From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Riverwood is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Riverwood is located 18km south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the St George area. Riverwood is split between the local government areas of the City of Hurstville and the City of Canterbury. The postcode is 2210.

Contents 1 Commercial Area 2 Transport 3 History 4 Places of Interest 5 External links

The main shopping centre is located on Belmore Road and Thurlow Streets near Riverwood railway station. Riverwood Plaza is a small but thriving shopping centre on Belmore Road that contains supermarkets and specialty shops.

Riverwood railway station is on the East Hills line of the City Rail network.

The area was originally known as Herne Bay and comprised of small land grants between 30 and 80 acres. When the East Hills railway line came through the area in 1931, the station was called Herne Bay. It was subdivided in 1919 and developed during World War 2, when much of the area was the site of a large United States Army military base. After the war the military departed, and the timber and corrugated iron barrack buildings (some of which survived into the 1990s) were converted into public housing. Some of the street names recall the American presence such as Pennsylvania Road, Kentucky Road, Wyoming Place, Idaho Place, Michigan Road, Montana Crescent, Roosevelt Avenue and Truman Avenue.

The suburb developed an unsavoury reputation for poverty, overcrowding and violence, and its name was later changed to Riverwood in 1957, in large part to remove the stigma associated with living there. This helped to change the reputation of the area. From the 1950s onwards, purpose-built utilitarian public housing apartment blocks and freestanding bungalows replaced most of the former military buildings on the northern side of the railway line, while the southern part of the suburb was mostly privately developed.

Despite actions made to correct this suburb's reputation, negative ideas of this suburb exist. Some may think of Riverwood as a poor, backward, relatively unsafe suburb. This is may be due to the proliferation of Housing Commissions and Public Housing. Some are also concerned with the 'dangers', whether justified or not, they might face.

• Shorty's Drycleaning, Belmore Road.
• Thairannosaurus Thai cuisine, Belmore Road.
• Monte Carlo Pizzeria, Belmore Road.
• Conca D'oro Lounge (Events Centre), Belmore Road.
• Gus' Seafood, Belmore Road.
• Riverwood Plaza, Belmore Road.
• Riverwood Plaza Food Court, Belmore Road.
• Riverwood Library, Belmore Road.
• Riverwood Community Centre, Belmore Road.
• Riverwood Legion Club.
• Office of Member for Lakemba Morris Iemma, who is also Premier of New South Wales.

Coordinates: -33.95427° 151.05115°

• Maps and aerial photos
  • Street map from Street Directory, MSN Maps and Multimap.
  • Satellite image from Google Maps, WikiMapia and Terraserver.
• Canterbury City Council's historical information on Riverwoord.

Suburbs within the City of Canterbury | South-western Sydney | Sydney
Ashbury | Belfield | Belmore | Campsie | Canterbury | Clemton Park | Croydon Park | Earlwood | Hurlstone Park | Kingsgrove | Lakemba | Punchbowl | Riverwood | Roselands | Undercliffe | Wiley Park
List of Sydney suburbs