Municipality of Strathfield

Template:Austlocalgovtarea The Municipality of Strathfield is a Local Government Municipal Area of New South Wales, Australia, near Sydney. Though a disastrous attempt was made to farm the land by the first settlers, it later became a wealthy and exclusive area for the elite and the rich. The area, however, was not known as the Municipality of Strathfield until Strathfield council was formed in 1887 (The Municipality of Strathfield is separate to the suburb of Strathfield in that the Municipality incorporates several suburbs, including Strathfield). Over the years it has become a major multicultural centre, having many different nationalities in its 14.1 km² boundaries, of which the 3 largest non-Australian born groups are South Korean, Chinese and Sri Lankan.

The municipality is governed by Strathfield council, which has traditionally opposed forced amalgamations with other local government areas, though in the past they have annexed parts of other LGAs and in 1947 they merged with Homebush Council. The council was recently rocked by allegations of corruption, as the now-former mayor Alfred Tsang was caught by The Australian accepting money for what is thought to be a bribe from a developer.

History

Main article: History of the Strathfield area

Strathfield was proclaimed on June 2, 1885 by the Governor of NSW, Sir Augustus Loftus, after residents of the Redmyre area petitioned the New South Wales State government. The Municipality of Strathfield was first formed in August 1887, not long after the suburb of Strathfield was proclaimed on June 2, 1885. The council opened their Council Chambers in 1887. As the council was run by businessmen, they refused to build an adjoined Town Hall for some time and it was only in 1923 that this was finally built. The council soon annexed the Flemington district and in doing so doubled the number of residents they needed provide infrastructure for.

Several attempts at amalgamating the council have been made: the first happened with The Greater Sydney Movement, where many influential people such as Sidney Webb and John Daniel Fitzgerald believed that most of Sydney should be merged into a single Sydney area. This was extremely unpopular with both residents and many councils, including Strathfield council, and though bills were raised in State parliament in 1912, 1927 and 1931 they failed to gather any real support and the attempt to force amalgamation failed. In 1947 Homebush and Strathfield councils merged and part of Enfield was added. In 1974 two reports, one by J.C. Barnett and the other from the State Boundaries Commission, recommended that Ashfield, Drummoyne, Burwood and Concorde should amalgamate with Strathfield. This was energetically opposed by residents and council alderman and this amalgamation also did not come to fruition. In 1992, a section of the northern part of the Municipality was transferred to the Auburn Council area. In return, the area of and between Boundary Creek and the railway line, occupied by the former Ford factory building, was transferred from Auburn to Strathfield Council.

On August 17th, 1991, seven people were killed, when Wade Frankum stabbed a fifteen year-old girl to death, before running amok with a rifle in the Strathfield Plaza shopping mall, and then turning the weapon on himself. This is commonly known as the Strathfield Massacre and it shocked the nation.

In 2004 the then Mayor of the Municipality of Strathfield, Alfred Tsang, stepped down when he was caught on film accepting money from a property developer.

Culture

Strathfield has a wide mix of people groups, with about 48% of the population born overseas. As a result there are many services for newly arrived immigrants, and many overseas students live in the area. Some of the organisations that are located in the Municipality of Strathfield are the Russian Ethnic Community Council of NSW Inc, which provides access to information and referral to mainstream services to recent immigrants of Russian and Russian speaking background and disseminates information to remote and offshore areas on a number of issues [1] (http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/36693/20040615/www.russiansinaustralia.org.au/RECC_documents/Info_serv.htm) and the Sydney Tamil Resource Centre Inc, which provides resources to Tamil immigrants.

In the 90s Strathfield saw a large influx of Korean immigrants, mainly due to its proximity to Campsie — which also had experienced an influx of Koreans into the area — and a boom in numbers of International Students. There are now numerous Korean restaurants and shops in the area.

There are various community organisations in the Municipality. Strathfield has a local Rotary club, which provides community support and assistance via various projects in the area [2] (http://www.rotarnet.com.au/strathfield) and a Musical Society, which normally produces two shows a year in the Latvian Theatre in Strathfield. Their main social activity is rehearsing twice weekly and they present seven performances of their musical production over two weekends. Strathfield Lantern Club Voluntary is located in Strathfield and provides fundraising organisation for raising funds specifically for the Royal Institute for Deaf & Blind Children in North Rocks, NSW.

The Municipality has a local library in Homebush and a branch library in Strathfield South. The central library, located in Homebush, was demolished in find out and temporarily located in Fitzgerald Park, Strathfield. A brand new library was built and officially opened in 2003.

Politics

Australia has three tiers of government: the Federal government (responsible for national matters such as external trade and commerce, quarantine, currency, patents, marriage, immigration, defence, telecommunications, and the provision of welfare and other assistance payments), State government (responsible for provincial matters such as policing, public schools, roads and traffic, public hospitals, public housing, and business regulation) and Local government (responsible for town planning, building approvals, local roads, parking, public libraries, public toilets, water and sewerage, waste removal, domestic animals and community facilities). The Municipality of Strathfield is part of Australia's local government system.

Traditionally, the municipality has fought amalgamation of their area with other councils, though additional land has been added to the Municipality since 1885 such as annexure of parts of the Lidcome Municipality in 1992, merged the western ward of the abolished Enfield Council in 1949 and volutarily merged with the Municipality of Homebush in May 1947. However, they strenuously objected to a push to amalgamate the councils into one mega-council, known as The Greater Sydney Movement, that happened from the early part of the 1890s till the later half of the 1930s. In 1983 it was recommended by the NSW State Boundaries Commission that Strathfield be amalgamated into Burwood, however a great deal of uproar greeted this plan and after the then mayor, Clarrie Edwards, spoke in well attended public meetings the state government abandoned the plan due to a great deal of opposition from residents of the area. In 2003 another proposal was made to merge the Municipality of Burwood with the Municipality of Strathfield. However, the residents of Strathfield did not support this proposal and the merger never proceded.

The Inner West (which includes the Municipality of Strathfield) has long been an area where lots of development has been undergoing and competition amongst developers has been intense. According to The Australian, they were known to strongly lobby the Australian Labor Party and the party "spent almost $100,000 fighting last year's election, with $84,500 of that donated by local developers, electoral funding records show." (Sexton, Feb 2, 2005 [3] (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12116686%255E28737,00.html)). Alfred Tsang, of the Unity Party, was elected to Strathfield Council in March 2003. Tsang was seen as a threat by various Lebanese developers as he overturned various rezoning that had been arranged by the previous Labor party. It is alleged by Tsang that Labor councillor John Abi-Saab and state member of parliament and Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid set him up for accepting a bribe.

On December 20, 2004, Tsang was forced to stepped down over allegations of corruption. Pictures had been published in The Australian of him accepting a $200,000 of $100 bills from a developer, Michael Saklaoui. It was not initially clear why the money was given to him though it was alleged that he was talking to Mr Saklawi about the redevelopment of a 800sqm council-owned carpark (Sexton, Dec 20 2004), however it was later revealed to be payment for rezoning the council car park and three adjoining houses for the benefit of developer Michael Saklaoui (Sexton, Feb 2, 2005 [4] (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12116686%255E28737,00.html)). According to The Australian he was heard to have said that "Basically, we get it for nothing," Mr Tsang says. "I am making Strathfield a better place ... I am doing it for the area." (Sexton, Feb 2, 2005 [5] (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12116686%255E28737,00.html)) Strathfield council soon afterwards released a press statement that it "will not and does not" tolerate misconduct. (Sydney Morning Herald, December 20, 2004 [6] (http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Mayor-faces-suspension-of-cash-wad-claim/2004/12/20/1103391680082.html)) The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is currently investigating whether claims developers were given inside information about land rezoning proposals put to Strathfield Council have any substance and the pictures taken by The Australian were handed to them for further investigation.

According to Anne Davies, who reports for The Sydney Morning Herald, "behind the Strathfield saga is a ferocious battle among developers for sites. These developers are not from the big end of town; they are locals - many are Lebanese - who regard the inner west as their development playground." (Davies, SMH, pg. 4). Michael King, the counsel assisting ICAC, found that John Abi-Saab was involved in a plot to entrap Alfred Tsang and force him from office and recommended five findings against him, and King also recommended that Tsang should be found to have acted corruptly. On March 28, 2005 both Tsang and Abi-Saab tendered their resignations to Strathfield Council's general manager. (The Sydney Morning Herald, March 1, 2005 [7] (http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Strathfield-pair-resign/2005/03/01/1109546827930.html)).

Geography

The Municipality of Strathfield is located at 33°52'10" North, 151°5'59" West (33.8717, 151.0899). It covers a total area of approximately 14.1 square kilometres and includes the suburbs of Strathfield, Strathfield South, Homebush, Homebush West, part of Enfield, part of Belfield and part of Greenacre [8] (http://www.dlg.nsw.gov.au/dlg/dlghome/dlg_Regions.asp?regiontype=2&slacode=7100&region=SI) (in Australia, a Local Government Area, or LGA, incorporates many suburbs into its area). Homebush Bay Drive bounds the Municipality of Strathfield to the north, Powells Creek, The Boulevarde and Coronation Parade bounds it to the east, Punchbowl Road and Juno Parade form the southern border and Roberts Road, Chullora rail yards, Rookwood Cemetery and the Sydney Olympic Park Rail line bound the Municipality to the west.

For NSW state elections, the Municipality of Strathfield is in the State Electoral District of Strathfield and for Federal elections it is in the electorate of Lowe.

Demographics and statistics

See also: Demographics of the Municipality of Strathfield.

The estimated resident population as of June 2003 was 30,220 (Aust. Bureau of Statistics). The Strathfield Local Government Area is a culturally diverse region. The 2001 Census recorded the population of the Municipality as 27,956 — an increase of 8.1% since the 1996 Census. Of the total area, the census showed that 46% of the people stated that they were Australian-born. The number of people born overseas was 13,521 (48% of the total population) compared with 11,386 (44% of the total population) in 1996 and 10,176 (40% of the total population) in 1991. Of those born overseas the three main countries of birth were the Republic of Korea (South) — 1750 people (6.3%); China (excluding SARs and Taiwan) — 1632 people (5.9%) and Sri Lanka — 1544 people (5.5%).

References

• Australian Bureau of Statistics (2003). The people of New South Wales. Statistics from the 2001 Census. Joint publication of the NSW State Government (Community Relations Commission) & the Australian Federal Government (Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs).
• Davies, Anne (December 21, 2004). Design rules for developments won't block out ground-floor corruption. The Sydney Morning Herald.
• History Records of Australia, 1/1
• Jones, Cathy (2004). Strathfield - origin of the name (http://www.strathfieldhistory.org.au/Locality%20names.htm). Retrieved October 4, 2004.
• Jones, Michael (1985). Oasis in the West: Strathfield's first hundred years. North Sydney: Allen & Unwin Australia. ISBN 0-86861-407-6.
• Mayor stands down over cash wad claim (http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Mayor-faces-suspension-of-cash-wad-claim/2004/12/20/1103391680082.html) (December 20, 2004). The Sydney Morning Herald.
• Sexton, Jennifer (December 20, 2004). Video cash mayor steps down (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11737987%255E601,00.html). The Australian.
• Sexton, Jennifer (February 5, 2005). Machinations and the mayor (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12116686%255E28737,00.html). The Australian.
• Strathfield Municipal Council, About our Local Government Area (http://www.strathfield.nsw.gov.au/about/01/1031535267_1899.html). Retrieved October 8, 2004.
• "Strathfield pair resign" (March 1, 2005). The Sydney Morning Herald.
• New South Wales State Electoral Office. State Electoral District Of Strathfield (http://www.seo.nsw.gov.au/electoral_districts_menu/district_index/strathfield.html). Retrieved October 17, 2004.
• Bureau of Crime and Statistics, NSW Recorded Crime Statistics - Strathfield LGA, as PDF (http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/bocsar1.nsf/files/StrathfieldLGA.pdf), or as Excel spreadsheet (http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/bocsar1.nsf/files/StrathfieldLGA.xls).

External links

• Strathfield Municipal Council official website (http://www.strathfield.nsw.gov.au/)
• Strathfield Historical Society (http://www.strathfieldhistory.org.au/)
• 2001 Census Information (http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@census.nsf/Lookup2001Census/883E3063AC39C1C0CA256BBE0083A1E1)

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