Undercliffe, New South Wales
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Undercliffe is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Undercliffe is located 10km south-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Canterbury.
Undercliffe is located on the peninsula between the Cooks River and Wolli Creek. Earlwood, to the west, is the only adjacent suburb. Bayview Avenue and Unwins Bridge link Undercliffe north over the Cooks River to Tempe. Another bridge links Illawarra Avenue over the Cooks River to Marrickville. Wolli Creek and Turrella are located on the opposite bank of Wolli Creek, to the south with footbridges being the only direct links to these suburbs.
[edit] Landmarks
Undercliffe is a predominantly residential suburb. The northern end of the peninsula is characterised by parkland and recreational areas. Canterbury Velodrome is located at Waterworth Park, beside Wolli Creek. Gough Whitlam Park is a large recreational area, beside Cooks River. The popular Cooks River bicycle track follows the river along its northern bank connecting the suburb with Homebush to the north-west and Botany Bay to the east.
Undercliffe Public School is located in Bayview Avenue. The Tranfiguration of Our Lord Greek Orthodox Church is also located in Bayview Avenue.
[edit] History
Undercliffe takes its name from the heavy sandstone outcrop which is quite evident. The Undercliffe Estate was the name of an 1840s land grant which had a house built on it. In the early days, the quarrying of sandstone between Wolli Creek and Cooks River provided the first indusry here. Some homes were built completely from sandstone, while almost all others used sandstone for their foundations.
A wooden bridge was built across the Cooks River in 1836 to carry the Illawarra Road across the river. It was known as Tompsons Bridge, after Mr P.A. Tompson's father who purchased the Bexley estate from James Chandler. The bridge was washed away several times during floods. later, Frederick Wright Unwin, a Sydney Solicitor, built a bridge on the peninsula between Cooks River and Wolli Creek to provide access to his property. Unwin had bought his property from Arthur Martin in 1840 and built a large home known as Wanstead, after a village in Essex, England. Unwins Bridge, Unwins Bridge Road, Wanstead Avenue and Wanstead Avenue Reserve commemorate these names.
Waterworth Park was set aside as a reserve in 1906 when it was declared unhealthy and unsuitable for residences.
[edit] External links
-
- Street map from Street Directory, MSN Maps and Multimap.
- Satellite image from Google Maps, WikiMapia and Terraserver.
| 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 |
 |
This article related to the geography of Sydney is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
