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The Municipality of Strathfield is a Local Government Municipal Area of New South Wales, Australia, near Sydney. Though a disasterous attempt was made to farm the land by the first settlers, it later became a wealthy and exclusive area for the elite and the rich. Over the years it has become a major multicultural centre, having many different nationalities in it's 14.1 km2 boundaries, of which the 3 largest non-Australian born groups are South Korean, Chinese and Sri Lankan.
History
Main article: History of the Strathfield area
Strathfield council chambers (c. 1915) were built on a shoestring budget. The Municipality of Strathfield was first formed in August 1887, not long after the suburb of Strathfield was proclaimed on June 2, 1885. The council opened their Council Chambers in 1887. As the council was run by businessmen, they refused to build an adjoined Town Hall for some time and it was only in 1923 that this was finally built. The council soon annexed the Flemington district and in doing so doubled the number of residents they needed provide infrastructure for.
Several attempts at amalgamating the council have been made: the first happened with The Greater Sydney Movement, where many influential people such as Sidney Webb and John Daniel Fitzgerald believed that most of Sydney should be merged into a single Sydney area. This was extremely unpopular with both residents and many councils, including Strathfield council, and though bills were raised in State parliament in 1912, 1927 and 1931 they failed to gather any real support and the attempt to force amalgamation failed. In 1947 Homebush and Strathfield councils merged and part of Enfield was added. In 1974 two reports, one by J.C. Barnett and the other from the State Boundaries Commission, recommended that Ashfield, Drummoyne, Burwood and Concorde should amalgamate with Strathfield. This was energetically opposed by residents and council alderman and this amalgamation also did not come to fruition. In 1992, a section of the northern part of the Municipality was transferred to the Auburn Council area. In return, the area of and between Boundary Creek and the railway line, occupied by the former Ford factory building, was transferred from Auburn to Strathfield Council.
On August 17th, 1991, seven people were killed, when Wade Frankum stabbed a fifteen year-old girl to death, before running amok with a rifle in the Strathfield Plaza shopping mall, and then turning the weapon on himself. This is commonly known as the Strathfield Massacre and it shocked the nation.
In 2004 the then Mayor of the Municipality of Strathfield, Alfred Tsang, stepped down when he was caught on film accepting money from a property developer.
Culture
Strathfield has a wide mix of people groups, with about 48% of the population born overseas. As a result there are many services for newly arrived immigrants, and many overseas students live in the area. Some of the organisations that are located in the Municipality of Strathfield are the Russian Ethnic Community Council of NSW Inc, which provides access to information and referral to mainstream services to recent immigrants of Russian and Russian speaking background and disseminates information to remote and offshore areas on a number of issues [1] (http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/36693/20040615/www.russiansinaustralia.org.au/RECC_documents/Info_serv.htm) and the Sydney Tamil Resource Centre Inc, which provides resources to Tamil immigrants.
In the 90s Strathfield saw a large influx of Korean immigrants, mainly due to its proximity to Campsie — which also had experienced an influx of Koreans into the area — and a boom in numbers of International Students. There are now numerous Korean restaurants and shops in the area.
There are various community organisations in the Muncipality. Strathfield has a local Rotary club, which provides community support and assistance via various projects in the area [2] (http://www.rotarnet.com.au/strathfield) and a Musical Society, which The normally produces two shows a year in the Latvian Theatre in Strathfield. Their main social activity is rehearsing twice weekly and they present seven performances of their musical production over two weekends. Strathfield Lantern Club Voluntary is located in Strathfield and provides fundraising organisation for raising funds specifically for the Royal Institute for Deaf & Blind Children in North Rocks, NSW.
The Municipality has a local library in Homebush and a branch library in Strathfield South. The central library, located in Homebush, was demolished in find out and temporarily located in Fitzgerald Park, Strathfield. A brand new library was built and officially opened in find out.
Politics
Traditionally, the Municipality of Strathfield has fought amalgamation of their area with other councils, though they annexed parts of the Lidcome Municipality in 1822, merged parts of the Enfield area in 1945 and volutarily merged with the Municipality of Homebush in May 1947. However, they strenuously objected to a push to amalgamate the councils into one mega-council, known as The Greater Sydney Movement, that happened from the early part of the 1890s till the later half of the 1930s. In 1983 it was recommended by the NSW State Boundaries Commission that Strathfield be amalgamated into Burwood, however a great deal of uproar greeted this plan and after the then mayor, Clarrie Edwards, spoke in well attended public meetings the state government abandoned the plan due to a great deal of opposition from residents of the area. In 2003 another proposal was made to merge the Municipality of Burwood with the Municipality of Strathfield. Although the councils were willing to merge, the residents in the community were not, and the merger never proceded.
Strathfield Mayor, Alfred Tsang, was forced to step down after photos of him accepting cash were published in The Australian newspaper. On December 20, 2004, Strathfield council's mayor, Alfred Tsang stepped down over allegations of corruption. Pictures had been published in The Australian of him accepting a wad of $100 bills from a developer, Michael Saklawi. However, it was not clear why the money was given to him, though it was alleged that he was talking to Mr Saklawi about the redevelopment of a 800sqm council-owned carpark [3] (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11737987%255E601,00.html). Mr Tsang had previously released a statement that "Councils need to take leadership roles in this area, we simply cannot continue to support unsustainable development, for the sake of our children, grandchildren and the future environment, we need to make changes now." [4] (http://www.strathfield.nsw.gov.au/council/22/1031552093_14092.html) According to the Australian he was heard to have said that "Basically, we get it for nothing," Mr Tsang says. "I am making Strathfield a better place ... I am doing it for the area." [5] (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11737987%255E601,00.html) Strathfield council soon afterwards released a press statement that it "will not and does not" tolerate misconduct. [6] (http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Mayor-faces-suspension-of-cash-wad-claim/2004/12/20/1103391680082.html) The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is currently investigating whether claims developers were given inside information about land rezoning proposals put to Strathfield Council have any substance and the pictures taken by The Australian were handed to them for further investigation.
According to Anne Davies, who reports for the Sydney Morning Herald, "behind the Strathfield saga is a ferocious battle among developers for sites. These developers are not from the big end of town; they are locals - many are Lebanese - who regard the inner west as their development playground." She has alleged that more corruption may be revealed as the new year progresses. (Davies, SMH, pg. 4)
Geography
The Muncipality of Strathfield is located at 33°52'10" North, 151°5'59" West (33.8717, 151.0899).
The municipality covers a total area of approximately 14.1 square kilometres and includes the suburbs of Strathfield, Strathfield South, Homebush, Homebush West, part of Enfield, part of Belfield and part of Greenacre [7] (http://www.dlg.nsw.gov.au/dlg/dlghome/dlg_Regions.asp?regiontype=2&slacode=7100®ion=SI). Homebush Bay Drive bounds the Municipality of Strathfield to the north, Powells Creek, The Boulevarde and Coronation Parade bounds it to the east, Punchbowl Road and Juno Parade form the southern border and Roberts Road, Chullora rail yards, Rookwood Cemetery and the Sydney Olympic Park Rail line bound the Municipality to the west.
For NSW state elections, the Municipality of Strathfield is in the State Electoral District of Strathfield.
Demographics and statistics
See also: Demographics of the Municipality of Strathfield.
Overseas-born birthplaces based on 2001 Australian Census data for the Strathfield LGA The estimated resident population as of June 2003 was 30,220 (Aust. Bureau of Statistics). The Strathfield Local Government Area is a culturally diverse region. The 2001 Census recorded the population of the Municipality as 27,956 — an increase of 8.1% since the 1996 Census. Of the total area, the census showed that 46% of the people stated that they were Australian-born. The number of people born overseas was 13,521 (48% of the total population) compared with 11,386 (44% of the total population) in 1996 and 10,176 (40% of the total population) in 1991. Of those born overseas the three main countries of birth were the Republic of Korea (South) — 1750 people (6.3%); China (excluding SARs and Taiwan) — 1632 people (5.9%) and Sri Lanka — 1544 people (5.5%).
References
- Australian Bureau of Statistics (2003). The people of New South Wales. Statistics from the 2001 Census. Joint publication of the NSW State Government (Community Relations Commission) & the Australian Federal Government (Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs).
- Davies, Anne (December 21, 2004). Design rules for developments won't block out ground-floor corruption. Sydney Morning Herald.
- History Records of Australia, 1/1
- Jones, Cathy (2004). Strathfield - origin of the name (http://www.strathfieldhistory.org.au/Locality%20names.htm). Retrieved October 4, 2004.
- Jones, Michael (1985). Oasis in the West: Strathfield's first hundred years. North Sydney: Allen & Unwin Australia. ISBN 0-86861-407-6.
- Mayor stands down over cash wad claim (http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Mayor-faces-suspension-of-cash-wad-claim/2004/12/20/1103391680082.html) (December 20, 2004). Sydney Morning Herald.
- Sexton, Jennifer (December 20, 2004). Video cash mayor steps down (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11737987%255E601,00.html). The Australian.
- Strathfield Municipal Council, About our Local Government Area (http://www.strathfield.nsw.gov.au/about/01/1031535267_1899.html). Retrieved October 8, 2004.
- Strathfield Municipal Council, Message from the Mayor of Strathfield, Cr Alfred Tsang (http://www.strathfield.nsw.gov.au/council/22/1031552093_14092.html). Retrieved January 20, 2005.
- New South Wales State Electoral Office. State Electoral District Of Strathfield (http://www.seo.nsw.gov.au/electoral_districts_menu/district_index/strathfield.html). Retrieved October 17, 2004.
- Bureau of Crime and Statistics, NSW Recorded Crime Statistics - Strathfield LGA, as PDF (http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/bocsar1.nsf/files/StrathfieldLGA.pdf), or as Excel spreadsheet (http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/bocsar1.nsf/files/StrathfieldLGA.xls).
External links
| Maps and aerial photos
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| Street Map 1 (http://www.street-directory.com.au/aus_new/index.cgi?CountryName=nsw&x=151.0899&y=-33.8717&level=5) |Street Map 2 (http://www.whereis.com.au/whereis/mapping/renderMapAddress.do?street=a%20map&suburb=&state=1&latitude=-33.8717&longitude=151.0899&navId=8&requiredZoomLevel=2) | Satellite Photo (http://terraserver.com/imagery/image_gx.asp?cpx=151.0899&cpy=-33.8717&res=8&provider_id=350)
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