Villawood, New South Wales

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Villawood is a residential suburb in south-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The suburb is generally divided between the two local government areas of Bankstown and Fairfield. Some neigbhouring suburbs include Yagoona, Guildford and Carramar.

It is a relatively obscure suburb, with its name often associated with the notoriety of the similarly named detention centre (see below).

1 History
2 Demographic and social distribution
3 Infrastructure
4 Villawood Detention Centre
5 External links

[edit] History

It is known that the Indigenous tribe of Gandangara once lived in the area. European settlement began in the early 1840s, and the train station of Woodville was constructed to service the area in the 1920s. Unfortunately, there was confusion with the Woodville, in Newcastle, and thus the syllables were reformed into 'Villawood'. During the 1860's, Villawood was used as pastoral land, but it was overall with wild and rabid dogs. Woodville Road, which runs through Villawood, was once named Dog Trap Road, due to the fact that many farmers set dog traps for these wild dogs.

[edit] Demographic and social distribution

It is an ethnically diverse suburb, typical of south western Sydney suburbs. There is a predominantly Vietnamese, and increasing Lebanese community in Villawood. There is also Pacific Islanders, Eastern Europeans and some British in the suburb. Around 35.5% of the citizens come from non-English speaking backgrounds.

According to the 2001 census, by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the population declined slightly from around 4,007 to 3,328. Villawood has a high proportion of young children aged 5-11 and seniors over 65.

A majority of residential dwellings are government housing and villas. Unemployment is high, with more than a third of households earning only $400 AUD per week. Nearly 50% of residents live below the average income of Sydney.

This is relatively typical of most south western suburbs in Sydney.

[edit] Infrastructure

Villawood has several public buildings, including the Wran Leisure Centre (named after Neville Wran), which has pools, a gym and tennis courts. There are also day and community centres, two schools, and several Christian churches. Recently, new buildings have been built for the Sacred Heart Primary school, to replace the outdated and dilapidated buildings of the old school.

Villawood Place was once a major business place, serving the surrounding areas. When the construction of Bass Hill Plaza finished, and its doors opened, the local businesses went into decline, leaving a legacy of abandoned shop fronts and buildings, including the abandoned Franklins and large Australia Post office.

There has been rejuvenation and renovation of Woodville (Villawood) Place, with construction of the new Aldi supermarket, a bakery, chemists, grocers and other shops. It is located in proximity to Villawood train station, owned by CityRail. There is also a new business park, which currently holds enterprises concerning hardware products, furniture, auto parts and second-hand goods.

[edit] Villawood Detention Centre

It is home to Villawood Immigration Detention Centre, a detention facility used in the processing of asylum seekers.

[edit] External links

Coordinates: -33.88617° 150.97883°

Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Street Directory, MSN Maps and Multimap.
- Satellite image from Google Maps, WikiMapia and Terraserver.
The Immigration Departments Website on Villawood
The Fairfield City Council Website
Bankstown City Council Community Profile

Suburbs and localities within the City of Bankstown \| South-western Sydney \| Sydney
Bankstown \| Bass Hill \| Birrong \| Chester Hill \| Chullora \| Condell Park \| East Hills \| Georges Hall \| Greenacre \| Milperra \| Mount Lewis \| Padstow \| Padstow Heights \| Panania \| Picnic Point \| Potts Hill \| Punchbowl \| Revesby \| Revesby Heights \| Sefton \| Villawood \| Yagoona
List of Sydney suburbs