Tempe, New South Wales

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Tempe
SydneyNew South Wales

Cooks River, Tempe
Postcode: 2044
Location: km (6 mi) south of Sydney CBD
LGA: Marrickville Council
State District: Heffron
Federal Division: Grayndler
Suburbs around Tempe:
Marrickville Sydenham St Peters
Marrickville Tempe Sydney Airport
Undercliffe Wolli Creek Arncliffe
Cooks River, railway bridge between Tempe and Wolli Creek
Cooks River, railway bridge between Tempe and Wolli Creek

Tempe is a suburb in the inner west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Tempe is located 9 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Marrickville Council.[1]

Tempe sits on the northern bank of the Cooks River and is separated from Kingsford Smith International Airport by Alexandra Canal (also known as Sheas Creek). The Wolli Creek waterway also empties into the Cooks River near Tempe.

Contents

[edit] Commercial Area

Tempe’s commercial area is located along the Princes Highway. The main shopping strip includes a newsagency, a light and sound store, a doctor's surgery, a dentist's surgery, and martial arts goods and apparel store called Zoe's. Perhaps the most well-known business in Tempe is Tempe Tyres, a garage specialising in automotive wheels and tyres. The Tempe Hotel is in the main shopping strip. The Harp Irish Pub [2] (formerly Riverview Hotel) is located on the Princes Highway close to Deno's Diner (formerly known as Cobb & Co.), a fast food outlet designed on the 1950s drive-in model. The Sydney Bus Museum is located opposite. In the past, Tempe had many more shops including a branch of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, a Police Station, a chemist and several convenience stores.

Commercial and light industrial premises stretch north to Sydenham and St Peters. There are two small licensed clubs beside the Cooks River, the Newtown Jets Sports Club and the Cooks River Motor Boat Club.

[edit] Transport

Princes Highway runs north towards the city and south towards Arncliffe and Rockdale. Unwins Bridge Road is the other main road in the suburb.

Tempe railway station is serviced by the City Rail Illawarra line and is sometimes used by services from the East Hills line.

The Sydney Buses service route 422 runs along the Princes Highway from Tempe to Newtown to Circular Quay, in the Sydney CBD, while the 425 route connects Rockdale to Dulwich Hill via Tempe. In the past, Tempe was the terminus for the 425 route.

[edit] Churches

St Peter and St Paul Catholic Church, Tempe Uniting Church

[edit] Schools

Tempe High School, Tempe Public School

Former Riverview Hotel, Princes Highway
Former Riverview Hotel, Princes Highway
Commercial premises on Princes Highway Tempe
Commercial premises on Princes Highway Tempe

[edit] History

Tempe was named after the mansion on the southern banks of the Cooks River in what is now known as Wolli Creek. Alexander Brodie Spark (1792-1856), an immigrant from Elgin, Scotland, built Tempe House in 1836. It was named after the 'Vale of Tempe', a beautiful valley in ancient Greek legend set at the foot of Mount Olympus in Greece. Tempe House, designed by John Verge (1772-1861), has a Georgian feel and is regarded as one of the great houses of Sydney. Spark also donated money towards the purchase of land and the building of St Peter’s Church of England, which gave its name to the suburb of St Peters, to the north of Tempe.

Frederick Wright Unwins, who gave his name to Unwins Bridge Road, was a clever man in the legal profession in Sydney’s early days. William Bede Dalley, after whom Dalley Street was named, studied under Unwin and became one of the members of the first parliament in New South Wales in 1856. A prominent businessman during the late 1800s, William Fanning, had Fanning Street named after him, which is situated in what used to be known as Tempe Village. [3]

Trams once ran from Circular Quay to the Cooks River. When buses replaced trams, the Tempe Tram Depot became the Tempe Bus Depot and is now home to the Sydney Bus Museum [4]. The railway station opened in 1884 but was originally called Cooks River. It became a popular resort, with large crowds attracted for swimming and boating on the river.

Over the years, Tempe Recreational Reserve, a large park next to Cooks River, has undergone numerous facelifts, including improvements in irrigation, the development of football fields and cricket pitches, and an extensive jungle-gym for children. The park is home to the Robyn Webster Centre, an indoor sporting complex.

Tempe was once home to a landfill site known colloquially as 'Tempe Tip', which caught fire in 1988. The tip has been redeveloped into extended parkland which now includes a golfing range. The name 'Tempe Tip' is now used by a large flea market, situated off the Princes Highway, which is run by the Salvation Army.

A local landmark is Milford Haven, formerly known as Leinster Hall and Nelson Lodge. Located in Unwins Bridge Road, this single-storey house is notable as an example of an Australian bungalow and is listed on the Register of the National Estate.[5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Gregory's Sydney Street Directory, Gregory's Publishing Company, 2007
  2. ^ The Harp Irish Pub
  3. ^ The Book of Sydney Suburbs, Frances Pollen, Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1990, Published in Australia ISBN 0-207-14495-8
  4. ^ Sydney Bus Museum
  5. ^ The Heritage of Australia, Macmillan Company, 1981

[edit] External links