Lakemba, New South Wales
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Lakemba is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 15km south west of the Sydney central business district in the City of Canterbury. The postcode for Lakemba is 2195.
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| Sydney suburbs near Lakemba (City of Canterbury) |
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| Mount Lewis | Greenacre | South Strathfield |
| Punchbowl | Lakemba | Belfield |
|---|---|---|
| Wiley Park | Roselands | Belmore |
Lakemba is in the Cooks River watershed. This river is tidal up to the edge of Lakemba. A bike and walking trail takes walkers and cyclists all the way from nearby Belfield to the east along the Cooks River, to where it flows into Botany Bay. In the opposite direction the bike and walking trail goes north to Olympic Park and Homebush Bay on the Parramatta River.
Canterbury Road winds its way along the ridge, which is the boundary of the watersheds of Cooks River and Wolli Creek to the south.
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[edit] Commercial area
Lakemba has a large shopping centre, on and around Haldon Street, where a wide range of international and local foods can be purchased. There are also commercial developments along Canterbury Road.
The Lakemba railway station is on the Bankstown line of the CityRail network. It is near the shopping centre on Haldon Street.
[edit] Demographics
Lakemba has a diverse mixture of residents. Originally settled by residents of British and European heritage, it is noted for being the home of waves of new migrants. In the 1960s, Greek and Italian migrants began settling here as they started moving away from inner city suburbs. Local businesses and clubs reflected the cultural diversity such as delicatessens, take-away shops and the Greek Orthodox Club. From the late 1970s, Lakemba became very popular with migrants from Lebanon. The Lebanese make up the largest migrant group in the suburb today and have built Lakemba Mosque, one of the largest and most impressive mosques in Australia. Many businesses in the main shopping strip cater for the Lebanese community with specialised restaurants, take-away shops, grocery shops, clothing and book sellers. Since then, new residents have been people from many parts of the world including South Pacific nations (eg Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand), Sierra Leone, Ghana, Eastern European countries (especially following the fall of communism), South-East Asia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, (which is an Australian Territory). Lakemba has many places of worship to cater for the different faiths, including Catholic (St Therese), Anglican (St. Andrews), Uniting, Presbyterian, and the more recent integrative faith of Cao Dai.
[edit] Politics
Lakemba is also the name of one of NSW's political voting areas. The Electoral district of Lakemba is occupied by the current Premier of New South Wales, Morris Iemma. It is considered to be a safe Labor (Australian Labor Party) seat.
[edit] History
The first inhabitants of Lakemba and surrounding areas were Australian Aboriginals who arrived about 40,000 years ago. At the time of British settlement in 1788 the inhabitants were Aborigines of the Darug language group (a way of defining tribe) and they called themselves, and were known as Kuri or Koori.
The area was originally known as Potato Hill because potato crops were grown here. Land grants by the new colonial government began in Lakemba about 1810. Samuel Hockley was granted 50 acres, which he called Essex Hill Farm, after his home county in England. The suburb was known as Belmore South until 1910.
Benjamin Taylor had a 22 hectare property in the 1880s. He named his property "Lakeba" (pronounced Lakemba) after the Lakeba island in the Lau Island group of Fiji where his second wife's grandparents, Rev and Mrs Cross, were missionaries from 1835. One of the original streets is Oneata Street, named after another small Fijian Island, close to Lakeba. Benjamin Taylor was variously an entomologist, town clerk, Alderman and Mayor of Canterbury Council. The railway line was built to the neighbouring suburb of Belmore in 1895 and extended to Lakemba and beyond, in 1909. The station was built on Benjamin Taylor's property and was named after his ‘Lakemba Cottage’.
The first school opened here as Belmore School in April 1869 and became known as Belmore South in September 1907 until it was changed to Lakemba Public School in June 1910. The post office opened on the 1st July 1879.
[edit] External links
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- Street map from Street Directory, MSN Maps and Multimap.
- Satellite image from Google Maps, WikiMapia and Terraserver.
- Cao Dai in Wiley Park next to Lakemba
- St Andrew's Anglican Church, Lakemba
| Suburbs within the City of Canterbury | South-western Sydney | Sydney |
|---|
|
Ashbury | Belfield | Belmore | Campsie | Canterbury | Clemton Park | Croydon Park | Earlwood | Hurlstone Park | Kingsgrove | Lakemba | Punchbowl | Riverwood | Roselands | Undercliffe | Wiley Park |
| List of Sydney suburbs |
