Lindfield, New South Wales

History

Lindfield was originally the home of the Kuringgai indigenous people.

Europeans first became active in the area in around 1810, when the colonial government set up a timber gathering camp staffed by convicts. By the 1840s, fruit growing and farming became the suburb's primary industries. Settlement began to increase in the latter half of the eighteenth century. The Lindfield railway station opened in 1890, and Lindfield Post Office opened on 5 January 1895. Land values increased in the area around the railway and more professionals moved into the area.

The name "Lindfield" means a clearing in the lime forest, and derives from the name given by an early landowner, Francis List, to a cottage he built in the area in 1884. List likely named his cottage after Lindfield, Sussex, England. When a railway line came through the area in 1890s, the name of the property was used to identify the station and neighbourhood.

During the years after World War II the suburb experienced significant growth.

Double Town Centre

Coles

IGA (reopens late 2017)

Harris Farm (opens late 2017)

2 Chinese Restaurants (Chan's and West Lindfield)

KFC

Subway

Infrastructure and development

Lindfield railway station is on the North Shore, Northern & Western Line of the Sydney Trains network and is about 30 minutes by train from the Sydney central business district. The Pacific Highway is the main arterial road through Lindfield. Lindfield has a small commercial area on both sides of Lindfield railway station on the Pacific Highway and Lindfield Avenue. The former Commonwealth Bank is an art deco style building on the Pacific Highway.

Lindfield has five places of worship: St Albans Anglican Church, Holy Family Catholic Church, Lindfield Uniting Church (with church buildings on Tryon Road and the Pacific Highway) and the North Shore Synagogue.

Schools in the suburb comprise: Lindfield Public School, Lindfield East Public School, Newington College Preparatory School, Holy Family Catholic Primary School, and Masada College (K-6).

The University of Technology, Sydney, Kuringai Campus (formerly William Balmain Teachers College) operated at a campus on Eton Road from 1971 to 2015. It offered courses in business, nursing and midwifery, education and travel. The site will be developed as Lindfield Learning Village public school, to open in 2017.

Lindfield Library is a branch of the Ku-ring-gai Municipal Library Network. There are two community halls: East Lindfield Community Hall at Crana Avenue and West Lindfield Community Hall at Moore Avenue. There are two tennis courts at Lindfield Community Centre (behind the library) and a further two courts at Lindfield Park in Tryon Road.

Demographics

At the 2011 census, Lindfield recorded a population of 8,657. Of these:

Age distribution 

The distribution of ages in Lindfield was similar to the country as a whole. Lindfield residents' median age was 40 years, similar to the national median of 37. Children aged under 15 years made up 21.6% of the population (national average is 19.3%) and people aged 65 years and over made up 14.6% of the population (national average is 14.0%).

Ethnic diversity 

Over half (60.4%) of Lindfield residents were born in Australia; the next most common countries of birth were England 5.0%, China 4.5%, Hong Kong 3.6%, South Korea 2.4%, and New Zealand 2.0%. More than two-thirds (69.8%) spoke English at home; others spoke mostly Cantonese, Mandarin, or Korean.

Income 

The median weekly household income was $2,414, nearly double the national median of $1,234.

Housing 

Stand-alone houses accounted for two-thirds (67.6%) of residences, while 27.8% were flats, units or apartments and just 4.4% were semi-detached (mostly townhouses). The average household size was 2.9 people.

Religion 

In the 2011 Census, the most common responses for religion in Lindfield were Catholic 23.8%, No Religion 23.3%, Anglican 21.3%, Uniting Church 5.5% and Presbyterian and Reformed 3.6%.

Notable residents

Peter Garrett, former Midnight Oil singer and later Australian Labor Party (ALP) politician, lived in Lindfield during his teenage years.

Karl Stefanovic, co-host of the Today show and 60 Minutes presenter lives in Lindfield.

Singer Iva Davies from the band Icehouse, lived in Lindfield during the 1970s to early-1980s whilst he was part of the ABC Sinfonia (orchestra) and started the band there. The song "Icehouse" was written about the house Iva lived in at 18 Tyron Road and also a dishevelled old house across the street, which Davies later learned was a half-way house for psychiatric and drug rehab patients.

Former Sherbet guitarist Clive Shakespeare operated the Silverwood recording studio in Hobart Avenue.

Wallaby captains Stirling Mortlock and Nick Farr-Jones have lived or do live in Lindfield, as did sports commentator and "the Voice of Rugby" Gordon Bray.