The St George region of Sydney is part of the southern suburbs 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 ...

. The area includes all the suburbs 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 ...

Georges River Council Georges River Council is a Local government in Australia, local government area located in the St George (Sydney), St George region of Sydney located south of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, in New South Wales, Australia. The ...

and the part of

Bayside Council Bayside Council is a Local government in New South Wales, local government area in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located around part of Botany Bay, to south of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD. It includes 29 subu ...

which was Rockdale City prior to 2016. This is everything within the boundaries of Salt Pan Creek to the west, The Georges River to the south,

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal language, Dharawal: ''Kamay'') is an open oceanic embayment, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point a ...

to the east and the

M5 Motorway The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...

and

Wolli Creek Wolli Creek () is an urban watercourse of the Cooks River catchment located in the southern suburbs of Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. Course and features Wolli Creek rises south of Narwee, within Beverly Hills Park, Beverly Hills. The ...

to the north. This area corresponds to the southern portion of the cadastral Parish of St George, from which the region derives its name and the area was later covered by the St George County Council, the electricity supplier for the councils in this region.St George County Council get-together sparks electric memories
St George Leader 24 November 2013 This southern portion of the parish below The M5 and Wolli Creek is the more contemporary definition of The St George Region that is considered part of Southern Sydney. The northern portion of the Parish of St George that's north of The M5 and Wolli Creek but south of the

Cooks River The Cooks River, a semi-mature tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, is a tributary of Botany Bay, located in south-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The course of the urban waterway has been altered to accommodate various developme ...

is considered South-Western Sydney rather than Southern Sydney. This northern portion of the cadastral parish was formerly in the City of Canterbury but now within the amalgamated

City of Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown Council, trading as the City of Canterbury Bankstown and stylised as CBCity, is a Local government areas of New South Wales, local government area in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Th ...

. In some instances, the whole cadastral Parish of St George (both north and south) is grouped together and considered the inner south-west due to its geographical location from

Sydney CBD 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 ...

History

Indigenous Australians

The first inhabitants of the St George area were

Australian Aboriginal Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

s. At the time of the arrival of the

First Fleet The First Fleet were eleven British ships which transported a group of settlers to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the History of Australia (1788–1850), European colonisation of Australia. It consisted of two Royal Navy vessel ...

, the

Eora The Eora (; also ''Yura'') are an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales. Eora is the name given by the earliest European settlers to a group of Aboriginal people belonging to the clans along the coastal area of what is now known as ...

tribe inhabited land from

Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...

and the

Georges River The Georges River, also known as Tucoerah River, is an intermediate tide-dominated Ria, drowned valley estuary, that is located in Sydney, Australia. The Georges River is located south and south-west from the Sydney central business district, w ...

.''Pictorial Memories St George: Rockdale, Kogarah, Hurstville'' Joan Lawrence, Kingsclear Books, 1996, Published in Australia There is evidence to suggest that these people belonged to the

Gweagal The Gweagal (also spelt Gwiyagal) are a clan of the Tharawal, Dharawal people of Aboriginal Australians. Their descendants are Traditional owners, traditional custodians of the southern areas of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Country The ...

Bidjigal The Bidjigal (also spelt Bediagal, Bejigal, Bedegal or Biddegal) people are an Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands are modern-day western, north-western, south-eastern, and southern Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. The ...

and

Cadigal The Gadigal, also spelled as Cadigal and Caddiegal, are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands are located in Gadi, on Eora country, the location of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. However, since the colonisation of Australi ...

clans.

European settlement

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

sailed HMS ''Endeavour'' into

in 1770 for his first landing on the continent of

. Captain

Arthur Phillip Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first Governor of New South Wales, governor of the Colony of New South Wales. Phillip was educated at Royal Hospital School, Gree ...

led the

into the bay on 18 January 1788 to found a

penal colony A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer ...

there but found the sandy infertile soil disappointing and moved the site of the settlement north to the natural harbour of

. The ridge between the

and

was covered in a dense forest which first attracted timber cutters to the area. Wood gatherers, bark collectors, sawyers and charcoal burners moved into the area to work the forests of

Simeon Lord Simeon Lord ( – 29 January 1840) was a pioneer merchant and a magistrate in Australia. He became a prominent trader in Sydney, buying and selling ship cargoes. Despite being an emancipist Lord was made a magistrate by Governor Lachlan Macqua ...

and supply Sydney's timber needs. By the 1840s, Major Mitchell was building the Illawarra Road (now Forest Road) on the ridge through ‘Lord’s Bush’, which required enormous amounts of trees and bush to be cleared. Irishman Michael Gannon was innkeeper at Cooks River in the 1840s. He acquired land in the area, part of which became known as ‘Gannons Forest’ which later was the centre of

Hurstville Hurstville is a suburb in Southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is south of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD and is part of the St George, New South Wales, St George area. Hurstville is the administrative centre of ...

. By 1851, it was estimated that 50 to 100 carts of timber and lime crossed the Cooks River daily. St George Parish was one of the original parishes within

Cumberland County Cumberland County may refer to: Australia * Cumberland County, New South Wales * the former name of Cumberland Land District, Tasmania, Australia Canada *Cumberland County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Cumberland, historic county *Cumberl ...

. It is one of nine parishes named after saints, of which only St George and St James are still commonly used as place names. A map of the parish revealed that the land was cut into areas ranging from 30 to and a few large land grants of . The recipients were William Packer, Josh Thorp, James Oatley, Hannah Laycock, F. W. Unwin, Reuben and David Hannam, Patrick Moore, J. Beehag, John Porter and the larger grants were James Chandler and John and Robert Townson. The parish also covers the former City of Canterbury, now the eastern part of the

, although most customary references to the "St George area" today do not include that part of the parish. In 1920, the local councils in the St George area constituted St George County Council, to deal with distribution of electricity in the region. St George County Council was merged with Sydney County Council (another inter-council electricity supplier) to form "Sydney Electricity" in 1989. The regional identity was reinforced by the creation in 1949 of a federal electorate, the Division of St George, in the area. The Division was abolished in 1993. The area's identity is reflected in the name of the

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons are an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since 1999 after a j ...

team who play in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

, and the St. George Bank.

Suburbs in St George Area

Culture and sport

The St George area is a culturally diverse region. Major centres feature a substantial number of Southern European and Asian migrants and their families. In terms of sport, the area is known as the home of the

and the St George District Cricket Club.

Commercial areas

The biggest commercial areas in the St George area are located at

, Kogarah and Rockdale. Hurstville is the largest

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

in southern Sydney and features a large

shopping centre A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

called Westfield Hurstville. Additionally Rockdale features another large shopping centre, Rockdale Plaza.

Transport

The St. George area is serviced very well by public transport. The

Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line The Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line (numbered T4, coloured azure blue) is a commuter Rail transport in Australia, railway line on the Sydney Trains network in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), eastern and Southern Sydney, southern suburbs of Sydn ...

South Coast Line The South Coast Line (SCO) is an Regional rail, intercity rail service that services the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The service runs from , and runs the entire length of the eponymous South Coast railway line, New South W ...

and Airport Line have frequent services to the city directly or via

. There are also abundant bus routes serving the region operated by

Transit Systems Transit Systems Group is an Australian-based public transport company, which also operates overseas through its subsidiary Tower Transit Group. Transit Systems Group is a subsidiary of the Kelsian Group, formerly SeaLink Travel Group. History ...

and U-Go Mobility.

Population

The population of the St George region, as estimated in 2020, was 285,214.

St. George name

Several major local institutions have 'St. George' in their title: * St. George Asian Business Association * St. George Bank * St. George Basketball Association * St. George College, TAFE NSW Sydney Institute * St. George & Sutherland Community College * St George AFC *

St. George Dragons The St. George Dragons are an Australian rugby league, rugby league football club from the St George, Sydney, St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales Rugby League, New South Wales competition ...

District Junior Rugby League * St. George Girls High School * St George Christian School * St George Cricket Club * St. George Hospital * St. George Illawarra Dragons (

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

Team)
St. George Leagues Club * St. George Masonic Club * St George Model Boat Club * St. George Motor Boat Club * St George Rowing Club * St. George Rugby Union Club * St. George Sailing Club * St. George Soccer Football Association * St George and Sutherland Shire Leader newspaper

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint George, New South Wales Regions of Sydney Georges River