Haberfield, New South Wales

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Haberfield
Sydney, New South Wales

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

Population:

6,797 (2001 census)

Postcode:

2045

Location:

9 km from Sydney CBD

LGA:

Municipality of Ashfield

State District:

Balmain

Federal Division:

Grayndler

Suburbs around Haberfield
Five Dock	Rodd Point	Lilyfield
Croydon	Haberfield	Leichhardt
Ashfield	Summer Hill	Lewisham

Haberfield is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 9 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and sits south of Iron Cove, which is part of Sydney Harbour. It is roughly triangular in shape being bounded to the east by the Hawthorne canal, to the northwest by the Iron Cove Creek canal and to the southwest by Parramatta Road. Its main road is Ramsay Street and the point of land that faces Iron Cove, Dobroyd Point, is a historical locality of Sydney.

Haberfield was dubbed "the garden suburb" many years ago, and retains its well-kept parks, tree-lined streets and fine federation-era houses with immaculate gardens. The entire suburb is heritage-listed. Haberfield also has a strong Italian influence, which is most evident in the local shops along Ramsay Street. These include a hand made pasta shop, traditional Italian bakery, traditional and contemporary Italian pastry shops, Italian delicatessens, a hand made chocolate shop as well as many Italian cafes, coffee shops and restaurants. Many of the shops in Haberfield have received various awards for their quality.

1 History
- 1.1 Heritage
2 Residents
- 2.1 Notable residents
3 External links

[edit] History

Haberfield was home originally to indigenous people from the Darug tribe known variously as the Wangals or Cadigals. These people were forced off their land not long after the British established a settlement at Sydney and started dividing the land up amongst their colonists. However, the area that is now Haberfield was one of the last areas in the inner-west to be developed so in the late 1800s, it again became a home to local kooris.

Nicholas Bayly, a soldier, received the first land grant in the area in 1803 and called it Dobroyde Estate but by the 1820s it belonged to the Ramsay family. The Ramsays developed orchards in the area and built a number of fine houses for various members of the family including Yasmar (Ramsay spelt backwards) and St David's Presbyterian church. They also created four of the subrub's current streets: Ramsay St, Dalhousie St (named after the Ramsay's historic home in Scotland), Boomerang St and Waratah St.[1]

In 1901, landholder Richard Stanton bought fifty acres off two Ramsay children and subdivided the area to create a garden suburb. Sydney had recently suffered outbreaks of the bubonic plague in overcrowded parts of the inner city and the garden suburb movement was a response to that, encouraging fresh air. He also claimed the development to be "slumless, laneless and publess". The houses were designed by the architectural firm Spencer, Stansfield and Wormald. He named the suburb Haberfield, after the English branch of his family. The fact that the development started in 1901 and a number of the early streets were named after prominent federal politicians has led to the suburb also being known as 'The Federation Suburb'.[2]

[edit] Heritage

The majority of all houses in Haberfield are protected under a 'heritage order' which has been the main reason why so many original Victorian and Federation houses still exist in the area. Renovations and additions to both houses and properties must follow strict guidelines ensuring they stay true to the era's style. Some examples of rules include: banning the addition of 2nd stories unless in the existing roof space, banning the demolishing of any protected houses, ensuring a 50:50 ratio of 'hard surface' to 'soft surface' on the property, ensuring house exteriors are painted in federation colours.

[edit] Residents

According to the 2001 census, Haberfield had around 6,800 residents with a very strong Italian component, 30% speaking Italian at home. Apart from English speakers, all other languages recorded very low figures: Greek (2.2%), Spanish (1.0%), Cantonese (0.9%). The high number of Italians also contribute to a very high number of Roman Catholics (57%) in the suburb, more than twice the national average. Residents were slightly older (19% aged over 65) than the national average (13%). This in turn probably led to a higher proportion of people own their houses (57%) than the national average (40%).[3]

[edit] Notable residents

The following people were either born in or lived in Haberfield:

Norman Allan (1901-1977), NSW police commissioner from 1962-1972
Joseph Grace (1859-1931), founder of Grace Brothers department stores, lived at Yasmar in Haberfield.
Pat Hughes (1917-1940), air force officer who shot down more German planes during the Battle of Britain than any other Australian.
David Ramsay (1794-1860), medical practitioner and merchant.
Richard Stanton (1862-1943), developer of the 'Garden Suburb' who also lived there for many years.