South Hurstville, New South Wales

South Hurstville is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 18 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. It is part of the St George area. South Hurstville is in the local government area of the Georges River Council. Hurstville and Hurstville Grove are separate neighbouring suburbs.

History
The Hurstville area was granted to Captain John Townson and his brother Robert Townson in 1808; Captain Townson was granted 1950 acre which was on the land now occupied by the suburb of Hurstville and parts of Bexley, while Robert was granted the land which is now occupied by Penshurst, Mortdale, and parts of Peakhurst. The next year, Captain Townson was granted an additional 250 acre in the area now occupied by Kingsgrove and Beverly Hills. The Townson brothers, however, were not happy with the heavily timbered land that they were given because it was not suitable for the farming of sheep for wool; consequently, it is likely that the brothers never occupied their land.

The land was sold to a wealthy merchant named Simeon Lord (1771–1840) in 1812, who called his land Lord's Bush. When Simeon Lord died, the land became the property of John Rose Holden and James Holt of the Bank of N.S.W.

The land was sold to Michael Gannon (1800–61) in 1850 and became known as Gannon's Forest. The Gannon's Forest post office opened in 1881. The local school was known as Hurstville by School Inspector MacIntyre in 1876. When the railway arrived in 1884, the station took the name "Hurstville" from the school. Hurstville municipality was incorporated in 1887.

Commercial area
South Hurstville is a mainly residential area with a few commercial developments, most of which are located on King Georges Road. A shopping strip is located on King Georges Road around the intersection of Connells Point Road. The Kings Head Tavern is a well-known landmark on one of the corners. An IGA (Australian supermarket group) Supa supermarket, McDonald's restaurant, Totally Beautiful Beauty Salon beauty and skin care centre, Eagle Boys Pizza take away, and another small shopping strip are accessible from Greenacre Road. A 7-Eleven store is located opposite the Greenacre Road shops. Some of the landmark buildings of the past such as banks and picture theatre have found new uses as office space and a Civic Video shop.

Places of worship

 * St Marks Anglican Church
 * South Hurstville Uniting Church
 * South Hurstville Christian Brethren Church
 * St Raphael's Catholic Church
 * South Hurstville Musallah, which is run by a community descended from Iaal, Lebanon

Schools
Hurstville South Public School is located on Maher Street; St. Raphael's Catholic Primary School, on George Street.

Transport
Veolia Transport runs services through South Hurstville. Routes 970 & 971 Miranda via Sylvania Heights and Sylvania Heights to Hurstville. Route 959 from Bald Face at Blakehurst to Hurstville. Punchbowl Bus Company runs Route 953 Hurstville via Kyle Bay, Connells Point and South Hurstville (Loop service).

Landmarks

 * South Hurstville Library
 * Poulton Park
 * South Hurstville RSL
 * Totally Beautiful Beauty salon

Population
According to the, there were 4,928 residents in South Hurstville. 47.3% stated they were born overseas with the top countries of birth being China 14.0%, Hong Kong 3.7% and Lebanon 2.1%. English was stated as the only language spoken at home by 42.6% of residents and the most common other languages spoken were Cantonese 12.2%, Mandarin 11.7% and Arabic 6.8%.

The most common responses for religious affiliation were Catholic 24.7%), No Religion 21.1% and Orthodox 12.7%.

Notable residents

 * Myles Plummer, Australian actor, from films Rain Man, I Am Sam, and What's Eating Gilbert Grape.
 * Steven Playford, taekwondo champion.
 * Martin Chun, editor of Blue.