Plumber Lidcombe

Lidcombe is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lidcombe is located 15 km (9.32 mi) west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Cumberland Council, with a small industrial part in the north in the City of Parramatta. Post code: 2141, sharing it with Berala.

In the 2021 Census, there were 21,197 people in Lidcombe. 30.6% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were South Korea 14.4%, China 11.1%, Nepal 7.0%, Vietnam 5.7%, and The Philippines 2.8%. The most common reported ancestries were Chinese 27.6%, Korean 17.7%, Nepalese 7.0%, English 6.4% and Australian 5.8%.19.5% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Korean 16.8%, Mandarin 12.1%, Cantonese 9.3%, Nepali 6.8% and Arabic 3.8%. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 27.4%, Catholic 17.2%, Hinduism 10.5% and Buddhism 9.7%.

Lidcombe was, up until recent years a traditional working-class suburb. Over the past decade, Lidcombe has experienced the processes of gentrification. Today, the suburb is cosmopolitan, reflecting the waves of immigration to post war Australia. Lidcombe is home to a large Korean community. Many Korean run businesses such as restaurants, cafés, hairdressing and beauty services are located within the suburb.

Lidcombe railway station is an important junction station. It is served by four suburban lines:

Some intercity Blue Mountains line services also call at the station.

A railway service from the Mortuary railway station, near Central railway station, once ran to a platform at the nearby Rookwood Cemetery, on the Rookwood Cemetery railway line but has since closed.

Transit Systems runs one route, Transdev NSW runs three routes and NightRide runs three routes via Lidcombe station. For full details of these services see Lidcombe Station.

Samuel Haslam owned various grants beside Haslams Creek from 1804. A railway station called Haslam’s Creek was opened in this area in 1859, on the railway line from Sydney to Parramatta. Haslam’s Creek is sometimes referred to as Haslem’s Creek.

Although it had not been intended to construct a station at Haslam’s Creek, the then owner of the land where the station now stands, Father John Joseph Therry, together with nearby landholders Potts and Blaxland, agreed to pay £700 to enable its construction.

Haslam’s Creek was the site of the first railway disaster in New South Wales in July 1858 which resulted in two deaths.

A large number of post-WWII European migrants, including a large number of Ukrainians, settled in the area of Lidcombe, and built a number of buildings including a church, 2 halls and 2 schools. Lidcombe is still the cultural centre of the Ukrainian community in Sydney. The population dynamics changed with the influx of Middle Eastern immigrants in the 1960s and 1970s.

The two main streets are John and Joseph, named after the early colonial priest John Joseph Therry.

In 1989, the former industrial area in the north of the suburb, near the shores of Homebush Bay, was carved out to become a separate suburb named “Homebush Bay”, as part of efforts to regenerate this area. This area was selected as the main venue for the 2000 Summer Olympics, and in 2009 was renamed Sydney Olympic Park, with a small part becoming a new residential suburb of Wentworth Point. At the same time, a small part of Sydney Olympic Park that has remained industrial, around Carter Street, was carved back into the suburb of Lidcombe.

Auburn Council was suspended in 2016 due to dysfunction, and later in 2016 it was abolished, with different parts of the former council area merged into different councils. Most of Lidcombe became part of the new Cumberland Council, while the small industrial area that was formerly part of Sydney Olympic Park became part of the City of Parramatta.

Lidcombe has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

North of the railway line:

South of the railway line:

Lidcombe has many places of worship including:

Lidcombe Public School, located on John Street, was established in 1879. The school has 600 students from the Lidcombe area and also caters for special education children with trained teachers in that field. The school provides extra-curricular education facilities such as a choir, dance group and PSSA sports team. There is a before and after-school care program located within the school. There is transport to and from the school by the 925 and M92 bus routes.

St Joachim’s Parish School is a Catholic school on Mary Street. The Sisters of St Joseph founded the school in 1885 and remained active in the school until 1984. After that time the Sisters handed the Principalship over to lay staff who have continued to uphold the traditions and spirit of Blessed Mary MacKillop, who walked the playground and worked at the school, and her Josephite Sisters. The school caters for children up to Year 6.

Marist Brothers was a boys school located on Keating Street, behind St. Joachim’s Catholic Church. It closed following the amalgamation of several Catholic schools in the area. The school catered for boys up to Year 6. This site is used for various Catholic Church enterprises, including the Inner Western Regional Office of the Catholic Education Office, Sydney, the Catholic Adult Education Centre and a bookstore specialising in Catholic publications (“The Mustard Seed”).

Lidcombe has a mixture of residential, commercial and industrial developments. The main commercial area is clustered around the station. Lidcombe Shopping Centre (formerly Lidcombe Power Centre) is a medium-sized shopping centre located about 2 km from Lidcombe railway station. The centre features two mini-majors and approximately 60 specialty stores.

Commercial and industrial developments are located along Parramatta Road and surrounding areas. The area close to the train station has a lot of restaurants mainly offering Korean food.

Lidcombe Oval, situated in Church Street, on the northern side of the railway line, was the home ground of the Western Suburbs Magpies from 1967–1986. The playing surface is enclosed by a cycling track. The ground earned a reputation as a fortress for the home side, particularly in the late 1970s to the early 1980s when the Magpies were at their most competitive. Games against rivals Parramatta Eels and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles would usually draw large crowds during this era. The attendance record for the venue is 21,015 (Wests vs Parramatta, 30 July 1978).

Carnarvon Golf Course, located at Nottinghill Road and Joseph Street, reflects the social history of Lidcombe. The first site was in use from 1927 to 1932 and occupied an area running east and west on the northern side of Parramatta Road, Lidcombe between Wetherill Street and Hill Road in an area currently covered by the M4 Western Motorway. The “Old Course” was in an area of three paddocks north of Fariola Street in an area owned by the Newington State Hospital (now Silverwater Correctional Centre) which consisted of nine holes in the top paddock (holes one-eight and eighteen). Seven holes in the bottom paddock, now Wilson Park, and the sixteenth and seventeenth holes in a paddock leased from Lidcombe Council on the southern side of Holker Street. This course was in use from 1932 until early 1943 when the top paddock and the Clubhouse were taken over by the U.S. Navy during World War II. The Silverwater Course was used from 1942 to 1949 and was a nine-hole course where the bottom paddock held holes one-two and five-nine with the third and fourth holes in the Council paddock. The present site which originally consisted of Lidcombe Sports and Showground and the western grazing paddock of Lidcombe State Hospital was obtained in 1947 and officially opened in December, 1949.

The Ruth Everuss Aquatic Centre (formerly known as the Auburn Swim Centre), located on Church Street, has indoor and outdoor swimming facilities. The centre was closed for major renovations and reopened again in 2017. The Centre is named after Ruth Everuss, the Australian Olympic swimmer was part of the silver medal-winning women’s 4 × 100 m freestyle relay team at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. Under the rules of the time, she did not receive a medal for swimming in the heats.

33°51′53″S 151°02′44″E / 33.86462°S 151.04563°E / -33.86462; 151.04563