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Lewisham
Sydney

New South Wales, Australia

LewishamNSWAerial1930s
Aerial photograph of Lewisham in the 1930s showing from left, the railway line, Lewisham Hospital and Petersham Park
Population: 2,761 (2006 census) [1]
Postcode: 2049
Location: 8 km (5 mi) west of Sydney CBD
LGA: Marrickville Council
State District: Marrickville
Federal Division: Grayndler
Suburbs around Lewisham:
Haberfield Leichhardt Leichhardt
Summer Hill Lewisham Petersham
Dulwich Hill Dulwich Hill Marrickville


Lewisham is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lewisham is located 8 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Marrickville Council. The postcode is 2049. Lewisham is surrounded by the suburbs of Petersham, Dulwich Hill, Summer Hill, Haberfield and Leichhardt.

History[]

Lewisham took its name in 1834 from the estate of Joshua Frey Josephson, a German-born businessman who would later become mayor of Sydney.[2] The estate was named it after the London borough of Lewisham, which means Leofsa's village or manor.[3]

The original residents of the Lewisham area were the Cadigal clan of the Darug tribe. Artefacts found near the Cooks River indicate at least 7,000 years of habitation in the local area.[4] After the First Fleet arrived in 1788, they set up camp in the middle of Cadigal territory. While the first governor Arthur Phillip endeavoured 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 epidemic developed and wiped out the majority of the Cadigals.[5] By 1809, all the land within Lewisham had been granted.

Transport[]

Future site of the Lewisham West light rail station showing the Mungo Scott flour mill on the right and industrial buildings on the left
Future site of the Lewisham West light rail station
Lewisham Railway Station platform
Lewisham Railway Station

Lewisham railway station is on the Inner West line of the CityRail network. This provides access to the city, the interchange station of Strathfield and the commercial centres of Burwood and Newtown.

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 over Long Cove Creek was constructed 1885-1886 featuring North American technology developed by Squire Whipple.[6] 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 designated the Viaduct in 1994 as an historic engineering marker.

The Metropolitan Goods railway line also runs through the suburb, passing beneath the bridge over Long Cove Creek. The line is currently disused, but it is to be utilised to extend the current light rail service that runs from Central Station to Lilyfield through to Dulwich Hill.[7][8] There will be two new stations serving Lewisham. These are - Lewisham West (adjacent to the former flour mill on the border with Summer Hill) and Taverners Hill (near Parramatta Road). Access to the city will be quicker by train, but the light rail may be used for some cross-regional journeys. It will also interchange with Dulwich Hill railway station on the Bankstown Line.

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 Rd. These will interchange with the Taverners Hill stop. The other bus corridor is along New Canterbury Rd. This is served by the 428/L28 from Canterbury to the city via Newtown and the 444/445 from Campsie to Balmain.[9]

Schools[]

Trinity Grammar School formerly Saint Thomas à Becket Primary School, is located on 5 Thomas Street, Lewisham and was founded in 1855 by the Australian Christian Brothers. 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 Saint Thomas à Becket High School.

Churches[]

St Thomas Becket's Church

St. Thomas Becket's Church Lewisham

Saint Thomas Becket's Catholic church is located in Thomas Street, the current priest is Fr. Michael Butler (1988–present). The Servants of Mary Help of Christians operates its Marian Centre from St Thomas Becket Primary School Hall. Lewisham is also the home of the Maternal Heart of Mary Latin Mass Community, of which Fr Laurence Gresser FSSP is the Chaplain. The church is situated behind St Thomas Becket's, on Charles O'Neill Way.

Population[]

LewishamNSWsatellite

NASA image of Sydney's CBD and inner west suburbs, with borders of Lewisham shown in orange

Demographics[]

According to the 2001 census, Lewisham had a population just under 3000. The character of its population was quite different to its near neighbours, not having a large number of residents born overseas. After Australia, the most common countries of birth were England (3.5%), Portugal (2.9%) and New Zealand (2.8%). There were also a reasonable number of Greek speakers (3.9%), just topping Portuguese (3.5%) as the second most common language in the area after English. The number of Indigenous Australians (2.6%) was higher than the national average and also a significant local demographic.[10]

The population is predominately young couples. In fact the number of couples without children (40%) exceeds the number of couples with children (38%), a marked contrast to the national figures. The number of people aged 21–54 is 52% well above the national average (44%) while the younger and older age groups were all lower than the national averages. There were also a substantial number of single person households (30%).

Notable residents[]

  • Clive Caldwell (1910–1994), World War II air ace
  • Les Haylen (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.[11]
  • 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.[12]
  • Patrick Joseph Hartigan, Australian bush poet, who wrote under the pseudonym "John O'Grady".

References[]

  1. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (2006). "Lewisham = Selected Person Characteristics (part 1) : About New South Wales". http://about.nsw.gov.au/view/census/Lewisham/B01/?suburbs=Lewisham. Retrieved 12 August 2010. 
  2. ^ "Josephson, Joshua Frey (1815 - 1892)". Australian Dictionary of Biography Online. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A040558b.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  3. ^ "History of Suburbs". Marrickville Council. http://www.marrickville.nsw.gov.au/community/history/suburbs.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  4. ^ "Our Local History". Marrickville Council. http://www.marrickville.nsw.gov.au/MARRICKVILLE/INTERNET/me.get?site.home&PAGE1121. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  5. ^ "Cadigal Wangal - Smallpox Epidemic". Marrickville Council. http://www.marrickville.nsw.gov.au/cadigalwangal/people/conflict4.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  6. ^ Some Notes on Lewisham Viaduct Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, June, 1942 pp72-73
  7. ^ http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/file/rail/Sydney-Light-Rail-Inner-West-Extension-Draft-Report.pdf
  8. ^ http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/file/rail/Sydney-Light-Rail-Inner-West-Extension-Draft-Appendices.pdf
  9. ^ Sydney Buses Southern Region Map. Accessed 2011-05-23.
  10. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (9 March 2006). "Lewisham (State Suburb)". 2001 Census QuickStats. http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/ABSNavigation/prenav/LocationSearch?collection=Census&period=2001&areacode=SSC12381&producttype=QuickStats&breadcrumb=PL&action=401. Retrieved 2007-06-30. 
  11. ^ "Shand, John Wentworth (1897 - 1959)". Australian Dictionary of Biography Online. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A160257b.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  12. ^ Lynch, Annie [Mother Xavier] (1870 - 1938) Biographical Entry - Australian Dictionary of Biography Online

External links[]

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Coordinates: 33°53′42″S 151°08′40″E / -33.8949, 151.144415

This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Lewisham, New South Wales. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.
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