Burwood, New South Wales

History

Archaeological evidence indicates people were living in the Sydney area for at least 11,000 years. This long association had led to a harmonious relationship between the indigenous inhabitants and their environment, which was interrupted by the arrival of the British in 1788. The European desire to cultivate the land aided and abetted by a smallpox epidemic that forced the local people, the Wangal clan, away from their source of food and their spiritual connection with the land.

Captain Thomas Rowley (1748–1806) received a grant of 260 acre in 1799, and called his property Burwood Farm after Burwood Park, England. Following more land grants, his estate increased to 750 acre. The grant stretched from Parramatta Road to where Nicholson Street and The Boulevarde are today and eastwards where to Croydon railway station is now. This is where he ran merino sheep on the property.

The first house, Burwood Villa, was built in the area in 1814, the same year that a stagecoach began running between Sydney and Parramatta. Burwood became a staging post along the road and the beginnings of a settlement started to develop. One of its most prominent early residents was Dr. John Dulhunty, a former naval surgeon who was appointed the Superintendent of Police for the Colony of New South Wales after his arrival in Sydney from England in 1826. Dr. Dulhunty became famous in the colony for fighting a gang of bushrangers that attacked his residence, Burwood House. He died suddenly in the house in 1828 but his son, Robert Dulhunty, went on to become the founder of the New South Wales regional city of Dubbo.

Subdivisions in the Burwood area in the 1830s propelled the growth of a village and by 1855, when the railway line opened, Burwood was one of the initial six stops on the Sydney-to-Parramatta route. The railway led to a huge growth in population. In 1874, the area became a municipality.

To ease the housing crisis on 5 June 2025, the Burwood Council pushed a plan for 11,000 apartments near the new Metro with towers up to 40 storeys, in order to transform Burwood into a newfangled suburb.

Landmarks

Burwood features many fine examples of architecture from the Victorian and Federation styles. St Paul's Anglican Church on Burwood Road was designed by colonial architect Edmund Blacket and built in 1871. Sir Donald Bradman and Lady Bradman, Jessie Menzies were married here in 1932. The church and its pipe organ is listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register and on the (now defunct) Register of the National Estate.

Nearby Woodstock in Church Street was built in the early 1870s by tobacco manufacturer Edwin Penfold. In the 1940s, it was taken over by the army, later becoming Broughton Migrant Hostel, before being bought by the council in 1974 for use as a community centre. Radio station 2RDJ-FM has been broadcasting from Woodstock since November 1983.

Further south on Burwood Road is The Priory, built in 1877 by local councillor Mowbray Forrest, St Nectarios Greek Orthodox Church in Railway Parade was formerly a Methodist church and was built in 1879, listed on the local government heritage list.

Running between Burwood Road and Liverpool Road is The Appian Way, a model housing estate conceived by George Hoskins at the turn of the century. The street has been described as one of the finest streets of Federation houses in Australia and is listed on the local government heritage list. In the centre of the Appian Way is a communal reserve which was converted into a lawn tennis club.

Heritage listings

Burwood has a number of heritage-listed sites, including the following sites listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register:

• 168a Burwood Road: Burwood Post Office
• 205 Burwood Road: St Paul's Anglican Church, Burwood
• 213 Burwood Road: The Priory
• 223 Burwood Road: St Cloud
• 4 Clarence Street: Lynton
• Great Southern and Western railway: Burwood rail underbridge
• Great Southern and Western railway: Burwood railway station, Sydney
• Railway Parade: Burwood Sewer Vent

The following buildings are listed on the (now defunct) Register of the National Estate and/or local government heritage registers:

• Congregational Church, Burwood Road
• Gayton (1888), Burwood Road,
• Deolee, Burwood Road
• Methodist Ladies College, Rowley Street
• Woodstock, Church Street
• St Nectarios Greek Orthodox Church, Railway Parade

Burwood Park

Burwood Park was established by the local council in 1882 on land formerly known as Edrop's Paddock. The original design of the park was based on the Union Jack flag, although it was later modified to allow a cricket oval to be established at the western edge of the park. Other features of Burwood Park include memorials to soldiers who died in World War I and Sandakan, a rotunda, a playground, a lake and an obelisk commemorating the site of Burwood Villa, the area's first house. It is also the location for Carols in the Park each Christmas. Burwood Park is located on Burwood Road opposite Westfield Burwood.

Demographics

In the , there were 18,224 residents in the suburb of Burwood, a significant increase from 16,030 in 2016 and 12,466 in 2011. The most common reported ancestries in Burwood were Chinese 48.3%, English 8.6%, Nepali 7.9%, Australian 5.5% and Vietnamese 3.3%. 25.1% of the residents were born in Australia. The most common other countries of birth were mainland China 28.8%, Nepal 8.2%, Vietnam 3.3%, Malaysia 3.1% and Hong Kong 2.8%. In Burwood, 19.8% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 32.1%, Cantonese 10.8%, Nepali 7.9%, Vietnamese 2.9% and Korean 2.4%. The most common responses for religion in Burwood were No Religion 43.4%, Catholic 13.2%, Buddhism 11.2%, Hinduism 10.1% and Not stated 7.6%.

Commercial area

Burwood has a mixture of residential, commercial, and light industrial developments. The main shopping strip runs along Burwood Road, beside Burwood railway station. Westfield Burwood is a large regional shopping centre, north of the railway line, on Burwood Road opposite Burwood Park. Burwood Plaza is a smaller shopping centre on Railway Parade, south of the railway line. "Burwood Chinatown" (; ) is an arcade connecting Burwood Plaza to Burwood Road, formerly named Murray Arcade.

High rise residential and commercial buildings are also found in surrounding streets and along the railway line. Commercial and light industrial developments are located along Parramatta Road.

Transport

Burwood has excellent access to public transport and Burwood railway station is on the T9 Northern, T2 Leppington & Inner West and T3 Liverpool & Inner West lines of the Sydney Trains network.

Trams to Mortlake and Cabarita once travelled down Burwood Road; trams ceased in August 1948.

Transit Systems provide many bus services to Burwood, from Hurstville, Rockdale, Mascot, Kingsford, Strathfield, Homebush, Campsie, Ryde, Bankstown, Liverpool as well as other locations across Sydney. There are two terminuses, Burwood station and Westfield Burwood. Transit Systems' Burwood Bus Depot is located on the corner of Shaftesbury and Parramatta Roads.

Burwood North is a future rapid transit station to be built as part of the Sydney Metro West project.

Residents

The following were either born or have lived in the suburb of Burwood

• Dave Barsley − rugby league player
• Arthur Cuthbertson – Ice hockey player, born in Burwood
• Eleanor Dark – novelist, born in Burwood
• Clare Dennis – swimmer, born in Burwood
• Sir Norman McAlister Gregg – ophthalmologist, born in Burwood
• Norman Hetherington – cartoonist, grew up at 35 Meryla Street Burwood
• Miriam Hyde – composer and pianist, born and lived in Burwood
• Richard Jones MLC – lived at Gayton in Burwood Road
• Robert Kaleski – writer, environmentalist, and dog breeder influential, born in Burwood
• Rita Mabbett – cellist, lived in George Street Burwood
• Richard Makinson - physicist, was born in Burwood
• William McMahon – 20th Prime Minister of Australia, lived in Burwood
• William MacDonald – serial killer, lived in a store in Burwood
• Earle Page – 11th Prime Minister of Australia, lived in Burwood
• George Reid – 4th Prime Minister of Australia, lived in Burwood
• Arthur Renwick – physician, philanthropist and politician
• Doug Sutherland – former lord mayor of Sydney
• John Manning Ward – historian and vice chancellor, born in Burwood
• Charles Smith Wilkinson – spent his last days in Burwood
• Angus, George and Malcolm Young – musicians, grew up in Burwood

Sister cities

Burwood currently has five sister cities:

• China Tianjin, China
• Italy Calabria, Italy
• Lebanon Imar, Lebanon
• Malaysia Sandakan, Malaysia
• United States of America Utica, New York, United States of America
• South Korea Geumcheon, South Korea

Gallery

File:BurwoodNSWStPauls.jpg|St Paul's Anglican Church, Burwood Road File:The Burwood Hotel, Burwood Road.jpg|The Burwood Hotel, Burwood Road File:Burwood Chinatown, Burwood Road.jpg|Burwood Chinatown, Burwood Road File:Burwood Chinatown Laneway, Clarendon Place.jpg|Burwood Chinatown Laneway, Clarendon Place File:(1)Southern Cross Catholic Vocational College Burwood.jpg|Southern Cross Catholic Vocational College, Comer Street File:Burwood house 4.JPG|Deolee (), Burwood Road File:Burwood Greek Orthodox Church.JPG|St Nectarios Greek Orthodox Church, Railway Parade File:Burwood Park Sydney 1.JPG|War Memorial in Burwood Park File:Burwood Chinatown Sydney.jpg|Burwood Chinatown

References

References

1. {{Census 2021 AUS
2. [http://www.suburbguide.com.au/category/home/location/sydney-inner-west Australian Suburb Guide: Sydney Inner West] {{webarchive. link. (26 December 2012 Retrieved 7 August 2013.)
3. "Sydney to Burwood".
4. "Local History". Burwood Council.
5. Pollon, F. (1990.) ''The Book of Sydney Suburbs'', Angus & Robertson Publishers, Sydney, p. 41
6. (1 May 1909). "Death of Mr. Richard Jones.". [[The Maitland Daily Mercury]].
7. {{cite NSW HD. 1250265. Appian Way Precinct. (21 July 1989)
8. "Burwood Heritage Trail". Burwood Council.
9. {{cite NSW SHR. 5051522. Burwood Post Office (former)
10. {{cite NSW SHR. 5001059. St. Paul's Anglican Church and Pipe Organ
11. {{cite NSW SHR. 5045324. Priory and Grounds
12. {{cite NSW SHR. 5045017. St. Cloud and Site
13. {{cite NSW SHR. 5045288. Lynton
14. {{cite NSW SHR. 5011961. Burwood rail underbridge
15. {{cite NSW SHR. 5011960. Burwood Railway Station group
16. {{cite NSW SHR. 5053877. Burwood Sewer Vent
17. ''The Heritage of Australia'', Macmillan Company, 1981, pp. 2{{spaced ndash14
18. {{cite NSW HD. 1250057. Congregational Church
19. {{cite NSW HD. 1250229. Gayton
20. {{cite NSW HD. 1250256. Deolee
21. {{cite NSW HD. 1250043. MLC School
22. {{cite NSW HD. 1250253. Woodstock
23. {{cite NSW HD. 1250239. St Nectarios Greek Orthodox Church
24. {{Census 2011 AUS
25. [https://web.archive.org/web/20191021025244/https://www.sydneymetro.info/sites/default/files/document-library/Sydney_Metro_West_Scoping_Newsletter_October_2019.pdf Sydney Metro West stations confirmed] Sydney Metro 21 October 2019
26. [https://web.archive.org/web/20191021030836/https://www.sydneymetro.info/sites/default/files/document-library/Sydney_Metro_West_Project_Overview_Booklet_October_2019.pdf Sydney Metro West Project Overview Booklet] [[Sydney Metro]] 21 October 2019
27. (17 August 2012). "Sister and Friendship Cities". [[Burwood Council]].