Eastwood, New South Wales

Eastwood
Sydney, New South Wales

Fountain in Rowe Street mall.

Eastwood outlined in a satellite image of Sydney
Eastwood
Coordinates 33°47′25″S 151°04′54″E / 33.790362°S 151.081731°ECoordinates: 33°47′25″S 151°04′54″E / 33.790362°S 151.081731°E
Population 16,193 (2011 census)[1]
Postcode(s) 2122
Location 17 km (11 mi) NW of Sydney CBD
LGA(s)
State electorate(s)
Federal Division(s) Bennelong
Suburbs around Eastwood:
Carlingford Epping Marsfield
Dundas Valley Eastwood Denistone East
Ryde
Ermington West Ryde Denistone West Denistone
The old Eastwood Brickworks site, now developed into a housing estate
Eastwood Station prior to its 2007 reconstruction

Eastwood is a suburb of Sydney, Australia. Eastwood is located 17 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of the City of Ryde, City of Parramatta and the Hornsby Shire. Eastwood is in the Northern Suburbs region.

Originally thought to have been inhabited by the Wallumedegal Aboriginal tribe, who lived in the area between the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, the area was first settled by Europeans shortly after the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, from land grants to Royal Marines and NSW Corps, and was named "Eastwood" by an early Irish free settler, William Rutledge. Today it is a large suburban centre in the north of Sydney of over 14,000 people, with a large shopping area. Eastwood has a large population of Asian descent with immigrants from China transforming the commercial precinct in the past decade.

Eastwood is famous for the Granny Smith apple, which was first grown in the suburb. Every October, the oval and cordoned-off streets become the grounds for the annual Granny Smith Festival, a celebration of the icon with fairground rides, market stalls, street theatres, parades, an apple-baking competition and a fireworks spectacular at the Upper Eastwood Oval. In recent years the festival has been influenced by the substantial Asian immigrant communities, with Chinese dragon dancers in the Grand Parade and Chinese stallholders. During the same period, Eastwood's annual Chinese New Year Celebrations have broadened their appeal by incorporating concurrent Korean New Year traditions, and have accordingly been renamed the Lunar New Year Festivities.[2]

Geography

Eastwood is located at the edge of the Hornsby Plateau with the suburbs of Dundas Valley and Denistone on its western and southern sides, respectively, as the land falls away down to the Cumberland Plain. To the north, Eastwood is bounded by the transport hub of Epping and to its east Marsfield which shares the same postcode of 2122. The suburb is predominantly residential with the main shopping area of Eastwood centred between Rowe Street and Rutledge Street around the railway line.

History

The Wallumedegal aboriginal tribe lived in the area between the Lane Cove River and Parramatta River, which was known as Walumetta.[3] The area was originally heavily timbered.[4]

The area was first settled by Europeans shortly after the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 and was part of the Field of Mars. The area of Eastwood was originally granted between the years of 1790 and 1803 to marines and the NSW Corps. John Love, a private was granted 90 acres (36 ha) here in 1794, described as North Brush, in the Field of Mars Common. The land was then acquired by William Kent who already held land in what is now Epping. The land was purchased by William Rutledge for 288 pounds in 1835, who built 'Eastwood House' in 1840. This house is now part of Marist College Eastwood. In 1863 Edward Terry purchased the estate and upon his death in 1905, the estate was sub-divided.

In 1886, the railway line from Strathfield to Hornsby was opened, with a station here originally called Dundas. This was changed a year later to Eastwood, named after the Eastwood Estate.

The commercial centre underwent a major upgrade in the early 1980s. Rowe Street, which originally ran across the railway line through a level crossing was turned into a mall between The Avenue and West Parade, and the 1940s bridge built in First Avenue for crossing traffic was replaced with a six-lane bridge. This bridge was to service the planned County of Cumberland Scheme, Eastwood County Road (linking Eastwood with Macquarie Park), a road project in the local area which has been controversial among locals.[5]

Proposed development

The City of Ryde Council granted development consent on 3 February 2009 for development application number: 936/2007 to demolish the Eastwood Shopping Centre in 152–188 Rowe Street and 3–5 Rutledge Street, and replace it with a new mixed-use development. The main components of the development were:

However, that project was not carried out within the five year period specified in the development consent, and so the development consent lapsed.[6]

Commercial area

The Eastwood commercial district is located around Eastwood railway station. The Eastwood Shopping Centre is a shopping mall, which includes major retailer Woolworths is located in the town centre and opens on to the Eastwood Plaza. The Plaza features a fountain and several cafes with outdoor seating. Eastwood is becoming well known as an Asian shopping precinct, with speciality stores, supermarkets and many restaurants run by Chinese and Korean retailers.[7] The ethnic background of its shoppers has created a hub of mainly Chinese, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Korean restaurants and eateries in the area.

Transport

Eastwood is relatively well served by public transport. Eastwood railway station is located on the North Shore, Northern & Western Line. The station opened in 1886,[8] and it takes approximately 30–35 minutes to travel to Central. Intercity services also service Eastwood station between Central, Newcastle and the Central Coast region.

Numerous bus services also operate from the small interchange outside the station. These include the 545/550 route between Parramatta and Chatswood, the 544 route between Auburn and Macquarie University, and the 515/X15 service to the Sydney CBD. Eastwood is also served well by roads, and is located close to the trunk routes of the A6 (Marsden Road), and Victoria Road.

In spite of the range of public transport options, the 2011 census found that only 28% of employed people travelled to work on public transport and 53% by car (either as driver or as passenger).[1]

Landmarks

Eastwood once featured a lake which gave the names Lakeside Road and The Lakeside Road Uniting Church.[11] This lake was later converted to an oval which is used for soccer matches and by local schools. Unfortunately, the oval does still occasionally flood after very heavy rainfall. Eastwood is also home to the Corrective Services Academy, a training centre for prison officers, on the site of what was previously Brush Farm Public School.

Brush Farm House, Eastwood
"Ripley", c.1888, a mansion typical of some of the early estate homes in the area.
"Heatherwold" was a former girls' school, Braemar College, in Eastwood.

Forest reserves

Darvall Park and Brush Farm Park are examples of remnant forest areas in the Eastwood district. Volunteers and professional bush regenerators have worked to preserve the blue gum high forest and rainforest in these areas. The largest tree heath known in existence occurs at Brush Farm park. Other notable plants include mative crabapple, jackwood and red olive berry. Despite being within a large city, Brush Farm has remarkable fauna, including the powerful owl, emerald dove, eastern whipbird, satin bowerbird and the green tree snake.

Housing

At the 2011 census, more than half (61.2%) of occupied private dwellings in Eastwood were separate houses, 23.5% were flats, units or apartments, and 15.3% were semi-detached or townhouses. Three-quarters (74.4%) were family households, 20.3% were single person households and 5.3% were group households. The average household size was 2.8 people.[1]

Housing consists of many Californian Bungalow and Federation homes, especially in streets located closer to the station. More post World War II homes can be seen further from the station, especially to the north of Terry Road. While most of Eastwood is residential, with one or two-storey detached houses and villas, the area surrounding the town centre boasts buildings up to seven storeys high. In 2006 the City of Ryde developed a Control Plan for the Eastwood Town Centre, which includes the provision of buildings of up to ten storeys high in the shopping and railway areas.[12] Former industrial parts of the suburb are also undergoing redevelopment. The former brickworks site was converted into a housing estate.[13][14]

Churches

Schools

Primary Schools

High Schools

Culture and events

Eastwood is well known as the place where the Granny Smith apple was first grown. This is celebrated each October with the Granny Smith Festival which attracts over 60,000 people each year.

Population

Today it is a large suburban centre in the north of Sydney with over 16,000 residents. Over the past few decades Eastwood has become increasingly multicultural.[22] Migrants from southern Europe countries such as Italy and Greece began settling here and at Carlingford from the 1960s. From the early eighties to the late nineties, many Afghans and Iranians settled in the area.

Demographics

At the 2011 census, the suburb of Eastwood recorded a population of 16,193 people. Of these:[1]

Age distribution 
The distribution of ages in Eastwood was similar to the country as a whole. Eastwood residents' median age was 37 years, the same as the national median. Children aged under 15 years made up 15.9% of the population (national average is 19.3%) and people aged 65 years and over made up 13.8% of the population (national average is 14.0%).
Ethnic diversity 
Just under half (43.3%) of Eastwood residents were born in Australia; the next most common countries of birth were China 18.6%, South Korea 6.8%, Hong Kong 5.3%, India 2.3% and Sri Lanka 1.9%. However, only 13.7% identify their ancestry as Australian; the other common self-identified ancestries were Chinese 30.5%, English 13.4%, Korean 7.0% and Irish 5.2%. Less than half (40.1%) of the residents spoke English at home; other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 16.1%, Cantonese 15.0%, Korean 8.0%, Italian 1.5% and Tamil 1.4%.
Religion 
This question is optional in the Census. Of the people who answered it, the most common response was "No Religion" (28.8%); the next most common responses were Catholic 21.6%, Anglican 9.8%, Buddhism 6.8% and Presbyterian and Reformed 5.4%
Income 
The median weekly household income was $1,327, somewhat higher than the national median of $1,234.

Residents

Former residents

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eastwood, New South Wales.
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Eastwood (State Suburb)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  2. ↑ "Mixing it up in Bennelong" Accessed 11 August 2011.
  3. ↑ Smith, Keith Vincent (2005). Wallumedegal : an Aboriginal history of Ryde. North Ryde, N.S.W.: Community Services Unit, City of Ryde. ISBN 9780959941999.
  4. ↑ The Book of Sydney Suburbs, Compiled by Frances Pollon, Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1990, Published in Australia ISBN 0-207-14495-8, page 92
  5. ↑ "Ozroads: Eastwood County Road", 2004–2007. Accessed 6 July 2007.
  6. ↑ "Eastwood Shopping Centre Development - City of Ryde". Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  7. ↑ Maher, Stephen, "Goodbye to the Eastwood of old", Northern District Times, 11 April 2007, page 14. Accessed via Factiva on 10 July 2007.
  8. ↑ Bozier, Rolfe, "New South Wales Railways: Eastwood Railway Station". Accessed 4 July 2006.
  9. ↑ "NSW heritage search - Brush Farm". NSW Department of Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  10. ↑ City of Ryde, "A Brief History of Ryde", 2007. Accessed 6 July 2007.
  11. ↑ Giuliani, Bernard, (1988) Eastwood Scrapbook, p.1? Marist Publishers: Drummoyne, NSW. ISBN 0-949807-64-8.
  12. ↑ City of Ryde, "Development Control Plan – Part 4.1 Eastwood Town Centre", 2006, pp. 11–12. Accessed 4 July 2007.
  13. ↑ Rumble, Chantal, "Brick pit fill bakes anger", Northern District Times, 21 May 2003, p. 2.
  14. ↑ "Life at Newthorpe". Accessed 4 July 2007.
  15. ↑ "Presbyterian Churches of New South Wales: Macquarie Chapel Presbyterian". Accessed 6 July 2007.
  16. ↑ "St Kevins Primary School: History". Accessed 6 July 2007.
  17. ↑ "St Philips Anglican Church Eastwood" Accessed 20 October 2010.
  18. ↑ Pro-bono Australia Retrieved 22 June 2013
  19. ↑ Eastwood Heights Public School
  20. ↑ Eastwood Public School
  21. ↑ St Kevins School
  22. ↑ Megalogenis, George, "Asian influence spices up contest", The Australian, 27 February 2007, p. 11. Accessed via Factiva on 10 July 2007.

External links