Smithfield, New South Wales

Aboriginal people from the Cabrogal tribe, a sub-group of the Gandangara tribe, have lived in the Fairfield area for over 30,000 years.

White settlement began in the area in the early 19th century. Smithfield was originally known as Chilsholm's Bush. In 1803, homeless children were becoming a problem after convicts turned their children out into the streets. As a consequence, Governor Philip Gidley King, put aside a large area of 12,300 acres (50 km²) for a Male Orphan School. By 1836, some of this land was offered for sale by the colonial government of the time. John Ryan Brenan (1798–1868), an attorney who was appointed Police Magistrate in 1836, bought 1,650 acres (7 km²) here. Early settlers were attracted to Smithfield by its good soil, dependable water supply and easy access to the Colony's established towns. Some of the best farming land was in the district to the west and southwest of the Smithfield area. In 1867, Smithfield was a semi-rural settlement populated by vine growers, gardeners, wood timber cutters, orchards and tanneries.

Brenan planned to make money with a meat market and a cattle sale yard. He subdivided the estate and named it Smithfield after the meat markets of London and Dublin. Saleyards opened in 1841 but the project to establish a village around the yards failed. Despite this, Smithfield did become a thriving commercial centre and remains a significant employment centre in south-western Sydney as part of the Wetherill Park/Yennora industrial block.

Smithfield still has the street patterns Brenan planned and the street names he chose. In the subdivision, Brenan offered an extra adjoining allotment to any buyer who built a cottage with a brick chimney and enclosed the property with a fence. The public school opened in 1850 and by the 1880s Smithfield was well provided with churches, many of which still remain today as important relics of Smithfield's rich local heritage.[8]

The Horsley Drive is the major road that runs through Smithfield. Other major roads include Polding Street, Brennan Street and Victoria Street, with the latter featuring factories.

Bus services are provided by Transit Systems Sydney. The closest train station is Fairfield train station, on the Inner West & Leppington Line and Cumberland Line. Transit Systems Sydney buses 806, 808, 812, 813, 814 and 817, which go through the suburb, link to that station, with 806 also linking to Parramatta railway station and Liverpool railway station.

There is a cycle way called Prospect Creek Cyclepath that runs through the suburb, which is part of the Western Sydney Regional Park recreational route.[9]

The commercial area is centred on The Horsley Drive, which is the main street in Smithfield, the most significant east-west road in the region that runs from Carramar and Wetherill Park. The roadway is ornamented by several curtain figs. The suburb's mains street features health services, a gymnasium, beauty & specialty shops, commercial services, multicultural restaurants such as Italian, Middle Eastern and Chinese among others. There was also a Coles supermarket, before it closed in late 2022 as part of a major redevelopment. A prominent pub on The Horsley Drive and Cumberland Highway called the Smithfield Tavern features a restaurant, a TAB, adult entertainment sessions and concert parties.

There is a large industrial area in Smithfield with a number of factories and warehouses. The industrial estate in suburb is the largest in the southern hemisphere and is one of the primary centres for manufacturing and distribution in Greater Western Sydney.

Smithfield features an art gallery, museum and an RSL club. Smithfield was the location for the 7mate show Housos, being one of the many locations for that TV show. Smithfield Cemetery, established in the 19th century, is situated in the western parts of the suburb, and is currently managed by the Syriac Orthodox Church.

Brenan Park is a large recreational area, and one of the most prominent in Fairfield City, which features sports grounds, children's playgrounds and picnic areas.[11]

Rosford Street Reserve is a parkland in the northern skirts of the suburb which features a large sports grounds and an urban forest. It adjoins Long Street Park, which is situated in Cumberland Council section of Smithfield.

Adjacent to the cemetery is a small, endangered plant community within the Cumberland Plain Woodland, which is a component of the Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark Forest, that features Eucalyptus fibrosa and Eucalyptus moluccana as the dominant canopy species.[12]

Smithfield has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfa) with warm to hot summers and cool, though at times mild, winters with sporadic rainfall throughout the year. It is usually a few degrees warmer than Sydney on summer days and a few degrees cooler on winter nights. There could be a temperature differential of 5 degrees Celsius in summer due to sea breezes in the City that don't generally penetrate inland, and in extreme cases there could be a 10 degrees differential. It receives less annual rain than Sydney CBD by about 300mm. Late winter and early spring receive the least rainfall, whilst late summer and autumn receive more rain.[13]

There are local primary schools including Smithfield Public School and Smithfield West Public School. There are no local high schools, however, residents living in the western vicinity of Smithfield are in the area for Westfields Sports High School, and Fairfield High School for those living in the South Eastern outskirts of the suburb. There is a TAFE nearby in Wetherill Park. High schools in surrounding suburbs include, Holroyd High School at Greystanes; Patrician Brothers College, Fairfield; Warakirri College, Fairfield; Merrylands High School, Merrylands; Cerdon College, Merrylands; Canley Vale High School, Canley Vale and Fairvale High School, Fairfield West.

Smithfield is governed at the local government level by Fairfield City Council, with Frank Carbone (Independent) as Mayor. At the state level, Hugh McDermott (Labor) is the state member for Prospect. At the federal level, Chris Bowen and Jason Clare (both Labor) are Federal MPs for the seats of McMahon and Blaxland respectively.

Smithfield was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales from 1988 to 2015, where it was largely replaced by, and centred on, Prospect.[18]

According to the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics Census of Population, there were 13,160 persons usually resident in Smithfield. The median age of people in Smithfield was 38 years. Smithfield had an unemployment rate of 8.9%.[1]

Ethnic diversity

The most common ancestries in Smithfield were Australian (12.7%), Assyrian (11.4%), English (10.0%), Vietnamese (9.2%) and Iraqi (9.0%). 31.2% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Arabic (15.3%), Assyrian Neo-Aramaic (10.5%), Vietnamese (9.6%), Chaldean Neo-Aramaic (5.7%) and Spanish (3.2%).[1] Combining the Assyrian and Chaldean Aramaic varieties, Neo-Aramaic will be the most common language other than English, at 16.2%.

Country of birth

Of the people in Smithfield, 42.4% of them were born in Australia. 13.7% of people had both parents born in Australia and 72.9% of people had both parents born overseas. The other common countries of birth were Iraq (18.1%), Vietnam (6.9%), Syria (4.8%), Italy (2.3%) and Lebanon (2.2%).[1]

Religion

Almost three in four residents (68.4%) practice Christianity. The most common responses for religion were Catholic (38.4%), No Religion (10.6%), Islam (9.4%), Buddhism (8.0%) and Assyrian Apostolic (6.8%).[1]

Housing

Separate housing dominates the area, comprising 77.3% of total occupied private dwellings, 10.7% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc., 10.2% were flat or apartments and 1.5% were other dwellings. 27.3% of the dwellings were owned and 26.4% were owned with a mortgage, and 43.0% were rented. 7.1% had 1 bedroom, 15.2% had 2 bedrooms, 43.7% had 3 bedrooms and 32.0% had 4 or more bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3.1. 51.2% were couple families with children, 24.1% were couple families without children and 22.4% were one parent families, 15.9% of single parents were male and 84.8% were female.[1]

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  Smithfield Museum
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  St Mary's Church, an Assyrian place of worship
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  Smithfield Gallery
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  Smithfield Tavern

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