Claymore is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, in the state of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Claymore is located 54 kilometres south-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 ...

, 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 federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

of the City of Campbelltown and is part of the Macarthur region. The majority of housing in Claymore is owned by

Housing NSW Housing NSW, formerly the Housing Commission of New South Wales and before that the New South Wales Housing Board, was an agency of the Department of Communities and Justice that was responsible for the provision and management of public housin ...

. The streets are named after Australian artists.

History

The area now known as Claymore was originally home to the Tharawal people. British settlers began moving into the area in the early 19th century, establishing farms and orchards. By the 1970s, the expansion of Sydney was great enough for developers to look at the area around Campbelltown. The Housing Commission of New South Wales undertook a large public housing development in the Claymore area. Originally the suburb was to be called Badgally after a local homestead, but the council backed off over concerns that the "Bad" part of the name could give the area a "bad" name. They chose Claymore after another local property, although that was also contentious since the name had very little history in the area. The first residents moved in during 1978, including original members of the local "Bench Club," a primarily

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

-speaking local organisation originally based in Airds, New South Wales such as Thomas Dabos, Cameron Monkes, Novak Bakavic, and Max Soptos, among others. As Bailey Sarian said in her Murder Mystery and Makeup Podcast “Claymore is a place of hopelessness for young people”

Demographics

According to the , Claymore had a population of 2,579 people. * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 6.3% of the population. * 54.5% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were Bangladesh 6.3%, Samoa 3.4%, New Zealand 3.3%, India 2.0% and Fiji 1.6%. * 50.7% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Bengali 8.7%, Samoan 6.7%, Arabic 4.1%, Hindi 1.9% and Tongan 1.4%. * The median age is 28, compared to the national median of 38, with 31.7% of the population aged 14 or under. * The median household income is $1,020 per week, significantly lower than the national average median of $1,746. * 70.6% of houses were rented, compared to the national average of 30.6%. 1.5% of houses were owned outright and 23.9% were owned with a mortgage. Material was copied from this source, which is available under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Poverty

In September 2012, an episode of the ABC program Four Corners entitled "Growing up poor" examined the lives of children in poor families in Claymore. It stated that the suburb had the youngest population in Australia. A report "Down and under" in the Al Jazeera 101 East series in February 2013 also pointed to the links between poverty and hopelessness, family tensions and violence and lack of opportunities for Claymore's children, where more than half the families have only one parent. In the 2015 copy of the "Dropping Off The Edge" report, Claymore was listed as one of the most socially disadvantaged areas in New South Wales.

Services

Claymore has a WorkVentures Connect Centre and the Kalon House of Welcome is managed by the Catholic church.

References

{{Sydney Campbelltown suburbs City of Campbelltown (New South Wales)