Bangor, New South Wales

Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb
name = Bangor
city = Sydney
state = nsw


caption = Bangor Shopping Centre
lga = Sutherland Shire
postcode = 2234
est = 1836
pop = 5,672 (2001 census)
area = 4.1
propval =
stategov = Menai
fedgov = Hughes
near-nw = Illawong
near-n = Illawong
near-ne = Bonnet Bay
near-w = Menai
near-e = Woronora
near-sw = Barden Ridge
near-s = Woronora Heights
near-se = Woronora
dist1 = 28
dir1 = south
location1= Sydney CBD

:"This article is about the suburb of Bangor in NSW, Australia. For other places named Bangor, see Bangor."

Bangor is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Bangor is located 28 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire. Bangor sits on the southern bank of the Georges River and is adjacent to Menai and Woronora.

History

The name 'Bangor' was selected in 1895 by the land's owner, a farmer named Owen Jones, after his birthplace Bangor in Wales. To avoid confusion with Bangor in Tasmania, the Postmaster General's Office changed the suburb name to Menai in 1910. Another Australian Bangor is located in South Australia. Menai Bridge is a town opposite the original Bangor, on the Menai Straits in Wales. When Menai expanded, the eastern section was renamed Bangor in 1976. ["The Book of Sydney Suburbs", Compiled by Frances Pollen, Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1990, Published in Australia ISBN 0-207-14495-8 ]

Commercial Area

Bangor is a mostly residential suburb with a small shopping centre which consists of Bangor Community Pharmacy, Bangor post office, Bangor Bakery, The Chicken Spot, Franklins and Peter's Bangor Chinese and Malaysian Restaurant. Bangor's outskirts are surrounded by privately owned bushland, which is undeveloped. The last development application for this land was declined, on the grounds that the bush is home to Bangor's large range of native wildlife including (but not limited to) possums, bats, snakes and several varieties of birds. In recent years there has also been a resurgence in Kangaroos, which have been spotted grazing through the parks and reserves in the suburb. The bush surrounding 80% of the primarily anglosaxon suburb, links it to the natural Australia, and residents find a sense of outback within it.

chools

*Bangor Primary School [K-6] .
*Inaburra School [K-12] , a private school.

Churches

*Menai Baptist Church, Holy Catholic Family Parish Church, Salvation Army

Transport

The main road running through Bangor and Menai is Menai Road. The Bangor Bypass was completed in February 2005, to alleviate traffic in the area.

There is no rail service, although this is is welcomed by residents as it keep visitor numbers down and the community remains peaceful and quiet. The only public transport is run by Veolia Transport NSW (formerly Connex Southtrans). The buses (961 and 962) operate on Menai Road and connect Bangor to Menai, Illawong, Alfords Point, Barden Ridge, Padstow, Bankstown, Sutherland (the nearest major transport hub, which includes a major railway station), Kirrawee, Gymea and Miranda.

Since the Bangor Bypass was opened, extensive roadworks have been implemented to Bangor's main road, Menai Road. These included narrowing of the road, traffic lights at the intersection with Dandarbong Avenue and a small parking area for parents outside Bangor Primary School. These, in turn, have therefore failed to diminish peak hour traffic in Bangor despite the Bangor bypass (which to many users, has made no cut to traveling times through the area). During the Easter Show period, these changes have caused the large quantities of drivers that normally park along the formerly curbless road to park in narrow neighbouring streets. However, similar changes to the road within Menai have caused Easter Show parkers to park along the outer traffic lane of Menai Road.

port and Recreation

Bangor has tennis courts and two sporting ovals (Akuna Oval and Billa Oval) named after the roads they are situated on. Bangor is home to the Bangor Brumbies soccer club and its home field is Billa Oval.

The [http://au.geocities.com/bangor_scouts/ Bangor Scout Group] was established in early 1986 and has their Scout hall in Ross Reserve in Pyree Street, Bangor, and caters for youth aged from 6 to 26 years old. By early 2007 the Bangor Scout Group had grown to be the largest Scout Group in the South Metropolitan Region of Sydney and the fourth largest in NSW by youth membership numbers and sixth largest in NSW by total membership of adults and youth. (Source - Scouts Australia NSW Branch census database, March 2007)

References

External links

* [http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=MackZxZT Name origin and status.]