Fairfield City Council

Geography

A few small areas of the original bushland remain, including examples of Cumberland Plain Woodland, which is listed under the Threatened Species Conservation Act, and the Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark ecological community. There are 580 parks (60 of which are major parks), including one of the largest urban parks in the world, Western Sydney Parklands, which has a precinct that lies in the Fairfield area, called the Western Sydney Regional Park.

Creeks flowing in the area include Prospect Creek, Cabramatta Creek, Clear Paddock Creek and Green Valley Creek. The creeks streamed through what the settlers described as "a chain of ponds" down to the Georges River, rather than an unbroken stream, before the disturbance of the banks by the European settlers. De Freitas Wetland was one of the many ponds of Prospect Creek. On a map today, the creeks resemble three fingers creeping out westward from the river.

Fairfield City is mainly residential in nature with large-scale industrial estates at Wetherill Park and Smithfield. Fairfield Showground is an important cultural venue. Prominent roads such as Cumberland Highway and The Horsley Drive wind through it. Wetherill Park is listed as one of the five most leafiest suburbs in Sydney by the Domain Group, being the only suburb in Western Sydney to be listed (since most leafy suburbs are within Northern Sydney).

Suburbs

Suburbs in the City of Fairfield are:

• Abbotsbury
• Bonnyrigg
• Bonnyrigg Heights
• Bossley Park
• Cabramatta
• Cabramatta West
• Canley Heights
• Canley Vale
• Carramar
• Cecil Park (shared with the City of Liverpool)
• Edensor Park
• Fairfield (with a small part in Cumberland Council)
• Fairfield East
• Fairfield Heights
• Fairfield West
• Greenfield Park
• Horsley Park
• Lansvale
• Mount Pritchard (with a small part in City of Liverpool)
• Old Guildford
• Prairiewood
• Smithfield (shared with Cumberland Council)
• St Johns Park
• Wakeley
• Wetherill Park
• Yennora (shared with Cumberland Council)

History

For more than 30,000 years, Aboriginal people from the Cabrogal–Gandangara tribe have lived in the area.

1850s–1920s

European settlement began early in the 19th century and was supported by railway construction in 1856. One of Sydney's oldest trees, the Bland Oak, was planted in the 1830s in Carramar. At the turn of the 20th century the area had a population of 2,500 people and with fertile soils, produced crops for distribution in Sydney. The council was first incorporated as the Municipal District of Smithfield and Fairfield on 8 December 1888, becoming the Municipality of Smithfield and Fairfield from 1906. In December 1901, a major bushfire emerged from what is now Fairfield Heights through to the railway line at Canley Vale, where it destroyed many houses in its path as its crossed creeks, and also annihilated acres of vines and orchards between St Johns Park and Fairfield. On 26 October 1920, the council's name was changed to the Municipality of Fairfield, in recognition of the changing centre of business in the council area.

1940s–1970s

The Cabramatta Civic Hall, completed in 1944 to a design by J. A. Dobson, was the Cabramatta and Canley Vale seat from 1944 to 1948 and the Fairfield Council seat from 1949. Rapid population increase after World War II saw the settlement of many ex-service men and European migrants. Large scale Housing Commission development in the 1950s swelled the population to 38,000. From 1 January 1949, under the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948, the 'Municipality of Cabramatta and Canley Vale' was amalgamated into the Municipality of Fairfield. In the , the population had reached 114,000 and was becoming one of the larger local government areas in New South Wales. On 18 May 1979, the Municipality of Fairfield was granted city status, becoming the City of Fairfield.

2000s–present

On Friday 29 June 2001 the former deputy mayor of Fairfield and councillor from 1987 to 1998, Phuong Ngo, was convicted of the 1994 murder of the local state MP for Cabramatta (and former deputy mayor), John Newman, a crime which has been described as Australia's first political assassination. Ngo's alleged accomplices, Quang Dao and David Dinh, were acquitted and the identity of the killer who shot and fatally wounded Newman remains a mystery. Controversy has arisen in the years since then of the presence of Ngo's name on various council plaques from his time on council. In September 2006, Fairfield Council announced the introduction of a trial ban on spitting in public on public health grounds. However, it was reported that advice provided to council from NSW Health was that spitting does not impact on the transmission of infectious diseases. The law proved difficult to prosecute.

In April 2024, the first terrorist attack in Western Sydney's soil occurred at a Wakeley church, where an Islamic extremist stabbed bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and five others, though all survived the attack. In 2024, Following the decision by Woolworths, Big W and Aldi not to stock extra items for Australia Day, Fairfield City Council resolved to provide free Australia Day merchandise to residents.

Business and industry

Fairfield is a centre of manufacturing and distribution for Greater Western Sydney and home to the Smithfield-Wetherill Park Industrial Estate, which is the largest industrial zone in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also home to the Yennora industrial zone, where key operators in the area include Toll, Woolworths, Linfox, Australian Wool Handlers, Qube and Hume Building Products.

Heritage listings

The City of Fairfield has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• Bonnyrigg, Cartwright Street: Bonnyrigg House
• Bonnyrigg, Lot 1 Cartwright Street: Male Orphan School land
• Fairfield, Great Southern railway: Fairfield railway station, Sydney
• Horsley Park, 52–58 Jamieson Close: Horsley complex
• Lansvale, Hume Highway: Lansdowne Bridge

Demographics

At the there were people in the Fairfield local government area, of these 49.3 per cent were male and 50.7 per cent were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.7 per cent of the population; significantly below the NSW and Australian averages of 3.4 and 3.2 per cent respectively. The median age of people in the City of Fairfield was 39 years; slightly higher than the national median of 38 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 17.9 per cent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 16.7 per cent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 46.5 per cent were married and 12.9 per cent were either divorced or separated.

Population in the City of Fairfield between the and the declined by 0.78 per cent; and in the subsequent five years to the , population growth was 4.38 per cent. At the 2016 census, the population in the City increased by 5.89 per cent. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same period, being 8.8 per cent, population growth in the Fairfield local government area was a little over half the national average.

The median weekly income for residents within the City of Fairfield was lower than the national average, being one of the factors that place the city in an area of social disadvantage.

As at the 2016 census, the influence of Vietnamese culture and language was statistically strong, evidenced by the proportion of residents with Vietnamese ancestry (nearly twenty times higher than the national average), the proportion of residents who spoke Vietnamese as either a first or second language (also nearly twenty times higher than the national average), and the proportion of residents who stated a religious affiliation with Catholicism and Buddhism (the latter being in excess of nine times the national average).

Council

Current composition and election method

Fairfield City Council is composed of thirteen councillors, including the mayor, for a fixed four-year term of office. The mayor has been directly elected since 2004, while the twelve other Councillors are elected proportionally to two separate wards, each electing six councillors. The most recent election was held on 2 December 2021, and the makeup of the council, including the mayor, is as follows:

The current Council, elected in 2021, in order of election by ward, is:

Past composition

Mayors

Main article: List of mayors of Fairfield

Election results

2024

2021

Town Clerks/General Manager/City Managers

Sister cities

• Italy Palmi, Italy
• China Zhenjiang, China

References

References

1. [http://www.fairfieldcity.nsw.gov.au/info/20038/snapshot_of_fairfield_city/261/smithfield-wetherill_park Smithfield-Wetherill Park]
2. (2009). "Cabrogal to Fairfield City: A History of a Multicultural Community". Fairfield City Council.
3. Emily Lawrence Gazal. (15 June 2015). "Leafy suburbs around Sydney". [[Domain Group]].
4. Tindale, Norman Barnett. (1974). "Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names". [[Australian National University Press]].
5. (11 December 1888). "Government Gazette Proclamations and Legislation". New South Wales Government Gazette.
6. Stephen Gapps. (2009). "Cabrogal to Fairfield City: A History of a Multicultural Community". Fairfield City Council.
7. (29 October 1920). "LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1919.". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales.
8. (24 June 1943). "CABRA. COUNCIL CHAMBERS". [[The Biz (newspaper).
9. Master Builders' Federation of Australia. and Illuminating Engineering Society of Australia (N.S.W.). Building and engineering 1942 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-319042287
10. "Cabramatta Civic Hall". NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.
11. (2000). "Sydney's Century: A History". UNSW Press.
12. (18 May 1979). "LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1919.—PROCLAMATION". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales.
13. Frost, Carleen. (6 May 2009). "Political assassin Phuong Ngo honoured all over Fairfield".
14. (5 September 2014). "Phuong Ngo murders rival John Newman in Australia's first political assassination in 1994". Herald Sun.
15. (3 September 2014). "John Newman murder: Downfall of a merciless crime lord saved soul of Cabramatta".
16. (4 September 2006). "Sydney council trials ban on spitting". ABC News.
17. Watson, Rhett. (21 August 2009). "Laws powerless to prosecute spitting in the street". The Daily Telegraph.
18. Hagias, Matt. (24 January 2013). "Spitting fines could return". The Daily Telegraph.
19. (2024-04-15). "Man in custody, four people injured in alleged stabbing incident at Sydney church". ABC News.
20. Segaert, Anthony. (2024-01-15). "The Sydney council that's stepping in to offer Australia Day paraphernalia".
21. [https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/south-west/dont-forget-the-southern-hemispheres-largest-industrial-zone/news-story/479f600dcc096d0325ad60fab0372f99 Don’t forget the Southern Hemisphere’s Largest Industrial Zone] ''[[Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Daily Telegraph]]'' 13 November 2015
22. [https://theurbandeveloper.com/articles/yennora-industrial-site-set-carve Yennora Industrial Site Set For Carve Up]; theurbandeveloper.com; 21 Sep 2015
23. {{cite NSW SHR. 5045030. Bonnyrigg House
24. {{cite NSW SHR. 5045743. Land Next to Male Orphan School
25. {{cite NSW SHR. 5012008. Fairfield Railway Station group
26. {{cite NSW SHR. 5045518. Horsley complex (homestead, outbuildings, garden, farm)
27. {{cite NSW SHR. 5051374. Lansdowne Bridge
28. {{Census 2001 AUS
29. {{Census 2006 AUS
30. {{Census 2011 AUS
31. {{Census 2016 AUS
32. {{Census 2021 AUS
33. Green, Antony. "City of Fairfield". ABC News.
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37. (5 May 2021). "Fairfield council election, 2021". The Tally Room.
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39. (9 April 1889). "MUNICIPAL DISTRICT OF SMITHFIELD AND FAIRFIELD". New South Wales Government Gazette.
40. (8 September 1891). "MUNICIPAL DISTRICT OF SMITHFIELD AND FAIRFIELD.". New South Wales Government Gazette.
41. (7 February 1935). "FAIRFIELD'S FIRST MAYOR". [[The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate]].
42. (8 November 1892). "MUNICIPALITY OF SMITHFIELD AND FAIRFIELD". New South Wales Government Gazette.
43. (27 July 1900). "MUNICIPALITY OF SMITHFIELD AND FAIRFIELD". New South Wales Government Gazette.
44. (21 April 1925). "MR. R. S. DUMMETT". The Sydney Morning Herald.
45. (8 April 1916). "THE NEW TOWN CLERK". The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers' Advocate.
46. (6 March 1941). "MR. G. DAVIS TO RETIRE". The Clarence River Advocate.
47. (13 August 1942). "Tribute to Town Clerk.". The Biz.
48. (26 December 1950). "MR. GEORGE DAVIS". Northern Star.
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50. (28 May 1953). "TOWN CLERK RESIGNS". The Biz.
51. (2 July 1953). "FAREWELL PRESENTATIONS". The Biz.
52. (6 August 1976). "NOTICE OF RESUMPTION OF LAND BY FAIRFIELD MUNICIPAL COUNCIL.—LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1919". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales.
53. (5 December 1986). "FAIRFIELD CITY COUNCIL.—Local Government Act 1919 (Section 269A)". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales.
54. (3 April 1992). "FAIRFIELD CITY COUNCIL". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales.
55. (23 October 1998). "FAIRFIELD CITY COUNCIL". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales.
56. General Manager from 1992 and City Manager from 1998
57. "Senior Staff". Fairfield City Council.
58. "Fairfield City Council".