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Canterbury-Bankstown

Canterbury-Bankstown is a general term used to describe the area located around the Bankstown railway line. The suburbs of the Canterbury-Bankstown region are not specific to the local government areas of City of Canterbury and the City of Bankstown but includes many of them. The Georges River acts as the southern boundary of this region.

History

The original inhabitants of Canterbury and Bankstown were the Gweagal, Bidjigal, (also known as Bediagal) and a small portion of the Dharug people.

Five years after the First Fleet arrived in Sydney Cove in 1788, a man by the name of Rev Richard Johnson, a chaplain aboard the First Fleet, was the first to receive a land grant of 40 hectares in what is now known as the 'Canterbury-Bankstown region'. The land was located in the Ashbury-Hurlstone Park area. He named his estate 'Canterbury Vale', presumably after the See of Canterbury in England. The date of the grant was May 1793 although he (Johnson) occupied the land months earlier. Johnson also cultivated land around his cottage in Bridge St Sydney and at another location called the Brickfield near Central Station. Johnson was praised by Watkin Tench as being one of the best farmers in the colony.

The first ambulance to service the area was in 1908. It was called the 'Canterbury District Ambulance Corps' and it used volunteers to transport patients to the hospital. A stretcher on wheels with a hooded cover over it (hand litter) was used to transport patiants to the Western Suburbs Hospital. If a patient lived in an area around Belmore, the hand litter was transported by train from Campsie to Belmore, then it was pushed along the rough unsealed roads to the patients home, back to Belmore station, then taken by train to Campsie Station and along the streets to hospital.

The Canterbury District Memorial Hospital commenced business on the 26th Oct 1929. The hospital was opened by Secretary for Public Works Buttenshaw. Prior to the opening of the the hospital [in Canterbury], residents attended the Western Suburbs Hospital or the cottage hospital located in Marrickville, which was established in 1895.

In 1940, the events of WWII were made known to the residents of the Canterbury-Bankstown region. Men and women who were drafted were required to report for duty at a drill hall located on Canterbury Road Belmore. Camps were set up in Canterbury Race Course and surrounding parks in the region. In that same year thousands of Australian troops traveled along the goods line to Darling Harbour, ready to embark for the Middle East. In 1940 the department of Civil Aviation purchased 250 hectares of land in Bankstown for the construction of Bankstown Airport and an RAAF Station was formed. The facility was a secondary airport to Mascot Airport. In 1942 a command center and bunker that included a tunnel leading to Bankstown Airport was established on Black Charles Hill. The bunker was manned by an RAAF unit named No. 1 Fighter sector. The bunker was of semi underground construction, its walls were 1.5 metres thick. The main ops room was two stories in hight and had a large map on the wall denoting troop positions in the South West Pacific theater of World War II.

In 1941 WAAAF's were posted to Bankstown. The women were trained as clerks, wireless telegraphists, mess orderlies, drill instructors and drivers, a portion of these women were assigned to work in the command centre (Bankstown Bunker) located on Black Charlies Hill. In 1942, Belmore House, the current sight of today's Roselands Shopping Centre was used by the Australian Army for the training of troops. Tents on the property were used to house an infantry battalion and an ambulance corps. The site was vacated after a year. Units of the US Air Force were based in Bankstown after 1942, earning the suburb the nickname 'Yankstown'. During that same year 16 US fighter planes that were based at Bankstown airport flew over Canterbury racecourse at low altitude during a race meet. This was to let the Australian public, especially those of the district to know that they, there allies were there for their protection. Regardless of these events, punters were annoyed at the disruption caused. A horse that took fright had to be destroyed and the club protested this event to air force head quarters.

From 1944 to 1945 a Volunteer Air Observer Corps operated in Bankstown. These volunteers were both male and female, were of 15 to 60 years of age and were given several weeks training. There were over 300 volunteers who worked in shifts that the air force called 'flights' 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This freed RAAF personnel for other duties. In 1945 Bankstown Airport was occupied by the British Fleet Air Arm, known as HMS Nabberley, and the the RAAF by 1946.

Character

The Canterbury-Bankstown region is characterised by high-density housing towards the east and larger family homes towards the west with large natural parklands toward the south, such as those around Salt Pan Creek. Suburbs within the region have a multicultural nature.

The region is regarded by some as the poor relation of Sydney's trendy Inner West region. Young families and couples are opting to live in the Canterbury-Bankstown region as a cheaper alternative to living in Sydney's Inner West, whilst at the same time residents of the region are suffering heavily from mortgagee repossession which is forcing poorer families to move into Sydney's Outer Western suburbs.

Suburbs

The Canterbury-Bankstown region is not an exact area, although the following suburbs are usually agreed to be a part of the region:

Commercial Areas

The biggest commercial areas in the Canterbury-Bankstown area are located at Bankstown, Campsie and Roselands. Bankstown is the largest central business district in the region and features a large shopping centre called Centro Bankstown. Roselands also features a large shopping centre called Centro Roselands. The Canterbury-Bankstown region also has a variety of Vietnamese, Lebanese, Greek, Italian, Spanish, African and Australian restaurants, delicatessens, sweet shops, grocery and fresh food markets.

Transport

Canterbury, Liverpool and Punchbowl Roads are the main roads through the area. Public transport in the region includes trains and buses. CityRail's Bankstown railway line runs in a loop from Central station via Campsie to Bankstown and back again via Strathfield. CityRail's East Hills Rail way line runs from central and terminates at East Hills station. The East Hills also has services to Sydney airport. There are various bus routes provided largely by Sydney Buses and privately owned company Veolia.

Education

The Canterbury-Bankstown area houses the Bankstown Campus of the University of Western Sydney.

Population

Like Sydney's inner west, Canterbury-Bankstown is multi-cultural. There are many people from Vietnamese, Lebanese, Greek, Italian, Spanish and African backgrounds. This is also reflected in the variety and style of many local businesses, includng a variety of cuisines.

Notable former residents include the former Prime Ministers John Howard and Paul Keating and Olympian Ian Thorpe .

Organisations

The Canterbury-Bankstown Rugby League Football Club
Canterbury-Bankstown Express, local newspaper
Canterbury-Bankstown Migrant Resorce Centre

Politics

The region covers two local government area. The City of Canterbury takes its name from the suburb of Canterbury but its administrative centre is located in the adjacent suburb of Campsie which is also a large commercial centre. The City of Bankstown has its administrative centre in the suburb of Bankstown.