Woolwich, New South Wales

Woolwich is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woolwich is located 11 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Hunter's Hill.

Woolwich sits on the peninsula between the Lane Cove River and the Parramatta River, jutting out from Hunters Hill.

History
The suburb's name is derived from its namesake Woolwich, by the banks of the Thames in London. Parramatta River had been known as the 'Thames of the Antipodes' and other nearby suburbs were also named after Thames localities of Greenwich, Putney and Henley.

The area's Aboriginal name is 'Mookaboola' or 'Moocooboola', which means meeting of waters. An early settler was John Clarke, who bought land here in 1834 and is responsible for naming Clarke's Point. Samuel Onion was another early land owner with an ironmongery business and he gave the suburb its first name 'Onion Point' in 1835.

The world's first, union-led green ban was placed on the suburb. Jack Mundey and his followers in the Builder's Labourers Federation did not support the destruction of local habitat. They eventually won their battle and 'Kelly's Bush' remains today.

Demographics
In the 2006 Australian Bureau of Statistics Census of Population and Housing, the population of Woolwich stood at 812 people, 51.5% female and 48.5% male, and with a Median age of 49 years. 19.2% of the population was born overseas with England (5%), Hong Kong (1.8%) and New Zealand (1.7%) the most common. The five strongest religious affiliations in the area were in descending order: Catholic (29.6%), Anglican (23.4%), no religion (15%), Uniting Church (2.8%) and Presbyterian and Reformed (2.8%).

Woolwich's population is typically wealthy, with a median weekly household income of $2,507, compared with $1,027 in Australia. The most common types of occupation for employed persons were Professionals (38.5%), Managers (22.4%), and Clerical and Administrative Workers (16.4%). 64.2% of the suburbs occupied private dwellings were family households, 17.8% were lone person households and there were no group households.

Politics
Woolwich is in the federal electoral division of North Sydney. This seat was won by Joe Hockey, the current Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing at the 1996 federal election and retained most recently in the 2007 federal election. North Sydney is one of only two original divisions in New South Wales, along with Wentworth, which have never been held by the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

For NSW state elections, Woolwich is in the Electoral district of Lane Cove. As of 2003 this seat is held by Liberal MP Anthony Roberts, who was last re-elected in the 2007 state election except for the March 2011 NSW State election.

Prominent Residents
Arthur Chesterfield-Evans was previously a resident of Woolwich.

Schools
Marist Sisters' College, Woolwich and Woolwich Public School.