More Sydney Suburbs: Beaconsfield - Beaumont Hills- Beecroft - Belfield

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Yes, I know that I have been calling it "More Week"  and that today's "More" post makes it longer than a week, but isn't that appropriate when the theme is "More"?

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Beaconsfield:

Location:

• 5 kilometres south of the Sydney CBD.

Name origin:

• The suburb was named after Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield, a British prime minister during the reign of Queen Victoria.

About:

• Formerly part of the suburb of Alexandria, the name was gazetted in 1977.

• Primarily a manufacturing suburb with only a small residential component. 

• The 2011 census showed only 906 residents but blocks of flats and apartments re adding to the numbers. 

• Beaconsfield is part of the Green Square district which is currently undergoing gentrification. This involves an urban renewal project that is constructing modern retail, business and residential developments.

• The suburb bears the same name as the town in Tasmania where the famed mine collapse took place, trapping 2 miners.

Gallery:

Some Beaconsfield terrace houses

A Queen Street café

Victoria Street apartments

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Beaumont Hills:

Location:

40 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of The Hills Shire. 

(Don’t feel bad if you had never heard of it before this, I hadn’t either).

Name origin:

Originally a housing estate, it is thought to be named after the birthplace of the wife of property developer and builder A.V. Jennings. The name was assigned as a suburb by the NSW Geographical Names Board in 2003.

About:

• Beaumont Hills was formerly part of the suburb of Kellyville, as was Kellyville Ridge.

• Beaumont Hills became a separate suburb in 2002. 

• It was developed as a low-density residential suburb in a time frame similar to Kellyville.

Gallery:

Some Beaumont Hills houses . . .

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Beecroft:

Location:

22 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of Hornsby Shire and City of Parramatta. Beecroft is considered to be in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney.

Name origin:

• Beecroft was orchard country before its suburban development. 

• The railway arrived in 1886 and Sir Henry Copeland, Minister of Lands, conducted a survey of the area to determine its suitability as a residential area. 

• He named the suburb after the maiden name of his two wives, Hannah and Mary Beecroft, two sisters he married in succession. 

• Their names are also remembered through the respective naming of the suburb's east-west streets; Hannah Street, Copeland Road and Mary Street.

About:

• Due to the strength of the temperance movement in Beecroft at that time there have never been any hotels in Beecroft. 

• The bushland and amenity of Beecroft has been largely preserved due to the efforts of the Beecroft Cheltenham Civic Trust which has been very active since its inception in 1958.

• A residential area with only a small commercial area, there are mixed commercial shops/residential apartment developments recent;y constructed and in development.

Gallery:

Henry Copeland (1839-1904)

Beecroft Railway Station

A walking track in the part of Chilworth Reserve known as "Byles Bush", at the end of York Street.

Beecroft Rd,near Kandy Ave,Epping,north west Sydney (looking north) in 1935.

Beecroft Railway Station 1910 (note the dresses, including at left)

Herring’s Orchard, Beecroft. Date unknown

Beecroft Public School, 1923

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Belfield:

Location:

14 km (9 mi) south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Canterbury-Bankstown Council and partly in the Municipality of Strathfield.

Name origin:

• Land grants were made as early as 1810 for agricultural purposes, on the northern side of Punchbowl Road (towards Strathfield). The "Punch Bowl" was the name that early settlers gave the almost circular valley where the old road to Georges River crossed Cooks River at a ford. This is now where Georges River Road meets Punchbowl Road (the road to "The Punch Bowl") in Belfield.

• The name of the suburb is believed to have been created by combining the names of the two neighbouring suburbs, Belmore and Enfield. 

• From information supplied by the Postmaster General's Department, the name "Belfield" first appeared on their records in 1930 when the Belfield branch of the ALP wrote asking that the Department establish a post office at North Belmore. Although several applications were made over the years, it was not until 1936 that the postal inspector reported in favour of a non-official post office. His report read: "...There is a business centre here consisting of sixteen shops, one garage and one Hotel. It is a prosperous business section. This part of the locality is approximately midway between Belmore and Enfield. It is known as Belfield".

About:

• The majority of houses in Belfield were built after World War II, as public housing. 

• Many of the houses have been turned over to private ownership.

• Australia's first Pizza Hut opened in Belfield in April 1970, but closed in the late 1990s

Gallery:

What was Australia’s first Pizza Hut (1970) is now the Seoul Hoikwan Restaurant.

Which reminds me of the time some years ago when my father in law, Noel, who lives in Canberra, was staying with us in Sydney.  We went to the above restaurant, which these days is a Korean 'cook it yourself' establishment, the burners being set into the tables.  You collect food from the buffet, take it back to your table and cook it . . .

Noel is a gourmet cook himself and he enjoyed the food he was cooking, so much so that he told the Korean proprietor.  The chap was greatly pleased and said "You wait, I get."  He came back with some white meat tubes that looked a bit like calamari.  He told Noel to cook it and eat it, explaining that they saved this for special and honoured persons.  Noel dutifully did as instructed and made polite appreciative comments, even though he later told us it was not very appetising.  Having eaten it, he then asked what it was.  The proprietor had a bit of trouble conveying it in English but eventually made known it was the bull's spinal cord.