Marrickville Council

Suburbs and localities

The suburbs and localities within the former Marrickville Council area were:

Demographics

At the 2011 Census, there were 76,500 people in the Marrickville local government area, of these 49.5% were male and 50.5% were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 1.5% of the population. The median age of people in the Marrickville Council area was 36 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 14.7% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 10.4% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 35.1% were married and 10.9% were either divorced or separated.

Population in the Marrickville Council area between the 2001 Census and the 2006 Census decreased by 0.99% and in the subsequent five years to the 2011 Census, population growth was 6.53%. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same periods, being 5.78% and 8.32% respectively, population growth in the Marrickville local government area was lower than the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the Manly Council area was higher than the national average.

Compared to the national average, at the 2011 Census, Marrickville Council area had a high proportion of households (34.1%) where two or more languages are spoken (national average was 20.4%); and a low proportion (62.3%) where English only was spoken at home (national average was 76.8%).

Final composition and election method

Marrickville Municipal Council was composed of twelve Councillors elected proportionally as four separate wards, each electing three Councillors. All Councillors were elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The Mayor was elected by the Councillors at the first meeting of the Council. The most recent election was held on 8 September 2012, and the makeup of the Council after that election was as follows:

Councillor (and former Deputy Mayor) Emanuel Tsardoulias died in 2014. A by-election to fill the vacancy was held on 15 November 2014. The by-election was won by Australian Labor Party candidate Daniel Barbar. Mark Gardiner left the Liberal Party and became Independent. Jo Haylen is also the State Member for Summer Hill.

Notable councillors

History

Based on artefacts found near the Cooks River and Alexandra Canal, it is believed that the area has been occupied for at least 7,000 years. The area was originally occupied by the Cadigal clan of the Darug people who spoke the Eora language. Their name for most of the present day local government area was Bullanaming.

European settlement of the area began very soon after the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. The first land grant was made in 1789, and by 1809 all the land had been granted. In the 1830s, the district consisted of five large estates, including Thomas Chalder's estate named Marrick after his home town in North Yorkshire. At this point, the area was still quite rural in nature.

Following the subdivision of these estates, municipalities were formed in Marrickville (1861), Camperdown (1862), Newtown (1862), St Peters (1871) and Petersham (1872). The area lost its rural character as Sydney grew, and by the 1920s had become an urbanised industrial area.

The population of these municipalities increased greatly in that time, peaking at roughly 113,000 in 1948. It was in this year that the State Government introduced the Local Government (Areas) Act, and Marrickville Municipal Council was enlarged by merging with St Peters and Petersham on 1 January 1949. The Camperdown and Newtown municipalities had already been merged with the City of Sydney, however in 1968 a boundary readjustment added parts of these areas to Marrickville, resulting in the present boundaries.

While migration has always been an important part of Marrickville, this was especially true from the 1950s to the 1970s, as large groups of immigrants arrived from Southern Europe, the Middle East and then Asia. The area is today one of the most culturally diverse in the country.

Israel boycott

On 14 December 2010 Greens councillor Cathy Peters moved a motion to support the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel. This motion was supported by Greens, Labor and one independent councillor, including the Mayor at the time, Fiona Byrne. The motion was widely condemned by politicians from both sides of politics including Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, then Premier Kristina Keneally and federal Greens leader, Bob Brown. The move received support from Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mairead Maguire. On 14 April 2011 it was revealed that the boycott would cost Marrickville ratepayers A$3.4 million if implemented. The boycott also meant the council would have to replace goods from companies such as Hewlett Packard, Holden, Volvo and Motorola amongst others.

New South Wales Liberal Premier Barry O'Farrell threatened to use his powers under the Local Government Act to sack the council if it did not rescind its resolution for the boycott. At a council meeting on 19 April 2011, members of the community were invited to express their opinions, and after a three hour debate the motion was rescinded. Byrne did not seek re-election, and in September 2011, Morris Hanna became the new mayor after Labor supported his candidacy and his name was pulled out of the hat in the tie breaker. He is an independent who fought against the BDS campaign.

Amalgamation

A 2015 review of local government boundaries recommended that the Marrickville Council merge with the Municipality of Ashfield and the Municipality of Leichhardt to form a new council with an area of 35 square kilometres (14 sq mi) and support a population of approximately 186,000. The merger was implemented on 12 May 2016.

Housing

The suburbs within the Marrickville area are generally characterised by Victorian-era terraces, semi-detached houses and other varieties of urban federation housing. These houses gained popularity among renovators as the suburbs became gentrified in the late 20th century. Detached housing, wider streets and larger blocks of land are more common in the suburbs further from the city, such as Dulwich Hill and parts of Marrickville.

Several medium density apartment blocks were constructed in the area in the 1960s and 1970s. Since the 1980s, modern infill development has tended to be sympathetic with traditional streetscapes.

Parks

The Marrickville area has 88 parks and reserves of various sizes within its boundaries. Major sporting grounds include Henson Park, home of the Newtown Jets rugby league club, and Petersham Park, where Sir Donald Bradman scored his first century in grade cricket.

Tempe Lands, 10 hectares of parkland at the south-western corner of LGA, was redeveloped by Marrickville Council in 2003 on the site of a former rubbish tip at a cost of A$17.5 million. The parklands feature sporting fields, a golf driving range, and a constructed saltmarsh and ephemeral wetlands area for wildlife.

Other major parks in the area include Enmore Park, Camperdown Park, Marrickville Park, Steel Park and Camperdown Memorial Rest Park. There are also substantial parklands surrounding the Cooks River. After the completion of the airport's third runway in the mid-1990s, the Commonwealth Government controversially purchased and demolished 152 residential properties in the worst-affected parts of Sydenham. The newly vacant land, which is located not under the approach path of the third runway but under the approach/departure path for runway 16R/34L, became Sydenham Green, a public park covering 4.5 hectares. A series of oversized 'living room' sculptures (lamp, chairs and fireplace) decorate the park, paying homage to the homes that formerly occupied the site.

Events

A number of entertainment and cultural events are held in Marrickville throughout the year. The Marrickville Road Festival is the area's largest annual event, drawing a crowd of around 50,000 people each year. Other major events in the area include the Newtown Festival, Australia Day celebrations at Enmore Park, the Bairro Português Food & Wine Fair in Petersham, and the Dulwich Hill Street Fair.

Sister cities

Marrickville Council had sister city relations with the following cities:

The following cities have also signed agreements to formalise relationships with Marrickville: