Riverwood, New South Wales

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 Belmore Road, Riverwood, Sydney
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Belmore Road, Riverwood, Sydney

Riverwood is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 18km south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the St George area. Riverwood is plit between the local government areas of the City of Hurstville and the City of Canterbury. The postcode is 2210.


This template is now obsolete.
Sydney suburbs near Riverwood
(City of Hurstville, City of Canterbury)
Bankstown Beverly Hills Roselands
Padstow Riverwood Narwee
Padstow Heights Peakhurst Peakhurst

Contents

[edit] Commercial Area & Transport

The main shopping centre is located on Belmore Road and Thurlow Streets near Riverwood railway station. Riverwood Plaza is a small shopping centre on Belmore Road that contains supermarkets and specialty shops.

Riverwood railway station is on the East Hills line of the City Rail network.

[edit] History

The area was originally known as Herne Bay and comprised of small land grants between 30 and 80 acres. When the East Hills railway line came through the area in 1931, the station was called Herne Bay. It was subdivided in 1919 and developed during World War 2, when much of the area was the site of a large United States Army military base. After the war the military departed, and the timber and corrugated iron barrack buildings (some of which survived into the 1990s) were converted into public housing. Some of the street names recall the American presence such as Pennsylvania Road, Kentucky Road, Wyoming Place, Idaho Place, Michigan Road, Montana Crescent, Roosevelt Avenue and Truman Avenue.

The suburb developed an unsavoury reputation for poverty, overcrowding and violence, and its name was later changed to Riverwood in 1957, in large part to remove the stigma associated with living there. This helped to change the reputation of the area. From the 1950s onwards, purpose-built utilitarian public housing apartment blocks and freestanding bungalows replaced most of the former military buildings on the northern side of the railway line, while the southern part of the suburb was mostly privately developed.

Despite actions made to correct this suburb's reputation, negative ideas of this suburb exist. Some may think of Riverwood as a poor, backward, relatively unsafe suburb. This is due to the proliferation of Housing Commissions and Public Housing. Some are also concerned with the 'dangers', whether justified or not, they might face.

[edit] Places of Interest

  • Conca D'oro Lounge (Events Centre), Belmore Road. ("Best people in Australia")
  • Riverwood Plaza, Belmore Road.
  • Riverwood Library, Belmore Road.
  • Riverwood Community Centre, Belmore Road.
  • Video-Ezy, KFC, Subway, Dominos, Pizza Hut.
  • Office of Member for Lakemba Morris Iemma, who is also Premier of New South Wales.

[edit] External links

Coordinates: -33.95427° 151.05115°

Suburbs within the City of Canterbury | South-western Sydney | Sydney

Ashbury | Belfield | Belmore | Campsie | Canterbury | Clemton Park | Croydon Park | Earlwood | Hurlstone Park | Kingsgrove | Lakemba | Punchbowl | Riverwood | Roselands | Undercliffe | Wiley Park

List of Sydney suburbs