Northwood 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 ...

on the Lower North Shore of

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 ...

, eight 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 ...

, 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

Municipality of Lane Cove The Lane Cove Council is a Local government in Australia, local government area located on the North Shore (Sydney), Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The administrative seat of Lane Cove is located north-west of the Sydn ...

. Northwood is on the northern side of the Lane Cove River 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 Goulburn Cathedral (St. Saviour), St. Saviour's Cathedral, Goulbu ...

(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

Transport

Busways bus route 261 from Lane Cove to King Street Wharf operates via Northwood. Northwood ferry wharf is served by peak-hour Captain Cook Cruises services to

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

. The nearest railway station is St Leonards.

Population

Demographics

In the of Population and Housing, the population of Northwood stood at 916 people, 52.1% females and 47.9% males, with a median age of 46 years. 28.1% of the population was born overseas with

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

(5.1%),

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(2.6%) and

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

(1.7%) the most common. The five strongest religious affiliations in the area were in descending order: No Religion 37.6%,

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

(27.0%),

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

(16.6%), Not stated (3.2%) and

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

(2.4%). Northwood's population is typically wealthy, with a median weekly household income of 5,012, compared with A$1,746 in Australia. The most common types of occupation for employed persons were Professionals (47.2%), Managers (23.8%), and Clerical and Administrative Workers (10.2%). 93.6% of the suburbs occupied private dwellings were family households, and 6.4% were single (lone) person households.

Notable residents

Northwood was the home of landscape artist Lloyd Rees 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 Pidgeon, aka Bill Pidgeon and WEP, (1909 – 1981) who was an Australian painter. He won the

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...

three times, 1958, 1961 and 1968.

References

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