Wolli Creek (formerly known as North Arncliffe) 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 ...

southern Sydney Southern Sydney, also commonly referred to as the Southern suburbs, is the southern metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Southern Sydney is a title for the regions and neighbourhoods which fall dire ...

, 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 ...

. It sits beside the

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 ...

and

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 ...

waterways. Wolli Creek is situated between the suburbs of Arncliffe and Tempe, 10 kilometres south 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 ...

and is part of the

St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...

area. Wolli Creek is 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 ...

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 ...

History

The

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

of the land around the Wolli Creek Valley were 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 ...

people (River Flat Clan) of 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 ...

Nation. Wolli Creek was named after the waterway on its northern border. The suburb was previously part of Arncliffe. Reuben Hannam was granted land in 1825 on the banks of Cooks river.

Alexander Brodie Spark Alexander Brodie Spark (9 August 1792 – 21 October 1856), influential merchant, businessman and free settler of Australia, was born on 9 August 1792 at Elgin, Scotland. Early life The son of a watchmaker, Spark had a literary education in hi ...

purchased land in 1826 and built Tempe house in 1836. It was named after 'Vale of Tempe', a beautiful valley in ancient Greek legend set at the foot of Mount Olympus. Tempe House, designed by

John Verge John Verge (1782–1861) was an English architect, builder, pioneer settler in the New South Wales, Colony of New South Wales, who migrated to Australia and pursued his career there. Verge was one of the earliest and the most important architec ...

, has a Georgian feel and is regarded as one of the great houses of Sydney. Philanthropist

Caroline Chisholm Caroline Chisholm ( ; born Caroline Jones; 30 May 1808 – 25 March 1877) was an English humanitarian known mostly for her support of immigrant female and family welfare in Australia. She is commemorated on 16 May in the Calendar of saints (Ch ...

leased Tempe House as a boarding school for young women (1863–1865). The estate was known as Greenbank during this time and presented an ideal location for Chisholm's work. She remarked on the spacious and lofty rooms and the 'fine large and open orchard of fruit trees, intersected by wide and shady walks'. In 1884, the estate was sold to the

Sisters of the Good Samaritan The Congregation of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, colloquially known as the "Good Sams", is a Roman Catholic congregation of religious women commenced by Bede Polding, OSB, Australia’s first Catholic bishop, in Sydney in 1857. The congrega ...

for use as a charitable refuge for women. The Sisters added the impressive St Magdalen's Chapel (1888), which is believed to be the work of Sheerin & Hennessy, an important firm of Sydney architects, who designed the Archbishop's Residence and St Patrick's College at Manly. The neo-Gothic style Chapel is of major cultural significance. It is now deconsecrated and has been restored as part of the Discovery Point redevelopment. Tempe House is now listed on the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...

. The area became predominantly industrial until a redevelopment was planned in the late 1990s. The new suburb was to be called North Arncliffe, but residents in the area petitioned the council to conduct a vote to select a better name. Wolli Creek was the most popular choice. Wolli Creek railway station opened in 2000. Wolli Creek was officially declared a suburb in 2002.

Heritage listings

Wolli Creek has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * 1 Princes Highway: Tempe House and St Magdalenes Chapel

Commercial/Retail area

Once industrial, Wolli Creek was redeveloped in the 2010s into a high-density residential and commercial area. Close proximity to the Sydney CBD and

Sydney Airport Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport — colloquially Kingsford Smith Airport, Sydney Airport or Mascot Airport — is an international airport serving Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district, in the subu ...

, and well connected public transport services, along with the expansive parkland and attractive riverside setting, make it a popular residential location. The main retail precinct is the Village Square, which is directly opposite the Wolli Creek station entrance and contains a wide array of restaurants and cafés, a pharmacy, barber and other shops. Wolli Creek is home to two hotels:

Novotel Novotel is a French midscale hotel brand owned by Accor. Created in 1967 in France, the company grew into what became the Accor group in 1983, and Novotel remained a pillar brand of Accor's multi-brand strategy. Novotel manages 559 hotels in 65 ...

Sydney International Airport and CKS Sydney Airport Hotel.

Demographics

At the , Wolli Creek had a population of 10,654, up from 6,394 in 2016. Compared to the national average of 14.3%, 46.7% of the population were aged between the ages of 25 and 34. The most common countries of birth were: China (20.2%), Australia (23.1%), Mongolia (4.8%), Indonesia (4.3%), Colombia (4.0%) and Brazil (3.7%). English at home, was spoken by only 25.9% of people. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 21.7%, Cantonese 6.4%, Spanish 5.1%, Mongolian 4.6% and Indonesian 3.9%. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 47.3%, Catholic 15.1% and Buddhism 10.0%. 98.3% of residences were apartments. The average number of people living in each household was 2.2.

Transport

The

Princes Highway Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former ...

links Wolli Creek north to Tempe and the

and south to Arncliffe and Rockdale. The M5 South Western Motorway, with entrances and exits at nearby Arncliffe, runs south-west towards

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and north-east towards

Botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and the city.

Wolli Creek railway station Wolli Creek railway station is located at the junction of the Airport railway line, Sydney, Airport and Illawarra railway line, Illawarra lines, serving the Sydney suburb of Wolli Creek, New South Wales, Wolli Creek. It is served by Sydney Trai ...

is a railway hub and connects to the Illawarra line and

Airport & South Line The Airport & South Line (numbered T8, coloured green; commonly called the East Hills Line) is a commuter rail service operated by Sydney Trains, connecting the Sydney central business district with the southwestern suburbs via Sydney Airport. ...

on the

Sydney Trains Sydney Trains is the brand name and operator of Railways in Sydney, suburban and intercity train services in and around Greater Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The metropolitan part of the network is a hybrid urban rail, urban-suburban r ...

network. The 348 bus route operates from Wolli Creek station to

Prince of Wales Hospital Prince of Wales Hospital is a regional acute government hospital located in Sha Tin, New Territories in Hong Kong, China. It is also a teaching hospital of the Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Named after Ki ...

via Tempe, St Peters,

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

and the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

. The 422 bus route travels from

Kogarah Kogarah () is a suburb of Southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Kogarah is located 14 kilometres (9 miles) south-west of the Sydney central business district and is considered to be the centre of the St George area. Loc ...

to Wolli Creek, then continues to

Railway Square Railway Square is a plaza at the southern end of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia, formed by the confluence of Broadway, Sydney, Broadway, Lee Street, Pitt Street and George Street, Sydney, George Street. The squa ...

Recreational facilities

Cahill Park is located along the Princes Highway and Gertrude Street, fronting the Cooks River. Facilities offered include playground equipment, electrical barbecues and sporting fields for cricket and rugby. Tennis courts are also located adjacent to Cahill Park. Discovery Point Park is a privately owned park, which is open to the public, located along the Princes Highway and Brodie Sparks Drive. Discovery Point Park offers over three hectares of landscaped waterfront parklands, with provisions for walking and cycling. Other recreation facilities include Kogarah Golf Course, located along Marsh Street and the St George Rowing Club, on Levey Street. Wolli Creek Regional Park has bushwalking tracks and barbecuing facilities.

Gallery

File:Wolli Creek St Magdalen's Chapel SEP2019.jpg, St Magdalene's Chapel File:Wolli Creek Railway Station.JPG, Wolli Creek station and apartments File:Wolli Creek Tempe House SEP2019.jpg, Tempe House in 2019 File:Wolli Creek Magdalene Terrace.jpg, Shops and Residential Complex on Magdalene Terrace

References

External links

* {{Sydney Rockdale suburbs Suburbs of Sydney Bayside Council