Smithfield, New South Wales

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Smithfield is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Local Government Area of the City of Fairfield. It is also the childhood suburb for Australian International footballer Harry Kewell.

1 History
2 Demography
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

Smithfield, was originally known as Chilsholm's Bush. Historically, Smithfield was a semi-rural settlement populated in 1867 by vine growers, gardeners, wood timber cutters, orchards and tanneries. Early settlers were attracted to Smithfield by its good soil, dependable water supply and easy access to the Colony's established towns. Some of the best farming land was in the district to the West and South West of the Smithfield area.

In 1803, homeless children were becoming a problem from convicts turning their children out into the streets, as a consequence, the current Governor of the period, King, put aside a large area of 12,300 acres for a Male Orphan School. By 1836, some of this land was offered for sale by the colonial government of the time. John Ryan Brenan (1798-1868), an attorney who was appointed Police Magistrate in 1836, bought 1650 acres here. Brenan planned to make money with a meat market and a cattle saleyard. He subdivided the estate and named it Smithfield after the meat markets of London and Dublin. Saleyards opened in 1841 but the project to establish a village around the yards failed. Despite this, Smithfield did become a thriving commercial centre and remains a significant employment centre in south-western Sydney as part of the Wetherill Park/Yennora industrial bloc.

To this day, Smithfield still has the street patterns Brenan planned and the street names he chose. In the subdivision, Brenan offered an extra adjoining allotment to any buyer who built a cottage with a brick chimney and enclosed the property with a fence. The public School opened in 1850 and by 1880s Smithfield was well provided with churches, many of which still remain today as important relics of Smithfield's rich local heritage.

[edit] Demography

At the 1996 Census, Smithfield comprised 10,950 persons, of which the large majority were over the age of 15 (78.7%), Australian born (54.3%) and Australian citizens (85.6%). Interestingly, at the census date Smithfield had a rather low unemployment rate of 0.1%.

The largest age groups in the suburb in 1996 comprised persons aged 25-34 ( 16.1%), 35-44 (16.1%), followed by those aged 45-54. Persons aged over 65 comprised 10.0% of the total population.

Approximately 43% of the population were born overseas in 1996, and of these, 38% were born in a non-English speaking countries. Persons born in Italy comprised the largest single birthplace in the area (6%) at the Census.

In 1996, single parent families comprised 16.3% of total families. The majority of families in the area were two parent families (54.3%).

The largest proportions of households were one family households (77.3%). Lone person households comprised 17.1. % of total households in the area.

Detached housing dominates the area, comprising 87.9% of total occupied private dwellings.

The majority of dwellings are fully owned (47.5%). 26.6% of dwellings are rented, of these 17.6% are in private rental and 8.6% in public rental.

The largest proportion of the population earned between $1-$199 per week (33.9%) in 1996. The largest group in the area were trades persons and related workers (18.7%). 3.7% were managers and administrators and 8.0% were professionals.