Best 49 Real Estate Agents In Strathfield [2025]

Strathfield Suburb Overview

Strathfield is an Inner West suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Strathfield is located 14 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Municipality of Strathfield. A small section of the suburb north of the railway line sits in the local government area of the City of Canada Bay, while the area east of The Boulevard, sits within the Burwood Council. North Strathfield and Strathfield South are separate suburbs, to the north and south respectively.

The history of the Strathfield started with the Wangle Indigenous Australians, but then involves the first disastrous white settlement at Liberty Plains. After this settlement failed the land became part of the Redmire estate and was subdivided and sold into lots of land. A house called Stratfield Saye was built and it is from this that the Strathfield area derives its name. In 1887 Strathfield council was formed and after many mergers and threats of amalgamation the Municipality of Strathfield was formed.

The Municipality of Strathfield area was once home to the Wangal clan who were part of the Turuwal tribe, whose country was known as Wanne. Although knowledge of life in Sydney prior to European settlement is limited, there is evidence that Indigenous Australians were living in the Sydney Basin for at least 20,000 years prior to 1788.

European settlement began in 1793 when the first free settlers were granted land to establish farms in the area then known as “Liberty Plains”. Eventually there were 63 settler farmers in the area, however they were largely unsuccessful in their efforts. Governor Hunter wrote to the Duke of Portland in August 1796 complaining that the English settlers had arrived in the colony with high expectations and unfounded reports of government assistance without any real understanding of the level of work they would have to undertake to develop the land. Further, Governor Hunter complained that “the settlers have more than once killed what they received from the Government

Frank Smith was granted 243 acres of land by Governor Macquarie in 1808 following representations from Lord Henden, a relation by marriage of Wilshire. Ownership was transferred in 1824 to ex-convict Samuel Terry. The land became known as the Redmire Estate, which Michael Jones says could either be named after his home town in Yorkshire or could be named after the “red clay of the Strathfield area”. Subdivision of the land commenced in 1867. An early buyer was one-time Mayor of Sydney, Walter Renny who built in 1868 a house they called Stratfieldsaye, possibly after the Duke of Wellington’s mansion near Reading, Berkshire. It may have also been named after the transport ship of the same name that transported many immigrants

Strathfield was proclaimed on 2 June 1885 by the Governor of NSW, Sir Augustus Loftus, after residents of the Redmyre area petitioned the New South Wales State government. Residents in parts of Homebush and Druitt Town formed their own unsuccessful counter-petition. It is possible that the region was named Strathfield because the Redmyre land was sold as “Strathfield” land, and the naming was an attempt to avoid the rivalry between Homebush and Redmire. At the time of incorporation the population of the Strathfield municipality was estimated at 600 and the net revenue was

Strathfield Municipal Council opened their Council Chambers along the corner of Redmyre and Homebush Roads in October 1887. The building was a reasonably expensive undertaking for the newly formed council. The Council Chambers was designed by architectural firm Sulman and Blackmann, however the design is credited primarily to John Sulman who was a resident of Strathfield. The Chambers provided limited space for community activities. In 1923, the Strathfield Town Hall was built, designed by architect Harry C. Kent. Soon after the Council Chambers were opened, however, the council was scandalised when they discovered that the town clerk, Bennett, had embezzled

Strathfield Council soon started expanding its boundaries. The Flemington district was unincorporated and was annexed by Strathfield in 1892 and increased the area of the Strathfield Municipality by about 50%. The council was further divided into three separate wards soon after: the Flemington ward, the Homebush ward and the Strathfield ward. These wards were abolished in 1916. Following the introduction of the Local Government Act in 1919, the Municipality was one of the first to proclaim the major part of its area a residential district by proclamation in 1920. The proclamation excluded any trade, industry, shop, place of amusement, advertisements or residential flats and largely stayed in place until 1969 when the proclamation was suspended by the Strathfield Planning Scheme Ordinance.

In 1898, Strathfield council was threatened by a forced amalgamation into a greater Sydney council. Heading the push was Strathfield Alderman George Christie who outlined the scheme in his pamphlet “The Unification of the Municipal Council of Sydney and its Suburbs”. Christie felt that local councils operated under severe limitations that constrained their own management and growth, as well as self-determination and proposed that 41 municipal councils be merged into the City of Sydney. The push to amalgamate the councils into one mega-council was known as The Greater Sydney Movement, and it had many supporters, but just as many opponents. Supporters included Sidney Webb, who visited Sydney in 1898, as well as John Daniel Fitzgerald, who was a journalist, editor, barrister, and politician and who was deeply involved in municipal affairs. When Fitzgerald became the State Minister for Local Government in 1916 he pushed for a bill to create a Greater Sydney area. This was energetically opposed by Strathfield and other local councils who did not wish to be amalgamated. A petition was tabled in parliament in August 1914 opposing such a push. Bills to amalgamate councils were brought raised in parliament in 1912, 1927 and 1931 but each time they failed to gather any support, mainly due to campaigning by most local councils in Sydney.

In May 1947, the Municipality of Homebush voluntarily amalgamated with Strathfield and in January 1949 the west ward of the former Municipality of Enfield was added. As this doubled the population that was managed by Strathfield local council the threats of amalgamation after the Second World War ended subsided. However, in 1974 C. J. Barnett wrote a Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Local Government Areas and Administration in New South Wales and recommended that Strathfield be amalgamated with Ashfield. In 1983 it was further recommended by the State Boundaries Commission that Strathfield be amalgamated into Burwood. A great deal of uproar greeted this plan and a circus tent was erected for a town meeting in which 2,000 people attended after the plan was announced. The then Mayor, Clarrie Edwards, spoke at the meeting and after seeing the tremendous opposition to the merger the then New South Wales Premier, Neville Wran finally decided that a merger would not be in anyone’s best interest.

In 1992, a section of the northern part of the Municipality which included parts of Bicentennial Park and the State Sports Centre was transferred to the Auburn Council area, in order that this area could be consolidated under one local government area. In return, the area of and between Boundary Creek and the railway line, occupied by the former Ford factory building, was transferred from Auburn Council to Strathfield Council.

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