 Banksia is located 12 km south of the Sydney’s CBD. It is bounded generally by Godfrey Street, Spring Street and the Spring Canal in the north, the
Muddy Creek in the east, generally by Bestic Street and Rockdale Street in the south and generally by Wolli Creek Road and Gardiner Park in the west.
Banksia is named after Joseph Banks, a botanist on the Voyage of Discovery of James Cook which visited the nearby Botany Bay in 1770.
Banksia is an established residential area with some commercial land use along Princes Highway. It features mostly low density houses and some medium density blocks of flats. Banksia shopping centre consists of a small group of shops on Railway Street beside Banksia railway station.
Many of the commercial developments are part of an automotive precinct featuring car yards, auto accessory retailers, tyre shops and auto repairers. There is also a pub and take-away food stores.
One of the three heritage-listed market gardens in the area is located on West Botany Street and is amongst the oldest in New South Wales. It is amongst the last surviving examples of market gardens that flourished in Sydney, cultivated first by European settlers like the Cornish, Irish and Germans, and later by Chinese settlers.
Major features of the area include Barton Park, Gardiner Park, St George Soccer Stadium and Riverine Park Wetlands.
Banksia was part of land owned by Simeon Pearce (1821-86) and his brother James Pearce in the 1850s, which extended from Rockdale to Brighton Le Sands. Until the late nineteenth century, the area was heavily timbered but residential development began in the 1880s. One of the leading developers was Frederick Jamison Gibbes, a Member of Parliament, after whom Gibbes Street is named.
The area developed more rapidly after the railway station opened on 21st October 1906. Many names for the suburb were suggested but the final choice came from Charles Stead, father of novelist Christina Stead. The post office opened in August 1924.
The following statistics are provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006 Census for the suburb of Banksia.
Population
There were 2955 persons usually resident in Banksia: 50.4% were males and 49.6% were females. Of the total population in Banksia 1.4% were Indigenous persons.
Age
The majority of residents are aged between 25 – 54 years with a total of 42.8%. 16.9% of the population usually resident in Banksia were children aged between 0-14 years, and 26.7% were persons aged 55 years and over. The median age of persons in Banksia was 38 years, compared with 37 years for persons in Australia.
Country of birth
Australian born residents totalled 49.6%. Other common responses within Banksia were: Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 9.6%, China 3.5%, New Zealand 3.2%, Lebanon 2.8% and Greece 2.7%.
Languages
English was stated as the only language spoken at home by 40.2% of persons usually resident in Banksia. The most common languages other than English spoken at home were: Macedonian 15.8%, Arabic 8.4%, Cantonese 6.1%, Greek 5.8% and Italian 3.1%.
Religion
The most common responses for religious affiliation for persons usually resident in Banksia were Catholic 27.9%, Eastern Orthodox 24.9%, No Religion 9.3%, Anglican 9.2% and Islam 7.3%.
Occupation
1507 people aged 15 years and over who were usually resident in Banksia were in the labour force. There were 834 usual residents aged 15 years and over not in the labour force.
The most common responses for occupation for employed persons usually resident in Banksia were Clerical and Administrative Workers 17.1%, Professionals 15.4%, Labourers 13.8%, Technicians and Trades Workers 13.7% and Sales Workers 11.1%.
The median weekly family income was $1133, compared with $1171 in Australia.
Families
There were 836 families in Banksia: 48.1% were couple families with children, 34.0% were couple families without children, 15.6% were one parent families and 2.4% were other families.
Housing
There were 1003 occupied private dwellings counted in Banksia: 83.1% were separate houses, 9.1% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 6.1% were flats, units or apartments and 1.8% were other dwellings.
The median weekly rent was $290, compared to $190 in Australia. The median monthly housing loan repayment was $1973, compared to $1300 in Australia. The average household size was 2.9 and the average number of persons per bedroom was 1.2.
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