Gymea, New South Wales

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gymea
Sydney, New South Wales

Gymea Bay Road

Population:
• Density:

6,570 (2001 census)
2,857/km²

Established:

1939

Postcode:

2227

Area:

2.3 km²

Property Value:

AUD $585,000 (2006)

Location:

26 km from Sydney

LGA:

Sutherland Shire

Suburbs around Gymea
Sutherland	Kareela	Sylvania
Kirrawee	Gymea	Miranda
Grays Point	Gymea Bay	Yowie Bay

Gymea is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Gymea is located 26km south of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire. The post code is 2227, which it shares with adjacent suburb Gymea Bay.

Gymea Bay Road, Gymea

Gymea shops awnings at Christmas

1 Commercial Area
2 Transport
3 Education
4 Churches
5 Culture
6 History
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Commercial Area

Gymea is primarily a low density, residential suburb. Located close to Gymea railway station, the suburb's shopping strip is known as Gymea Shopping Village. Over the last decade it has become a popular shopping and 'café culture' district with many cafés, restaurants, boutiques and gourmet food shops opened along Gymea Bay Road. Development of such businesses has been to the detriment of some nearby suburbs such as Caringbah and Kirrawee.

[edit] Transport

Gymea railway station is on the Cronulla branch of the Illawarra railway line, part of the City Rail network, which provides regular rail services to the city. Gymea railway station is on Gymea Bay Road, in the middle of the main shopping area. Adjacent stations are Kirrawee and Miranda. Private buses, principally operated by Veolia NSW also service the local area and provide school student transport.

[edit] Education

The suburb has one public primary school, Gymea North Public School; a Catholic primary school, St Catherine Labouré Primary; and a secondary school, Gymea Technology High School. Many children in Gymea attend schools in Gymea Bay and Kirrawee. Gymea is also home to a campus of the South Western Sydney Institute of TAFE.

St Stylianos Greek Orthodox Church, Gymea

[edit] Churches

St Pauls and St Barnabas Anglican Church
St Catherine Labouré Catholic Church
St Stylianos Greek Orthodox Church (officially known as St Stylianos, Saints Peter and Paul, St Gregory of Palamas) [1]
Gymea Baptist Church
Gymea People's Church

[edit] Culture

Hazelhurst Gallery gates

Hazelhurst Gallery

[edit] Art

Gymea is home to the Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre, which features art galleries, art studios, a theatrette, gardens, meeting rooms, gallery shop and cafe. A number of special events are held at the gallery throughout the year.

[edit] Sport

Like many suburbs in the Sutherland Shire, Gymea maintains an active culture of youth sport and has well-established rugby league, soccer and netball clubs.

[edit] Pop Culture

Australian writer Scot McPhie named his collection of poetry published in 1999 'Gymea', after living near the suburb in the 1990s.

[edit] Events

The Gymea Village Fair is held every year in the last Sunday in October. The streets are closed for stalls, arts and crafts, rides and music.
At Christmas every year, Gymea shops awnings are decorated with giant Santas.

The home of drifting

[edit] History

The Gymea Lily, Doryanthes excelsa is a 6m tall perennial that is prevalent in the area. It was named by the local Eora people and became the inspiration for the suburb's name, by government surveyor W.A.B. Geaves in 1855. The Gymea Lily has been adopted as a symbol of the area and features on the crest of many local organisations. Development in the area has eradicated most of the lillies but many can still be found, a few kilometres south, in the Royal National Park.

By the 1920s, steam trams operated between Cronulla and Sutherland, via Gymea. The railway station on the line to Cronulla opened in 1939.