield, until Enfield Council was absorbed into Strathfield and Burwood councils, after which the part within Strathfield council was renamed Strathfield South. North Strathfield and Strathfield are separate suburbs, to the north. Strathfield South is located between Liverpool Road (

Hume Highway The Hume Highway, including the sections now known as the Hume Freeway and the Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in the northeast. Upgrading of t ...

) and the

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

, bordered on the east by Coronation Parade and to the west by the Enfield Marshalling Yards.

History

Most of Strathfield South is located on two early land grants – the 1808 grant to James Wilshire (later known as the Redmire Estate) and the 1837 grant to Father John Joseph Therry, which became the Village of St Anne's. Wilshhire's grant was subdivided in 1867 and marketed as the 'Redmire Estate'. Roads in Strathfield South such as Dean Street and Water Street were established in this subdivision. A few early Victorian and Federation style homes survive from this early period of development. Father John Joseph Therry was granted in March 1837. To finance the building of the original St. Anne's Church (foundation stone laid July 1841) Father Therry offered blocks for £25, but insufficient money being available, a further 134 allotments were offered for sale in 1854 and the streets of the subdivision named after Saints or dignitaries of the Church. St Anne's Church is listed on the

New South Wales State Heritage Register The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...

. The area around St Anne's Village and to the west of Cooks River was locally known as Bark Huts. Bark Huts was a hotel on Liverpool Road, halfway between Sydney and Liverpool, and a small settlement was established around the hotel. The Village of St Anne's and the southern part of the Redmire Estate became known as Druitt Town. This name was given to the area by Joshua Judge Josephson, who owned large areas of land in the area, in honour of his friend Major George Druitt. Druitt Town Public School opened in 1881. In 1885, the part of Druitt Town north of Liverpool Road (including the school) became part of the newly incorporated Strathfield Council, after which addressed in that part of Druitt Town became listed under "Strathfield" in directories. This area is now the southern part of the suburb of Strathfield. Druitt Town public school was renamed Strathfield South Public School. Enfield Coronation Parade

The remaining part of Druitt Town became part of Enfield Municipal Council in 1889, shortly after which "Druitt Town" ceased to be used: addresses in the suburb instead became listed under the suburb of Enfield. The Druitt Town post office was moved to Enfield. The area was reincorporated into Strathfield Municipality in 1949, after which Strathfield Council renamed the part of former Enfield Municipality between Liverpool Road and the Cooks River as "Strathfield South". Former Enfield Town Hall and the associated war memorial are now located in Strathfield South. Coronation Reserve forms the border between Strathfield South and the suburb of Enfield, and was formerly the site of a tram line that led north to Burwood and Abbotsford and south to Croydon Park and then to Ashfield. In 2021, a proposal was submitted to the Geographical Names Board, to separate the northern part of Belfield which was within the

Municipality of Strathfield The Municipality of Strathfield is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the inner west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The municipality was incorporated on 2 June 1885. The council area was made up of ...

(north of Punchbowl Road) from the southern part within the

City of Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown Council, trading as the City of Canterbury Bankstown and stylised as CBCity, is a Local government areas of New South Wales, local government area in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Th ...

. Under this proposal, northern Belfield would form part of Strathfield South, from which it was separated by the

. This was approved in 2023.

Heritage listings

South Strathfield has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * St Anne's Square: St Anne's Roman Catholic Church, South Strathfield

Population

In the 2021 Census, there were 3,636 people in Strathfield South. 50.1% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were China 7.5%, India 6.2%, Sri Lanka 4.3%, South Korea 3.9% and Italy 2.2%. 40.0% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 7.2%, Cantonese 6.5%, Arabic 5.6%, Tamil 5.4% and Korean 5.2%. The most common responses for religion were Catholic 30.5%, No Religion 21.0% and Hinduism 10.7%.

Commercial area, schools, churches and parklands

South is primarily low-rise residential with a small group of shops located around the intersection of Liverpool Road and Homebush Road. The first high-rise development has now been built on the Hume Highway. The part of the suburb west and south of the Cooks River is entirely industrial, and includes the large Enfield Intermodal Logistics Centre. The industrial part of the suburb is separated from the residential suburb by the Cooks River and parklands. The Catholic parish of St Anne's is located in St Anne's Square. Strathfield South Uniting Church is in Liverpool Road. St Anne's Catholic Primary School is located in Strathfield South. The suburb is also serviced by two other schools located outside the suburb: Strathfield South Public School and Strathfield South High School. Founded as Druitt Town Public School, Strathfield South Public School is the

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

primary (grades K-6) school which services the area formerly known as Druitt Town: now Strathfield South and the southern part of the suburb of Strathfield. With over 125 years of history, the motto of Strathfield South Public School is ''Think of Others''. Strathfield South High School is the public secondary (grades 7–12) school, whose catchment includes Strathfield South, the southern part of Strathfield, as well as the northern part of Greenacre and Belfield. Neither school is in Strathfield South itself: both are situated on the southern edge of the suburb of Strathfield. Leigh College was from 1915 until 1974 a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

Theological College located at 416-420

Liverpool Road Liverpool Road is a street in Islington, North London. It covers a distance of between Islington High Street and Holloway Road, running roughly parallel to Upper Street through the area of Barnsbury. It contains several attractive Terraced ho ...

. It was the successor to the Wesleyan Theological Institution.Former Leigh College
Retrieved 15 April 2017. The site is now used by the Australian International Academy, an Islamic school. The area is well serviced by parks such as Ford Park, Dean Reserve and St Anne's Reserve, which runs along the Cooks River. The Bay to Bay Cycle/Walking Path, which runs between

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal language, Dharawal: ''Kamay'') is an open oceanic embayment, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point a ...

and

Homebush Bay Homebush Bay is a bay on the south bank of the Parramatta River, in the west of Sydney, Australia. The name is also sometimes used to refer to an area to the west and south of the bay itself, which was formerly an official suburb of Sydney, a ...

(Sydney Olympic Park) runs through Strathfield South, along the Cooks River.

Gallery

Strathfield South 1.JPG, St Anne's Catholic Church Strathfield South Uniting Church.JPG, Strathfield South Uniting Church Strathfield South 2.JPG, St Anne's Hall Druitt Town Public School Plan, 1879 (3901874287).jpg, Strathfield South Public School was opened in 1881 as Druitt Town Public School

References

*''The Book of Sydney Suburbs'', Compiled by Frances Pollen, Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1990, Published in Australia {{Sydney Strathfield suburbs Suburbs of Sydney Inner West Municipality of Strathfield