Burwood, New South Wales

Burwood is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Burwood is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of Burwood Council.

Burwood Heights is a separate suburb to the south. The Appian Way is a street in Burwood, famous for its architecturally designed Federation-style homes.

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 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. He called his property Burwood Farm after Burwood Park, England. Following more Land grants, his estate increased to 750 acre stretching from Parramatta Road to Nicholson Street and The Boulevarde to Croydon railway station. 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 came through, Burwood was one of the first six stops on the Sydney-to-Parramatta route. This led to a huge growth in population. In 1874, the area became a municipality.

National Estate
The following buildings are on the Register of the National Estate
 * Congregational Church, Burwood Road
 * Post Office, Burwood Road
 * St Paul's Anglican Church, 205 Burwood Road
 * Houses, 201-203 Burwood Road
 * St Cloud, 223 Burwood Road

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.

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 railway station is on the Inner West line, Northern line and Western Line of the CityRail network.

Sydney Buses provide many bus services to Burwood, from Hurstville, Rockdale, Bondi Junction, Strathfield, Homebush, Campsie, Ryde as well as many other locations across Sydney. Sydney Buses has two terminuses, Burwood station and Westfield Burwood. Sydney Buses Burwood Bus Depot is located on the corner of Shaftesbury and Parramatta Roads.

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. Nearby Woodstock in Church St was built in the early 1870s by tobacco manufacturer Edwin Penfold. In the 1940s, it was taken over by the army, later becoming a 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, and Gayton, built in 1888 by NSW parliamentarian Richard Jones. The heritage listed St Nectarios Greek Orthodox Church in Railway Parade was formerly a Methodist church.

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 it is state heritage listed. In the centre of the Appian Way is a communal reserve which was converted into a lawn tennis club.

Parks
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. Burwood Park is located on Burwood Road opposite Westfield Burwood

Demographics


In 2006, there were over 11,000 people in Burwood on census night and the vast majority were born overseas. Only 31.9% were born in Australia with the other major countries of birth being mainland China (21.5%), South Korea (4.8%), India (3.8%), Hong Kong (3.0%) and Italy (3.0%). The area had a high number of apartments (51.3%) and a high number of people renting (42.6%). The area had a higher unemployment rate (8.5%) than the national average at the time (5.2%) with the most common industries of employment being Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services (5.8%), Legal and Accounting Services (4.1%) and Hospitals (3.4%)

Notable residents
Three former Australian prime ministers have lived in Burwood: Other notable residents include:
 * George Reid
 * Earle Page
 * William McMahon
 * Novelist Eleanor Dark was born in Burwood although moved away at a young age
 * Clare Dennis, gold medallist in the 200m breaststroke at the 1932 Summer Olympics was born in the suburb.
 * Sir Norman McAlister Gregg, the ophthalmologist who discovered the link between rubella and birth defects was born in Burwood.
 * Doug Sutherland, former lord mayor of Sydney
 * Angus and Malcolm Young from AC/DC grew up in Burwood.
 * Charles Smith Wilkinson Spent his last days in Burwood (Ref)
 * Serial killer William MacDonald once owned and lived in a store in Burwood, where he murdered and castrated one of his victims.