Northwood is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

on the Lower North Shore of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, in the state of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

8 kilometres north-west of the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or c ...

, in the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

of the

Municipality of Lane Cove The Lane Cove Council is a local government area located on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The administrative seat of Lane Cove is located north-west of the Sydney central business district. The Mayor of Lane ...

. Northwood is on the northern side of the

Lane Cove River The Lane Cove River, a northern tributary of the Parramatta River, is a tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary west of Sydney Harbour, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The river is a tributary of the Parramatta River, winding throu ...

between Woodford Bay and Gore Creek.

History

Northwood is named after Northwood House, designed by

Edmund Blacket Edmund Thomas Blacket (25 August 1817 – 9 February 1883) was an Australian architect, best known for his designs for the University of Sydney, St. Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney and St. Saviour's Cathedral, Goulburn. Arriving in Sydney from Engl ...

(1817–1883) and built by Mrs Jane Davy in 1878. The name was chosen because it is descriptive of its location, a woodland area in the north. Mrs Davy also built a ferry at her own expense, so that her family could travel to the city by ferry. For the early history of Northwood see John and Pam Ball, ''Exploring the early history of Northwood,'' Riverview, 2016.

Heritage listings

Northwood has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * 1 Private Road:

Northwood House Northwood House is a country manor house in Cowes on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom. The current building dates back to 1799 and was built for the London businessman George Ward, remaining in his family for five generations. It is a ...

Transport

The nearest railway station is

St Leonards St Leonards may refer to: Places Australia *St Leonards, New South Wales **St Leonards railway station *St Leonards, Tasmania, suburb of Launceston *St Leonards, Victoria Canada *St. Leonard's, Newfoundland and Labrador New Zealand * St L ...

and buses run frequently through the area. Northwood ferry wharf provides access to the Captain Cook Cruises Lane Cove River ferry service, which is popular for workers who commute to the CBD by

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

Circular Quay Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping port, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the Syd ...

Population

Demographics

In the 2016

Australian Bureau of Statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is the independent statutory agency of the Australian Government responsible for statistical collection and analysis and for giving evidence-based advice to federal, state and territory governments ...

Census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of Population and Housing, the population of Northwood stood at 982 people, 49.2% females and 50.8% males, with a median age of 45 years. 31.3% of the population was born overseas with

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

(5.5%),

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

(2.1%) and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

(1.5%) the most common. The five strongest religious affiliations in the area were in descending order:

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

(29.5%), no religion (28.2%),

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

(19.4%), and

Uniting Church The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was founded on 22 June 1977, when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost all the churches of the Congregational Union ...

(3.4%). Northwood's population is typically wealthy, with a median weekly household income of 4,152, compared with A$1,438 in Australia. The most common types of occupation for employed persons were Professionals (48.6%), Managers (17.4%), and Clerical and Administrative Workers (12.1%). 91.0% of the suburbs occupied private dwellings were family households, and 9.0% were single (lone) person households.

Notable residents

Northwood was the home of landscape artist

Lloyd Rees Lloyd Frederic Rees (17 March 18952 December 1988) was an Australian landscape painter who twice won the Wynne Prize for his landscape paintings. Most of Rees's works are preoccupied with depicting the effects of light and emphasis is placed o ...

for many years before his death in 1988.Commonwealth of Australia
It's an Honour: AC
1987. Retrieved 24 March 2010. Many of his later paintings are of the area. Northwood was also home to portrait artist

William Edwin Pidgeon William Edwin Pidgeon, aka Bill Pidgeon and Wep, (1909–1981) was an Australian painter who won the Archibald Prize three times. After his death, cartoonist and journalist Les Tanner described him: "He was everything from serious draftsman, b ...

, aka Bill Pidgeon and WEP, (1909 – 1981) who was an Australian painter. He won the Archibald Prize three times, 1958, 1961 and 1968.

References

{{Sydney Lane Cove suburbs "The Gardener's Gamble" by Helen Laidlaw Suburbs of Sydney Lane Cove Council