The former Kogarah Post Office in 1915. The building still stands, but is now used as a town hall. Kogarah is a suburb and Local Government Area located 15km to the south of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The municipality of Kogarah was established on 22 December 1885 and is bounded by the Illawarra Railway line, Georges River, Rocky Point Road, Princes Highway and Harrow Road. It comes from the Aboriginal word for place of reeds and is the seat of the Municipality of Kogarah Local Government Area. Kogarah is also the centre of the St. George district in Sydney which encompasses most of southern Sydney until it becomes the Sutherland Shire (beginning at Como).
Geography and setting Kogarah is surrounded by Rockdale to the north, Ramsgate to the south, Brighton-Le-Sands to the east and Carlton to the west. Kogarah usually refers to the suburb, but it is also the name of the municipality and council of the area surrounding the suburb. Suburbs within the Kogarah municipality include Brighton-Le-Sands and Blakehurst.
More than anything else, Kogarah is mainly known for its large range of schools (including primary school, high school and tertiary education) and health care services (which includes two hospitals) as well as a large residential area. The NRL side, St. George-Illawarra Dragons have their Sydney office based at Kogarah's OKI Jubilee Oval.
Population statistics According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Kogarah had a population of 53,200 in 2002. As a very diverse suburb, a large portion of Kogarah's population is made up of people of overseas origin. Despite this, Kogarah is not quite the multicultural melting pot like its neighbour Hurstville.
Transportation The entire Municipality of Kogarah and surrounding areas rely on bus, train and taxi services that operate from the centre of Kogarah's shopping district. Bus and train services are also maximised to accomodate the large population within Kogarah, as well as the large number of schools in the area. Areas around Kogarah, particularly those along the beach (Brighton-Le-Sands, Ramsgate etc) rely heavily on bus services as they are quite distant from rail stations. The majority of all public transportation depart and arrive from the Kogarah Town Centre.
Kogarah railway station is located on the Illawarra line of the CityRail network. Travelling north towards the city, the stops are Rockdale, Banksia, Arncliffe, Wolli Creek, Tempe, Sydenham, Redfern, Central, Town Hall and Martin Place. The stops travelling south-west towards Sutherland are Carlton, Allawah, Hurstville, Penshurst, Mortdale, Oatley, Como, Jannali and Sutherland.
Kogarah station is a large complex, and is part of the building that houses the Kogarah Town Centre. In the late 1990's, the station underwent large renovations which, among other things, added easy access facilities such as elevators into the station and onto each of the 4 platforms. Being a recent development, Kogarah is one of the most modern rail stations on the CityRail network.
Local culture
Kogarah Town Centre The Kogarah Town Centre is arguably the main building of Kogarah. It houses Kogarah's only shopping mall which includes Post office, supermarket (Woolworths) and railway station along with a multitude of specialty stores like butchers, delicatessans and chemists. The Town Centre also features one of Sydney's first Video Ezy stores as well as a food court and tavern. While it is a shopping mall, it should be noted that the Town Centre is quite small and the majority of its traffic is from the railway station and Woolworths.
St. George Dragons One of Kogarah's claims to fame is that it is the part time home of the NRL's St. George-Illawarra Dragons who play Rugby League at Kogarah's Jubilee Oval, one of Sydney's first football fields. The Dragons are one of Sydney's oldest football teams and one of much tradition and history, famous for being the club of legends such as Reg Gasnier (see St. George-Illawarra Dragons).
The Annual Kogarah Bed Race and Street Fair The most popular social event on the Kogarah calender is the annual Kogarah Bed Race and Street Fair. In the race, teams race through Kogarah's main street, Railway Parade, on hospital beds, all in the name of charity. Most beds are driven by local businesses in teams that are usually made up of more than 4. The rules stipulate that one member of the team must be in a lying position on the bed. The beds are always decorated, usually with the colours or insignias of the business sponsoring the bed. The contestants usually dress up for the cause as well. All proceeds of the race go to the St. George Hospital.
The street fair that happens just before the bed race is a great social affair with numerous stalls, food outlets and of course plenty of great entertainment.
Parks and beaches The Kogarah area also sports many beaches, parks and reserves with no shortage of sports playing fields.
Brighton-Le-Sands Possibly the most popular area for youth and night time entertainment is Brighton-Le-Sands (also called just Brighton or Brighton Beach) as it features a large variety of restaurants serving many forms of multicultural cuisine as well as the luxurious Novotel right on the beach. Despite this, Brighton-Le-Sands never acheieved the recognition of other Sydney beach-side tourist destinations such as Bondi and Cronulla. Brighton is also known for having the largest portion of Sydney's Greek community and was the centre of celebrations after Greece won the Euro 2004 Soccer cup.
Significant people from Kogarah - Clive James - a writer, poet, essayist, critic, and commentator on popular culture
List of schools in Kogarah - Kogarah Public School
- James Cook Boys Technology High School
- Moorefield Girls High School
- Kogarah High School
- St George Girls High School
- Bethany College (years 7 - 10)
- Sydney Institute of TAFE: St. George Campus
- Kogarah Marist High School
List of institutions in Kogarah
External links - The website of Kogarah Council (http://www.kogarah.nsw.gov.au)
- Kogarah Marist High School (http://www.marist.kogarah.syd.catholic.edu.au/)
Footnotes 1 Land component is 15.55 km2 |
Feeds |
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