Bankstown, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Bankstown is a suburb
of south-western Sydney
, in the state of New South Wales
, Australia
. Bankstown is located 20 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district
and is the administrative centre of the local government area of the City of Bankstown
.
an settlement, Cumberland Plains Woodland
occupied much of the area. Turpentine
ironbark
forest
covered much of what is now Bankstown. The land was occupied by the Bediagal people. Their land bordered the Dharawal
and the Darung people. The Aboriginal inhabitants strongly opposed the European settlers. The resistance ceased after a number of their leaders were killed or imprisoned in 1816. In that year an epidemic broke out amongst the native people which reduced the Aboriginal populations, this also contributed to the end of their resistance.
In 1795, Matthew Flinders
and George Bass
explored up the Georges River
for about 20 miles beyond what had been previously surveyed, and reported favourably to Governor Hunter of the land on its banks. Hunter examined the country himself, and established one of the pioneer colonies there, called Bank's Town, today written as one word Bankstown.
Hunter named it in honour of botanist Sir Joseph Banks, who travelled to Australia with Captain James Cook in 1770. The area of first European settlement along the river has been partially preserved as part of the Mirambeena Regional Park
. The Bankstown City area includes large areas of the Georges River National Park
.
One hundred years after its naming, Bankstown was proclaimed a municipal district on 9 September 1895. At this time there was a feeling of impending growth which was further strengthened by the promise of increased railway extensions. Municipalities that were already constituted became ambitious, and, in 1894, both Enfield and Auburn Councils announced their intention to absorb Bankstown as part of their own municipalities. However, a petition was organised and signed by 300 residents resulting in Bankstown retaining its individual status. And on 9 September 1895 it was proclaimed a municipal district. The first election was held on 2 November 1895. With 884 electors on the roll, 112 people voted to cast a total of 213 votes. Each ratepayer was entitled to 1.4 votes according to the assessed value of his property. Women were not allowed to vote at this stage.
The first town hall and Council Chambers were built in 1898 on the northern side of the Hume Highway
(Liverpool Road), near Rookwood Road (site of the Three Swallows Hotel). The council chambers were relocated to a new building in South Terrace (now Old Town Centre Plaza) in June 1918. The building still stands and now has a shopping arcade running through it.
Bankstown Council relocated to its third premises in 1963 when the Civic Centre that is located on the corner of Chapel Road and The Mall was constructed. It included the Council Chambers or ‘Roundhouse’, as it’s called and is still in use today as an administration building. The current town hall was built in 1973. The administration building was destroyed by fire on 1 July 1997. Council offices relocated to Bankstown Civic Tower (the blue tower) in 1999 and on 13 June 2000 Bankstown’s now popular Central Park, where the former administration building once stood, was officially declared Paul Keating Park.
On 27 May 1980, during a visit by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
, Bankstown was accorded city status.
is currently situated in 1880. In 1882 49 boys and 36 girls were enrolled, and upkeep expenses totalled 219 pounds, eight shillings and 11 pence. The school's first headmaster was Dugald McLeod who taught at the school since its opening until 1912. The site of the well used by Bankstown Public is today commemorated by a plaque. The school was demolished in 1924 due to the development of North Bankstown School in the same year. Since then Bankstown has seen the development of several different educational facilities, such as, Al Amanah College
, Bankstown Senior College
, Bankstown Girls High School
, Bankstown Grammar School
, LaSalle Catholic College, Bankstown, St Euphemia College
, TAFE Bankstown and University of Western Sydney, Bankstown Campus
just to name a few.
In 1939 local residents were made privy to the events of World War II. Conscripted residents were required to report for duty at a drill hall on Canterbury Road, Belmore. Camps were set up in and around Canterbury Racecourse and local parks in the district. Residents with foreign names were sent to internment camps as there was growing suspicion about residents with foreign names. A portion of these folk were Australian citizens who served with the Australian armed forces during World War I.
From March 1942 thousands of American servicemen arrived in Sydney. A large portion of these troops were stationed in Bankstown earning the suburb the nickname ‘Yankstown’.
During World War II Bankstown Airport was established as a key strategic air base to support the war effort. After the arrival of Douglas MacArthur
in Australia, control of Bankstown Airport was handed to US Forces
, becoming home to US 35th Fighter Squadron
and the 41st Pursuit Squadron of the United States Air Force
and the United States Army Air Forces
who occupied the airport from 1942 to 1944. In 1945 operations became the responsibility of the British Fleet Air Arm
, known as HMS Nabberley
, until 1946, when it was handed back to the RAAF.
Bankstown Airport was home to several fighter units. Several "dummy houses" also existed in and around Bankstown Airport. These houses were built to make Bankstown Airport and its surrounds appear as a farm. There were gun pits in and around the airport to protect it from air raids and an anti-aircraft battery on the Corner of Bexley Road and Homer Street, Kingsgrove
to help protect the approaches to the airport. Searchlight units of 62 Anti Aircraft Search Light Station personnel were based in Stacey Street as well as Australian Military Forces who rented houses in the street to provide accommodation for troops.
During this period an RAAF unit known as No. 1 Fighter Sector RAAF
took control of the Capital Hall in Bankstown. This unit was formed in Bankstown, on the 25th of February 1942. Their living quarters were located next door and down the road from the hall & the staff were housed in galvanised iron barracks. Operations were handed over to the United States Army Air Corps
on 10 April 1942 before they were transferred to a disused railway tunnel at St James railway station in Sydney. The unit was renamed, Air Defence Headquarters Sydney (ADHQ) on 21 January 1945 and moved into a three storey semi-underground purpose built operations and plotting facility at Bankstown, known as the Bankstown Bunker
.
The area around Chapel Road Bankstown, were Paul Keating Park and the council chambers are now located, was the living quarters for the various military personnel that worked in Bankstown as well as training facilities for the various plotting rooms around Sydney. The site of today's court house was used to house British servicemen, whilst hundreds of army huts were constructed on the site of today's Bankstown Civic Centre.
World War II began Bankstowns industrial revolution. Few factories or industry of any consequence were located in Bankstown prior to 1945, this was changed dramatically between 1942 and 1954, especially when the Department of Aircraft Production gave approval for aircraft manufacturer Hawker De Havilland
, to operate a factory at the airport for the production and manufacture of de Havilland Mosquito bombers
. There are now over seven-thousand businesses operating within the Bankstown district. Bankstown's population increased dramatically after World War II by people relocating from the inner-city areas and incoming migrants, mainly from Europe and towards the end of the 20th century from Asia and the rest of the world.
headquarters from 1945 until its closure in 1947.
The Bankstown Bunker is of similar design to the underground Ops rooms of wartime England, which directed Britain's air defence fighter plane attacks on the invading German Luftwaffe
. Entrance to the bunker was obtained through a concrete passageway which was well screened by a grassy slope, a stairway led to a virtual maze of corridors and hallways leading to various sections.
The Bankstown bunker is currently buried under a public park which lies at the end of Taylor Street.
, while the ethnic diversity
of the area has created a host of restaurant
s, eateries and cafes.
Centro Bankstown
(previously known as Bankstown Square), is a large shopping centre, immediately to the northeast of the railway Station. It was first opened in 1966 and has been expanded a number of times. The latest project was completed on 22 June 2006 and includes a new Big W
and Woolworths supermarket, a "Fresh Life food district", as well as various specialty shops and 1000+ new parking spaces.
The Bankstown Central Library has been serving Bankstown on its present site in The Mall since 1954. Eight years earlier in 1946, Bankstown became the first municipality to adopt the Library Act of 1939 by opening a Children’s Library, located at Restwell Street. The Bankstown Central Library was demolished in 1981 to make way for a current facility which opened in 1983.
network. The rail line was built to Belmore in 1895 and then extended to Bankstown in 1909. The line was electrified in 1926. In 1928, the line was extended westwards from Bankstown to join the main suburban railway at Lidcombe. Bankstown is a major bus interchange for a number of bus services.
The Sydney Metropolitan Airport, more commonly known as Bankstown Airport
, was established in 1940 and is constructed on 313 hectare
s. It has three runway
s, an extensive taxiway
and includes a large business park containing over 170 business
es.
, Bankstown Oval
, Paul Keating Park and Bankstown City Gardens.
'Bankstown City Gardens' were opened to the public in 1973. These gardens consist of many unusual types of flora found in Bankstown and the surrounding area. The park consist of different areas, native, tropical, rose garden and Perennial.
'Paul Keating
Park' was built on the site of Bankstown Council's former administration building, after it was destroyed by fire on 1 July 1997.
region and is dominated by Bringelly
Shale
in the north and Ashfield
shale
in the south. The area
south of Bankstown by Georges River
is dominated by Hawkesbury sandstone
where the soil
tends to be shallow, sand
y and infertile.
Bankstown has one of the most ethnically diverse communities in Australia
. Bankstown is considered as one of the most multicultural areas in the country with over 60 different languages spoken by the people of this suburb.
According to the 2006 Census, Bankstown had a population of 26,446. 50.7% of residents stated they had been born overseas, with the most common places of birth being Vietnam
11.8%, Lebanon
8.2%, China
5.0%, Macedonia
2.0% and Greece
1.8%. After English, the most common languages spoken at home were Arabic
23.1%, Vietnamese
16.2%, Mandarin 4.1%, Greek
3.8% and Cantonese 3.7%. The religious affiliations were Islam
22.9%, Catholic
22.8%, Buddhism
11.9%, Eastern Orthodox 9.7 per cent% and No Religion 7.4%.
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of south-western Sydney
South-western Sydney
South-western Sydney is a general term which is used to describe the metropolitan area in south-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Greater Western Sydney area....
, in the state of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Bankstown is located 20 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district
Sydney central business district
The Sydney central business district is the main commercial centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It extends southwards for about 3 kilometres from Sydney Cove, the point of first European settlement. Its north–south axis runs from Circular Quay in the north to Central railway station in...
and is the administrative centre of the local government area of the City of Bankstown
City of Bankstown
The City of Bankstown is a city and Local Government Area in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, centred on the suburb of Bankstown....
.
History
Prior to EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an settlement, Cumberland Plains Woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
occupied much of the area. Turpentine
Turpentine
Turpentine is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin obtained from trees, mainly pine trees. It is composed of terpenes, mainly the monoterpenes alpha-pinene and beta-pinene...
ironbark
Ironbark
Ironbark is a common name of a number of species in three taxonomic groups within the genus Eucalyptus that have dark, deeply furrowed bark....
forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
covered much of what is now Bankstown. The land was occupied by the Bediagal people. Their land bordered the Dharawal
Tharawal people
The Tharawal people were the Aboriginal inhabitants of southern Sydney and the Illawarra region in 1788, when the first European colonists arrived. The Tharawal people lived in the areas from south side of Botany Bay, around Port Hacking to north of the Shoalhaven River and inland to Campbelltown...
and the Darung people. The Aboriginal inhabitants strongly opposed the European settlers. The resistance ceased after a number of their leaders were killed or imprisoned in 1816. In that year an epidemic broke out amongst the native people which reduced the Aboriginal populations, this also contributed to the end of their resistance.
In 1795, Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
and George Bass
George Bass
George Bass was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia.-Early years:He was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George Bass, and a local beauty named Sarah Nee Newman. His father died in 1777 when Bass was 6...
explored up the Georges River
Georges River
The Georges River is a waterway in the state of New South Wales in Australia. It rises to the south-west of Sydney near the coal mining town of Appin, and then flows north past Campbelltown, roughly parallel to the Main South Railway...
for about 20 miles beyond what had been previously surveyed, and reported favourably to Governor Hunter of the land on its banks. Hunter examined the country himself, and established one of the pioneer colonies there, called Bank's Town, today written as one word Bankstown.
Hunter named it in honour of botanist Sir Joseph Banks, who travelled to Australia with Captain James Cook in 1770. The area of first European settlement along the river has been partially preserved as part of the Mirambeena Regional Park
Mirambeena Regional Park
The Mirambeena Regional Park, within the suburbs of Georges Hall and Lansdowne, is a strip of recreational parks and nature reserves bounded by the Georges River to the West and Henry Lawson Drive to the East...
. The Bankstown City area includes large areas of the Georges River National Park
Georges River National Park
Georges River is a national park in New South Wales , 18 km southwest of Sydney. It is set along the Georges River, and is run by the National Parks and Wildlife Service....
.
The first town hall and Council Chambers were built in 1898 on the northern side of the Hume Highway
Hume Highway
The Hume Highway/Hume Freeway is one of Australia's major inter-city highways, running for 880 km between Sydney and Melbourne. It is part of the Auslink National Network and is a vital link for road freight to transport goods to and from the two cities as well as serving Albury-Wodonga and...
(Liverpool Road), near Rookwood Road (site of the Three Swallows Hotel). The council chambers were relocated to a new building in South Terrace (now Old Town Centre Plaza) in June 1918. The building still stands and now has a shopping arcade running through it.
Bankstown Council relocated to its third premises in 1963 when the Civic Centre that is located on the corner of Chapel Road and The Mall was constructed. It included the Council Chambers or ‘Roundhouse’, as it’s called and is still in use today as an administration building. The current town hall was built in 1973. The administration building was destroyed by fire on 1 July 1997. Council offices relocated to Bankstown Civic Tower (the blue tower) in 1999 and on 13 June 2000 Bankstown’s now popular Central Park, where the former administration building once stood, was officially declared Paul Keating Park.
On 27 May 1980, during a visit by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
, Bankstown was accorded city status.
Educational facilities
In 1862 the Church of England School was first opened and was commissioned as a public school in 1867. Bankstown's first public school was built where McLeod ReserveMcLeod Reserve
McLeod Reserve is a park situated along the Hume Highway in Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia.-Bankstown's First Public School:In 1862 the Church of England School was first opened and was commissioned as a public school in 1867. Bankstown's first public school was built where McLeod Reserve is...
is currently situated in 1880. In 1882 49 boys and 36 girls were enrolled, and upkeep expenses totalled 219 pounds, eight shillings and 11 pence. The school's first headmaster was Dugald McLeod who taught at the school since its opening until 1912. The site of the well used by Bankstown Public is today commemorated by a plaque. The school was demolished in 1924 due to the development of North Bankstown School in the same year. Since then Bankstown has seen the development of several different educational facilities, such as, Al Amanah College
Al amanah college
Al-Amanah College is an Islamic private school. It has two campuses in Bankstown and Liverpool. Al Amanah College is a project developed by the Islamic Charity Projects Association. The school motto is 'Success Through Knowledge'....
, Bankstown Senior College
Bankstown Senior College
Bankstown Senior College, formally Bankstown Boys High school, is a senior college located in the suburb of Bankstown, in the City of Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia.-History:...
, Bankstown Girls High School
Bankstown Girls High School
Bankstown Girls' High School is a government high school for girls operated by the New South Wales Department of Education and Training. It is located in the south-western Sydney suburb of Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia.- Education :...
, Bankstown Grammar School
Bankstown Grammar School
Georges River Grammar School is an independent, co-educational, day school located in Georges Hall, a suburb of South-Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
, LaSalle Catholic College, Bankstown, St Euphemia College
St Euphemia College
St Euphemia Greek Orthodox College is a school located in Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia, which was developed to honour the memory of Saint Euphemia. St Euphemia College commenced on 30 January 1989 with 29 students from Kindergarten to Year 3 His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos conducted the...
, TAFE Bankstown and University of Western Sydney, Bankstown Campus
University of Western Sydney
The University of Western Sydney, also known as UWS, is a multi-campus university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
just to name a few.
World War II
From March 1942 thousands of American servicemen arrived in Sydney. A large portion of these troops were stationed in Bankstown earning the suburb the nickname ‘Yankstown’.
During World War II Bankstown Airport was established as a key strategic air base to support the war effort. After the arrival of Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
in Australia, control of Bankstown Airport was handed to US Forces
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
, becoming home to US 35th Fighter Squadron
35th Fighter Wing
The 35th Fighter Wing is an air combat unit of the United States Air Force and the host unit at Misawa Air Base, Japan. The 35 FW is part of Pacific Air Forces Fifth Air Force.-Mission:...
and the 41st Pursuit Squadron of the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
and the United States Army Air Forces
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
who occupied the airport from 1942 to 1944. In 1945 operations became the responsibility of the British Fleet Air Arm
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...
, known as HMS Nabberley
HMS Nabberley
H.M.S. Nabberley, was a Royal Navy, Mobile Naval Operating Air Base , at the Royal Australian Air Force base RAAF Bankstown at Bansktown, New South Wales, Australia. H.M.S. Nabberley was also known as MONAB II and Royal Naval Air Station Bankstown.-History:Assembled at RNAS Ludham and Royal Navy...
, until 1946, when it was handed back to the RAAF.
Bankstown Airport was home to several fighter units. Several "dummy houses" also existed in and around Bankstown Airport. These houses were built to make Bankstown Airport and its surrounds appear as a farm. There were gun pits in and around the airport to protect it from air raids and an anti-aircraft battery on the Corner of Bexley Road and Homer Street, Kingsgrove
Kingsgrove, New South Wales
Kingsgrove is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Kingsgrove is located 13 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and lies across the local government areas of the City of Rockdale, the City of Hurstville and the City of Canterbury...
to help protect the approaches to the airport. Searchlight units of 62 Anti Aircraft Search Light Station personnel were based in Stacey Street as well as Australian Military Forces who rented houses in the street to provide accommodation for troops.
During this period an RAAF unit known as No. 1 Fighter Sector RAAF
No. 1 Fighter Sector RAAF
No. 1 Fighter Sector was a Royal Australian Air Force unit formed at Bankstown, New South Wales on 25 February 1942.The RAAF commandeered Capitol Theatre at Bankstown for use as an operations and plotting facility on 14 March 1942....
took control of the Capital Hall in Bankstown. This unit was formed in Bankstown, on the 25th of February 1942. Their living quarters were located next door and down the road from the hall & the staff were housed in galvanised iron barracks. Operations were handed over to the United States Army Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
on 10 April 1942 before they were transferred to a disused railway tunnel at St James railway station in Sydney. The unit was renamed, Air Defence Headquarters Sydney (ADHQ) on 21 January 1945 and moved into a three storey semi-underground purpose built operations and plotting facility at Bankstown, known as the Bankstown Bunker
Bankstown Bunker
The Bankstown Bunker is a disused RAAF operations facility, located on the corner of Marion and Edgar Street, Bankstown, New South Wales....
.
The area around Chapel Road Bankstown, were Paul Keating Park and the council chambers are now located, was the living quarters for the various military personnel that worked in Bankstown as well as training facilities for the various plotting rooms around Sydney. The site of today's court house was used to house British servicemen, whilst hundreds of army huts were constructed on the site of today's Bankstown Civic Centre.
World War II began Bankstowns industrial revolution. Few factories or industry of any consequence were located in Bankstown prior to 1945, this was changed dramatically between 1942 and 1954, especially when the Department of Aircraft Production gave approval for aircraft manufacturer Hawker De Havilland
De Havilland Australia
De Havilland Aircraft Pty Ltd was part of de Havilland, then became a separate company. It was purchased by Boeing and is now Hawker de Havilland Aerospace Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Boeing Australia Ltd-Early Years and WWII:...
, to operate a factory at the airport for the production and manufacture of de Havilland Mosquito bombers
De Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...
. There are now over seven-thousand businesses operating within the Bankstown district. Bankstown's population increased dramatically after World War II by people relocating from the inner-city areas and incoming migrants, mainly from Europe and towards the end of the 20th century from Asia and the rest of the world.
Bankstown Bunker
The Bankstown Bunker is a disused RAAF operations facility, located on the corner of Marion and Edgar Street, Bankstown. The specially constructed bunker became an important Royal Australian Air ForceRoyal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
headquarters from 1945 until its closure in 1947.
The Bankstown Bunker is of similar design to the underground Ops rooms of wartime England, which directed Britain's air defence fighter plane attacks on the invading German Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
. Entrance to the bunker was obtained through a concrete passageway which was well screened by a grassy slope, a stairway led to a virtual maze of corridors and hallways leading to various sections.
The Bankstown bunker is currently buried under a public park which lies at the end of Taylor Street.
Commercial area
Bankstown's central business district is clustered around Bankstown Railway Station. The commercial area beside the railway station is known as Bankstown PlazaPlaza
Plaza is a Spanish word related to "field" which describes an open urban public space, such as a city square. All through Spanish America, the plaza mayor of each center of administration held three closely related institutions: the cathedral, the cabildo or administrative center, which might be...
, while the ethnic diversity
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
of the area has created a host of restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
s, eateries and cafes.
Centro Bankstown
Centro Bankstown
Centro Bankstown, formerly known as Bankstown Square, is a major regional shopping centre situated in the central business district of the City of Bankstown. It has over 310 specialty stores including a number of major retail stores. Opened in 1966, the shopping centre has undergone several...
(previously known as Bankstown Square), is a large shopping centre, immediately to the northeast of the railway Station. It was first opened in 1966 and has been expanded a number of times. The latest project was completed on 22 June 2006 and includes a new Big W
Big W
Big W is one of the largest chain of discount department stores in Australia, with over 150 stores. It is a division of Woolworths Limited, the second largest retailer in Australia. Its main competitors are Kmart and Target, both owned by Wesfarmers....
and Woolworths supermarket, a "Fresh Life food district", as well as various specialty shops and 1000+ new parking spaces.
The Bankstown Central Library has been serving Bankstown on its present site in The Mall since 1954. Eight years earlier in 1946, Bankstown became the first municipality to adopt the Library Act of 1939 by opening a Children’s Library, located at Restwell Street. The Bankstown Central Library was demolished in 1981 to make way for a current facility which opened in 1983.
Transport
Bankstown Railway Station is on the Bankstown line of the CityRailCityRail
CityRail is an operating brand of RailCorp, a corporation owned by the state government of New South Wales, Australia. It is responsible for providing commuter rail services, and some coach services, in and around Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, the three largest cities of New South Wales. It is...
network. The rail line was built to Belmore in 1895 and then extended to Bankstown in 1909. The line was electrified in 1926. In 1928, the line was extended westwards from Bankstown to join the main suburban railway at Lidcombe. Bankstown is a major bus interchange for a number of bus services.
The Sydney Metropolitan Airport, more commonly known as Bankstown Airport
Bankstown Airport
Bankstown Airport is a general aviation airport and business park located in the City of Bankstown, from the central business district of Sydney, Australia...
, was established in 1940 and is constructed on 313 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
s. It has three runway
Runway
According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...
s, an extensive taxiway
Taxiway
A taxiway is a path on an airport connecting runways with ramps, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller airports sometimes use gravel or grass....
and includes a large business park containing over 170 business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
es.
Parks and recreation
Major parks within Bankstown include McLeod ReserveMcLeod Reserve
McLeod Reserve is a park situated along the Hume Highway in Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia.-Bankstown's First Public School:In 1862 the Church of England School was first opened and was commissioned as a public school in 1867. Bankstown's first public school was built where McLeod Reserve is...
, Bankstown Oval
Bankstown Oval
Bankstown Oval is a multi-purpose stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is currently used mostly for cricket matches and has been used by New South Wales, particularly for one day matches. It has also hosted 3 first class games in the Sheffield Shield. Its pavilion is named after Australian Test...
, Paul Keating Park and Bankstown City Gardens.
'Bankstown City Gardens' were opened to the public in 1973. These gardens consist of many unusual types of flora found in Bankstown and the surrounding area. The park consist of different areas, native, tropical, rose garden and Perennial.
'Paul Keating
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
Park' was built on the site of Bankstown Council's former administration building, after it was destroyed by fire on 1 July 1997.
Geology
Bankstown is situated in the Cumberland PlainsCumberland County, New South Wales
Cumberland County is a county in the State of New South Wales, Australia. Most of the Sydney metropolitan area is located within the County of Cumberland....
region and is dominated by Bringelly
Bringelly, New South Wales
Bringelly is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Northern Road between Penrith and Camden. It has a public school. Bringelly is also the name of a local hill.-History:...
Shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
in the north and Ashfield
Ashfield, New South Wales
Ashfield is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Ashfield is about 9 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Municipality of Ashfield.The official name for the...
shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
in the south. The area
Area
Area is a quantity that expresses the extent of a two-dimensional surface or shape in the plane. Area can be understood as the amount of material with a given thickness that would be necessary to fashion a model of the shape, or the amount of paint necessary to cover the surface with a single coat...
south of Bankstown by Georges River
Georges River
The Georges River is a waterway in the state of New South Wales in Australia. It rises to the south-west of Sydney near the coal mining town of Appin, and then flows north past Campbelltown, roughly parallel to the Main South Railway...
is dominated by Hawkesbury sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
where the soil
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
tends to be shallow, sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
y and infertile.
Demographics
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Bankstown is considered as one of the most multicultural areas in the country with over 60 different languages spoken by the people of this suburb.
According to the 2006 Census, Bankstown had a population of 26,446. 50.7% of residents stated they had been born overseas, with the most common places of birth being Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
11.8%, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
8.2%, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
5.0%, Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
2.0% and Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
1.8%. After English, the most common languages spoken at home were Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
23.1%, Vietnamese
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
16.2%, Mandarin 4.1%, Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
3.8% and Cantonese 3.7%. The religious affiliations were Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
22.9%, Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
22.8%, Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
11.9%, Eastern Orthodox 9.7 per cent% and No Religion 7.4%.
Notable residents
The following people are residents or former residents of Bankstown:- Blake FergusonBlake FergusonBlake Ferguson is an Australian professional rugby League footballer for the Canberra Raiders of the NRL. He previously played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks....
, current Canberra RaidersCanberra RaidersThe Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership since 1982...
player - Paul KeatingPaul KeatingPaul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
, former Prime Minister of AustraliaPrime Minister of AustraliaThe Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful... - Brett HolmanBrett HolmanBrett Trevor Holman is an Australian professional football player. He currently plays as a attacking midfielder or left winger for the Dutch Eredivisie club AZ and the Australia national football team.-Early life:...
, current Socceroo also played for Dutch EredivisieEredivisieThe Eredivisie is the highest football league in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956 two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is currently ranked the ninth best league in Europe by UEFA....
club NEC Nijmegen and AZ Alkmaar - Casey DonovanCasey Donovan (singer)-Australian Idol :Donovan transferred to the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney's Surry Hills in 2004 and it was in this year that her stepfather encouraged her to audition for the second season of Australian Idol...
, winner of the second Australian IdolAustralian IdolAustralian Idol is a Logie Award-winning Australian singing competition, which began its first season on July 2003 and ended its run in November 2009. As part of the Idol franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program Pop Idol, which was created by British entertainment executive... - Paulini CuruenavuliPaulini CuruenavuliPaulini Curuenavuli , commonly known as Paulini, is an Australian R&B/pop singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as a contestant of the first season of the television series, Australian Idol in 2003....
, finalist from the first Australian IdolAustralian IdolAustralian Idol is a Logie Award-winning Australian singing competition, which began its first season on July 2003 and ended its run in November 2009. As part of the Idol franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program Pop Idol, which was created by British entertainment executive... - Melanie RocheMelanie RocheMelanie Jane Roche is a softball player from Australia, who won a bronze medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics and 2000 Summer Olympics, a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics along with a bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Participating in 4 Olympic Games and winning 4 Olympic Medals is...
, Olympic Medalist - Brett EmertonBrett EmertonBrett Michael Emerton is an Australian football player who plays for Sydney FC and the Australia national team...
, current Socceroo - JohnJohn KonradsJohn Konrads is an retired Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won the 1500 m freestyle at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. In his career, he set 26 individual world records, and after his swimming career ended, was the Australasian director of L'Oréal, as well as campaigning...
and Ilsa KonradsIlsa KonradsIlsa Konrads was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won silver in the 4x100 m freestyle relay at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. In her career, she set 12 individual world records, and after her swimming career ended, was the Australasian editor of Belle...
, siblings and world record-breaking swimmers
Climate
External links
- Bankstown City Council Website
- Community Profile
- 2001 Census Information
- State Electoral Districts of NSW
- Bankstown Health Service
- Travelmate - Bankstown, New South Wales
- Bankstown Restaurants
- University of Western Sydney, Bankstown Campus
- Bankstown Airport
- TAFE NSW Bankstown College
- Local Government Areas, Bankstown
