- Belmore, New South Wales
Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb
name = Belmore
city =Sydney
state =NSW
caption = Burwood Road, Belmore
lga = City of Canterbury
lga2 =
postcode = 2192
est =
pop =
area =
propval =
stategov =Electoral district of Lakemba
fedgov =Division of Watson
near-nw = Greenacre
near-n = Belfield
near-ne = Campsie
near-w = Lakemba
near-e = Campsie
near-sw = Roselands
near-s = Kingsgrove
near-se = Clemton Park
dist1 = 15
dir1 = south-west
location1=Sydney CBD Belmore is a
suburb , in south-westernSydney , in the state ofNew South Wales ,Australia . Belmore is located 15 kilometres south-west of theSydney central business district in the City of Canterbury.History
Belmore is named after the fourth Earl of Belmore, Governor of New South Wales from 1868-1872. The area was known as Darkwater in its early days. Some of the first land grants in 1810 were 40.5
hectare s (100acres ) to Richard Robinson east of Sharp Street and Kingsgrove Road and convert|60|acre|m2 to Thomas Mansfield, to the west. Francis Wild and John Sullivan were each granted convert|30|acre|m2 in 1823. The area was originally used for market gardens andorchard s. Subdivision started after the railway came through in 1895. [cite book|title=The Book of Sydney Suburbs|last=Pollen|first=Frances|publisher=Angus & Robertson Publishers|year=1990|location=Australia|id=ISBN 0-207-14495-8|page= page 26]The first school opened in 1903 and the post office opened in 1907. The shopping centre began developing in the 1920s and features some classic examples of
art-deco architecture.Commercial Area
Belmore contains a mixture of residential, commercial and industrial developments. The main commercial area is located along Burwood Road, near Belmore railway station. Commercial and industrial developments are also located along Canterbury Road and surrounding streets.
Transport
Belmore railway station is located on the Bankstown line of the
CityRail network. The line was opened in 1895 andelectrified in 1926. The station at Belmore opened on1 February 1895 .Churches and Schools
* All Saints Greek Orthodox Church, St Albans Anglican Church, St Josephs Catholic Church, Belmore Church of Christ.
* Belmore South Public School, Belmore North Public School, Belmore Boys High School, St Josephs Primary School, All Saints Grammar. [ [http://www.allsaints.nsw.edu.au/ All Saints Grammar] ]Culture
port
Belmore Sports Ground is the former home ground of theNational Rugby League teamCanterbury Bulldogs , It is the current home ground for New South Wales Premier League teamSydney Olympic . The "Back to Belmore" campaign was established in August 2005 to upgrade Belmore Sports Grounds as a top-class sporting facility to NRL standards for the Bulldogs to stage a select number of NRL games at their traditional home ground in the long-term future.Population
Demographics
Belmore is one of Australia's more ethnically diverse suburbs. According to the 2001 Census, 48.5 per cent of Belmore residents (6,053 persons) stated they had been born overseas [Census 2001 AUS|id=SSC11191|name=Belmore (State Suburb)|accessdate=2007-06-30] , far higher than the Australian average of 23.1 per cent. Nonetheless, the Australia-born still constituted the largest birthplace group at 41.0 per cent (5,115 persons), followed by those born in
Greece at 8.1 per cent (1,007 persons),Lebanon at 5.2 per cent (651 persons) and China at 4.4 per cent (544 persons).In terms of ethnicity, the largest group in 2001 were those claiming Greek ancestry with 16.7 per cent of responses or 2,262 persons, followed by those claiming "
Australian " background at 8.0 per cent or 1,083 persons, and thirdly by those claiming English descent with 7.9 per cent or 1,069 persons.Census data on language spoken at home in Belmore reveals that 'English only' is used by 25.6 per cent of residents (3,197 persons), followed by Greek of 17.3 per cent (2,160 persons) and Arabic which is spoken by 13.7 per cent (1,708 persons). The English language was spoken exclusively or "very well" or "well" by 71.1 per cent of the suburb's overseas-born in 2001.
According to the census,
Christianity was the most followed faith in the suburb with 65.5 per cent of residents (8,170 persons) claiming to be Christian. However, Christians in the area belong to many sects, with the largest proportions beingCatholic at 26.0 per cent or 3,242 persons,Orthodox with 21.4 per cent or 2,675 persons, andAnglican with 6.7 per cent or 839 persons. If Christianity is thus separated statistically,Islam overtakes Anglicanism as the third largest faith grouping and accounts for 8.5 per cent of residents or 1,063 persons; the census does not differentiate betweenSunni andShi'a .References
External links
* [http://www.canterbury.nsw.gov.au/www/html/7-home-page.asp City of Canterbury]
* [http://www.allsaints.nsw.edu.au All Saints Grammar]
* [http://www.backtobelmore.com.au Back to Belmore - Back to the Future, Back to Basics]
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