Regions of Sydney

As with many major cities, residents of Sydney, known throughout Australia as 'Sydneysiders', refer to different regions of the City by different names. These areas do not always correspond directly to official boundaries of suburbs, or local government authorities, but instead refer to broader, and occasionally less well defined, areas.

This wiki has not yet crystallised Sydney regions for purposes of categorising. One possible guide is that we could use the three regions recognised by NSW GenWeb, based on the Department of Local Government's informal divisions. However, the outermost of those, called "Sydney Surrounds", is about 370 km from end to end, extending from Wyong to Wollondilly, with an average width of about 100 km, which seems unlikely to be useful as a single region for categorising. Sydney Inner, by contrast, is about 70 km end-to-end.

The following is a brief description of the regions of Sydney, with substantial overlaps. It may help researchers to narrow down a search. The list starts with the heart of the region then lists the others alphabetically.

City
Composed of the local government area of the City of Sydney.

Suburbs include Glebe, Potts Point, and The Rocks.

Canterbury-Bankstown
The suburbs of Canterbury-Bankstown region are not specific to the LGAs of Canterbury and Bankstown but are approximately north-west of southern Canterbury, south-west of Lidcombe and north-east of Bankstown.

Eastern Suburbs
Composed of the local government areas of the City of Randwick, Waverley Council, City of Botany Bay, and the Municipality of Woollahra.

Suburbs include Bronte, Bellevue Hill, and Point Piper.

The Forest
These suburbs are located within the local government area of Warringah Council but are also often included in the Northern Beaches or Upper North Shore regions.

Greater Western Sydney
Greater Western Sydney includes the 14 local government areas covered by the New South Wales government's Office of the Minister for Western Sydney and the Greater Western Sydney Economic Development Board. These are Auburn, Bankstown, Baulkham Hills, Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Camden, Campbelltown, Fairfield, Hawkesbury, Holroyd, Liverpool, Parramatta, Penrith and Wollondilly

The Hills
These suburbs are generally located within the local government area of Baulkham Hills Shire but parts of the City of Parramatta, City of Blacktown, and Hornsby Shire are also included in the area.

Inner West
Composed of the local government areas of the Marrickville Council, City of Canterbury, Municipality of Ashfield, Burwood Council, Municipality of Strathfield, City of Canada Bay and the Municipality of Leichhardt.

Suburbs include Balmain, Strathfield, and Cabarita.

Lower North Shore
Composed of the local government areas of the City of Willoughby, North Sydney Council, Municipality of Mosman, Municipality of Lane Cove, City of Ryde, and the Municipality of Hunter's Hill.

Suburbs include Mosman, Hunters Hill, and Cremorne Point.

Macarthur
Macarthur is a region to the south-west of Sydney that includes the city of Campbelltown, as well as the town of Camden and Wollondilly Shire.

Northern Beaches
Composed of the local government areas of Manly Council, Warringah Council, and the Pittwater Council.

Suburbs include Manly, Palm Beach, and Seaforth.

Northern Suburbs
This area includes suburbs in the local government areas of Hornsby Shire, City of Ryde, City of Parramatta and Municipality of Hunters Hill.

Southern Sydney
Composed of the local government areas of the City of Rockdale, City of Hurstville, Municipality of Kogarah and the Sutherland Shire.

Suburbs include Kyle Bay, Kangaroo Point, and Cronulla.

South-eastern Sydney
Includes suburbs within the Local Government Areas of City of Sydney, City of Botany Bay and Randwick and falls approximately within the Federal Division of Kingsford Smith.

South-western Sydney
South-western Sydney can be used to describe the suburbs found in the local government areas of the City of Canterbury, City of Bankstown, City of Liverpool, City of Fairfield, City of Campbelltown and Camden Council.

St George
The area includes all the suburbs in the local government areas of the City of Hurstville, the City of Rockdale and the Municipality of Kogarah.

Upper North Shore
Composed of the local government areas of the Ku-ring-gai Council and the Hornsby Shire.

Suburbs include Killara, Cheltenham and Pymble.

Western Sydney
Composed of the local government areas of the City of Bankstown, City of Fairfield, City of Parramatta, Auburn Council, City of Liverpool, City of Campbelltown, Camden Council, City of Penrith, City of Blacktown, Baulkham Hills Shire and the City of Holroyd.

Suburbs include Bella Vista, Glenhaven, Kenthurst and Macquarie Fields.