Arncliffe, New South Wales
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See also Arncliffe for the village in North Yorkshire, England.
| Arncliffe
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| Local Government Area: | City of Rockdale | ||||||||||||
| Established: | 1840 | ||||||||||||
| Postcode: | 2205 | ||||||||||||
| Population: | 9,440 Census | ||||||||||||
| Population Density: | 2,622/Km2 | ||||||||||||
| Area: | 3.6 Km2 Census | ||||||||||||
| Median property value: | $504,000 Domain (1 September 2006) |
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| Location: | Sydney, NSW | ||||||||||||
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Arncliffe is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Arncliffe is located 11km south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Rockdale. Arncliffe is part of the St George area. The postcode is 2205.
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[edit] Location
Arncliffe is located south of the Cooks River and Wolli Creek. It features a mix of mostly low density houses, some medium density blocks of flats and some commercial and light industrial developments. Princes Highway runs north towards the city and south towards Rockdale and Kogarah. Other main roads through the suburb include Forest Road and Wollongong Road which run south towards Hurstville.
[edit] Commercial Area
Arncliffe's main shopping centre is centred around Firth Street and Belmore Street, beside Arncliffe railway station. It also extends part of the way along Forest Road. Shops are also scattered along the length of Wollongong Road towards Bexley. Commercial and light industrial developments are located in the northern parts of the suburb and along the length of the Princes Highway and surrounding streets.
[edit] Transport
Arncliffe railway station is on the Illawarra line. The station is serviced by an 'all stations' service between Bondi junctions and Hurstville. Arncliffe is also serviced by the 471 government bus route which runs from Rockdale, Bexley, Arncliffe, Turrella, Earlwood, Canterbury, Ashbury, Ashfield, Haberfield, Rodd Point, and Five Dock.
[edit] Politics
- Federal Government: Arncliffe is in the Division of Barton in the Australian House of Representatives.
- State government: Arncliffe is in the Electoral district of Rockdale in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.
- Local Government: Arncliffe is in the local government area of the City of Rockdale.
[edit] History
Arncliffe's name comes from a small village called Arncliffe in North Yorkshire, England. The name appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, as 'Arneclif', meaning Eagle Cliff.
Ron Rathbone in his book "A Village Called Arncliffe" says that an early land speculator, William Hirst, created a subdivision in 1840. It was named The Village of Arncliffe Estate. William Hirst was born in Settle, Yorkshire. Settle is a market town serving a cluster of villages, of which Arncliffe is reputed to be the prettiest. Rathbone says it is likely that Hirst gave Arncliffe its name, although it was more than two decades before it received official recognition.
[edit] Aboriginal Culture
The original inhabitants of the area were the Gweagal clan of the Dharug people. Valleys of local creeks, Wolli Creek and Bardwell Creek contain evidence of Aboriginal presence in smoke-blackened caves.
[edit] European Settlement
Captain James Cook arrived in Botany Bay in 1770. He travelled up the Cooks River and then Wolli Creek on the 3rd May 1770. Eighteen years later when the First Fleet arrived in Botany Bay, Arthur Phillip was not impressed with the bay for settlement and decided to transfer the site of the settlement to Port Jackson.
Reuben Hannam, a brickmaker, was granted 100 acres of land in 1825 along the banks of Wolli Creek. His son, David Hannam, obtained a 60 acre grant near the Cooks River in 1833 directly behind the Tempe estate. Alexander Brodie Spark (1792-1856) purchased the estate on the Cooks River in 1826 and built Tempe House in 1828. This part of the suburb is today known as Wolli Creek. Later, both Rocky Point Road and Forest Road ran through Hannam's grant.
Originally, Arncliffe Hill was known as Cobbler's Hill and the area became the vegetable garden for Sydney. When Hannam's land was subdivided, many new small holdings became farms, spreading towards Black Creek or Muddy Creek. Allotments in the village of Arncliffe were between 10 and 20 acres. In 1843, newspaper advertisements declared that there was 'money to be made by woodcutters and farming men and persons about Cook's River'. In 1856 another subdivision, Tempe, was described as being close to the village of Arncliffe, described as having "all the characteristics of an English village, being beautifully situated amidst quiet rural scenery, spotted here and there with neat cottages which charm the eye with their pretty, well trimmed gardens, perfect pictures of competence and content".
Athelstane, owned by W.G. Judd, was a notable home in the district. The large house gave its name to the avenue it was built on and later became the site of Athelstane Public School. Another main street, Barden Street, was named after Frederick Barden whose house, Highbery Heights, stood nearby. Arncliffe had many grand and gracious Victorian era houses. Too many have been demolished, or fallen into disrepair, been subdivided and so on, but in the most recent years there has been some attempts to preserve these as part of local heritage. Two-storey semi-detached dwellings, Gladstone and Wentworth on Forest Road, were built by Hurstville builder Robert Newell for rental to 'well to do' tenants. Dappeto on Wollongong Road was once a mansion, a home for children and now part of a Salvation Army nursing home and retirement village.
The railway line which cut through Arncliffe Hill opened in 1884. The name of the district engineer for railways T.K. Firth is reflected in Firth Street which runs parallel to the railway line. Over the years, Arncliffe has hosted a stinking boiling-down works (1870s), a sewerage farm (1886-1916) and various factories and workshops throughout the 20th century, particularly after WW2. These included the Streets Ice Cream factory and Fontana Films, where the film "Jedda" was produced. Many of the sequences were shot in Arncliffe. Both Streets and Fontana have now closed.
[edit] Multicultural Heritage
Original settlers in the area included British, Irish and Chinese from the goldfields and Germans who tended their vegetable gardens. In the early days, Germans represented the largest non-Anglo-Saxon migrant group in Australia.
From the 1960s Arncliffe has become home to many immigrants from around the world. The first wave included Greeks and Italians who began moving south from Sydney's inner-city suburbs. In 1963, after an earthquake devastated much of Macedonia in northern Greece and southern Yugoslavia, more southern European families arrived. From the early 1970s they were joined by many families from Lebanon, who sought asylum from the civil wars and ongoing conflict in the Middle East and Lebanon. Sixty percent of Arncliffe's residents now come from backgrounds other than the predominantly Anglo-Saxon and Irish origins of the earlier immigrants.
Arncliffe hosts much evidence of the diversity of its population, including architectural styles ranging from Victorian through Federation era cottages to latter day "statement mansions". The Al-Zahra mosque is an important feature of the community, as is the recently established olive grove in an area known as 'Bardwell Valley'. It is in recognition of the contribution made to the City of Rockdale by citizens who have their origins in Greece.
[edit] Wolli Creek and Bardwell Valley
Arncliffe also borders an extremely important piece of remnant bushland, the Wolli Creek Valley, beside Wolli Creek. There have been very active movements fighting for its preservation in the face of demands for land. The most successful of these prevented the building of a tollway through the valley, resulting in the road being built as a tunnel under the valley. Nevertheless, community concern remains over what is seen as the release of unfiltered particle pollution from exhaust emissions into the atmosphere in the Bardwell Valley.
Another community issue is the high-density housing development occurring around the new Wolli Creek railway station, formerly known as North Arncliffe. Wolli Creek was officially declared a suburb in 2002.
Bardwell Valley was originally a locality beside Bardwell Creek, in the suburb of Bardwell Park. The valley was famous for its golf course and golf club. Bardwell Valley became a new suburb in 1996, formed from parts of Arncliffe that border the valley. Bardwell Park was named after free settler Thomas Hill Bardwell who owned land in the area.
[edit] Churches
Arncliffe features a few landmark churches and mosques. St Davids Anglican Church and St Francis Xaviers Catholic Church are located high on Forest Road, which makes them visible from great distances. St Marks Coptic Orthodox Church is located on Wollongong Road, opposite Arncliffe Park. Al-Zahra Mosque is further north on Wollongong Road beside the railway line. The Arncliffe Uniting Church is in Hannam Street and the Masjid Darul Imaan Mosque is on Eden Street.
[edit] Schools
Arncliffe Public School is located on the corner of Avenal Street and the Princes Highway. Athelstane Public School is located on Wollongong Road. Arncliffe West Infants School on Loftus Street is technically now located in the suburb of Turrella. St Francis Xavier's Catholic School sits beside the church on Forest Road and Al-Zahra College is next to the mosque on Wollongong Road.
[edit] Parks
Arncliffe Park is the home ground for local teams playing Cricket, Rugby League and Soccer. Cahill Park and Barton Park also provide a number of recreational facilities. Arncliffe War Memorial is located in the middle of Arncliffe Park. Other Parks and recreational facilities include Cahill Park, Barton Park, Kogarah Golf Course.
[edit] Entertainment
Arncliffe has a number of small social venues including Arncliffe Hotel, Arncliffe RSL, Arncliffe Scots Sports & Social Club and Kogarah Golf Club.
[edit] Landmarks
- Arncliffe Railway Station on Firth Street.
- Arncliffe Fire Station on West Botany Street.
- Arncliffe Library on Firth Street.
[edit] External links
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- Street map from Street Directory, MSN Maps and Multimap.
- Satellite image from Google Maps, WikiMapia and Terraserver.
[edit] References
- The Book of Sydney Suburbs, Compiled by Frances Pollen, Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1990, Published in Australia ISBN 0-207-14495-8
- Pictorial Memories ST. GEORGE: Rockdale, Kogarah, Hurstville Joan Lawrence, Kingsclear Books, 1996, Published in Australia ISBN 0-908272-45-6
- A Village Called Arncliffe by Ron Rathbone, Wild and Woolley, 1997, Published in Australia ISBN 0-646-32627-9
| Suburbs and localities within the City of Rockdale | St George | Sydney |
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Arncliffe | Banksia | Bardwell Park | Bardwell Valley | Bexley | Bexley North | Brighton-Le-Sands | Dolls Point | Kingsgrove | Kogarah | Kyeemagh | Monterey | Ramsgate | Ramsgate Beach | Rockdale | Sandringham | Sans Souci | Sydney International Airport | Turrella | Wolli Creek |
| List of Sydney suburbs |
