Fairfield City Council

This article is about the local government area. For the Sydney suburb, see Fairfield, New South Wales.

Fairfield City Council New South Wales
Location in Metropolitan Sydney
Coordinates	33°52′S150°55′E / 33.867°S 150.917°E / -33.867; 150.917
Population	208,475 (LGA 2021) [1]
Established	8 December 1888 (Smithfield and Fairfield) 26 October 1920 (Fairfield)
Area	102 km2 (39.4 sq mi)
Time zone	AEST (UTC+10)
• Summer (DST)	AEDT (UTC+11)
Mayor	Frank Carbone (Dai Le and Frank Carbone Network)
Council seat	Wakeley
Region	South Western Sydney
State electorate(s)	Badgerys Creek Cabramatta Fairfield Liverpool Prospect
Federal division(s)	Fowler McMahon Werriwa
Website	Fairfield City Council
LGAs around Fairfield City Council: Penrith Blacktown Parramatta Penrith Fairfield City Council Cumberland Liverpool Liverpool

The Fairfield City Council is a local government area in the west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The council was first incorporated as the "Municipal District of Smithfield and Fairfield" on 8 December 1888, and the council's name was changed to the "Municipality of Fairfield" in 1920, before being proclaimed a city in 1979. The City of Fairfield comprises an area of 102 square kilometres (39 sq mi) and as of the 2021 census had a population of 208,475. ^[2] The mayor of the City of Fairfield is Cr. Frank Carbone, the first popularly-elected independent mayor of Fairfield.

Fairfield is considered one of the most ethnically diverse suburbs in Australia. At the 2021 census, the proportion of residents in the Fairfield local government area who stated their ancestry as Vietnamese and Assyrian, was in excess of sixteen times the national average. The area was linguistically diverse, with Vietnamese, Arabic, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, or Cantonese languages spoken in households, and ranged from two times to seventeen times the national averages. ^[2]

The Smithfield–Wetherill Park Industrial Estate is the largest industrial estate in the Southern Hemisphere and is the centre of manufacturing and distribution in Greater Western Sydney, with more than 1,000 manufacturing, wholesale, transport and service firms. ^[3]

Geography

A few small areas of the original bushland remain, including examples of Cumberland Plain Woodland, which is listed under the Threatened Species Conservation Act, and the Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark ecological community. There are 580 parks (60 of which are major parks), including one of the largest urban parks in the world, Western Sydney Parklands, which has a precinct that lies in the Fairfield area, called the Western Sydney Regional Park. Fairfield City is mainly residential in nature with large-scale industrial estates at Wetherill Park and Smithfield. Fairfield Showground is an important cultural venue. Prominent roads such as Cumberland Highway and The Horsley Drive wind through it.

Suburbs in the local government area

Suburbs in the City of Fairfield are:

• Abbotsbury
• Bonnyrigg
• Bonnyrigg Heights
• Bossley Park
• Cabramatta
• Cabramatta West
• Canley Heights
• Canley Vale
• Carramar
• Cecil Park (shared with the City of Liverpool)
• Edensor Park
• Fairfield (with a small part in Cumberland Council)
• Fairfield East
• Fairfield Heights
• Fairfield West
• Greenfield Park
• Horsley Park
• Lansvale
• Mount Pritchard (with a small part in City of Liverpool)
• Old Guildford
• Prairiewood
• Smithfield (shared with Cumberland Council)
• St Johns Park
• Wakeley
• Wetherill Park
• Yennora (shared with Cumberland Council)

History

Cabramatta Civic Hall, completed in 1944 to a design by J. A. Dobson, was the Cabramatta and Canley Vale seat from 1944–1948 and the Fairfield Council seat from 1949.

For more than 30,000 years, Aboriginal people from the Cabrogal–Gandangara tribe have lived in the area. ^[7]

One of Sydney's oldest trees, the Bland Oak, was planted in the 1830s in Carramar. European settlement began early in the 19th century and was supported by railway construction in 1856. At the turn of the century the area had a population of 2,500 people and with fertile soils, produced crops for distribution in Sydney. The council was first incorporated as the "Municipal District of Smithfield and Fairfield" on 8 December 1888, becoming the "Municipality of Smithfield and Fairfield" from 1906. ^[8] On 26 October 1920, the council's name was changed to the "Municipality of Fairfield", in recognition of the changing centre of business in the council area. ^[9]

Rapid population increase after World War II saw the settlement of many ex-service men and European migrants. Large scale Housing Commission development in the 1950s swelled the population to 38,000. From 1 January 1949, under the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948 , the 'Municipality of Cabramatta and Canley Vale' was amalgamated into the Municipality of Fairfield. In the 1976 census, the population had reached 114,000 and was becoming one of the larger local government areas in New South Wales. ^[10] On 18 May 1979, the Municipality of Fairfield was granted city status, becoming the "City of Fairfield". ^[11]

On Friday 29 June, 2001 the former deputy mayor of Fairfield and councillor from 1987 to 1998, Phuong Ngo, was convicted of the 1994 murder of the local state MP for Cabramatta (and former deputy mayor), John Newman, a crime which has been described as Australia's first political assassination. Ngo's alleged accomplices, Quang Dao and David Dinh, were acquitted and the identity of the killer who shot and fatally wounded Newman remains a mystery. Controversy has arisen in the years since then of the presence of Ngo's name on various council plaques from his time on council. ^{[12] [13] [14]}

In September 2006, Fairfield Council announced the introduction of a trial ban on spitting in public ^[15] on public health grounds. However, it was reported that advice provided to council from NSW Health was that spitting does not impact on the transmission of infectious diseases. ^[16] The law proved difficult to prosecute. ^[17] In April 2024, the first terrorist attack in Western Sydney's soil occurred at a Wakeley church, where an Islamic extremist stabbed bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and five others, though all survived the attack. ^[18]

Heritage listings

The City of Fairfield has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• Bonnyrigg, Cartwright Street: Bonnyrigg House ^[19]
• Bonnyrigg, Lot 1 Cartwright Street: Male Orphan School land ^[20]
• Fairfield, Great Southern railway: Fairfield railway station, Sydney ^[21]
• Horsley Park, 52–58 Jamieson Close: Horsley complex ^[22]
• Lansvale, Hume Highway: Lansdowne Bridge ^[23]

Business and industry

Yennora industrial zone, showing Pine Road and the Hume Building Products warehouses.

Fairfield is a centre of manufacturing and distribution for Greater Western Sydney and home to the Smithfield-Wetherill Park Industrial Estate, which is the largest industrial zone in the Southern Hemisphere. ^[24] It is also home to the Yennora industrial zone, where key operators in the area include Toll, Woolworths, Linfox, Australian Wool Handlers, Qube and Hume Building Products. ^[25]

Demographics

At the 2021 census there were 208,475 people in the Fairfield local government area, of these 49.3 per cent were male and 50.7 per cent were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.7 per cent of the population; significantly below the NSW and Australian averages of 3.4 and 3.2 per cent respectively. The median age of people in the City of Fairfield was 39 years; slightly higher than the national median of 38 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 17.9 per cent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 16.7 per cent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 46.5 per cent were married and 12.9 per cent were either divorced or separated. ^[2]

Population in the City of Fairfield between the 2001 census and the 2006 census declined by 0.78 per cent; and in the subsequent five years to the 2011 census, population growth was 4.38 per cent. At the 2016 census, the population in the City increased by 5.89 per cent. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same period, being 8.8 per cent, population growth in the Fairfield local government area was a little over half the national average. ^{[26] [27] [28] [29]}

The median weekly income for residents within the City of Fairfield was lower than the national average, ^{[29] [28]} being one of the factors that place the city in an area of social disadvantage.

As at the 2016 census, the influence of Vietnamese culture and language was statistically strong, evidenced by the proportion of residents with Vietnamese ancestry (nearly twenty times higher than the national average), the proportion of residents who spoke Vietnamese as either a first or second language (also nearly twenty times higher than the national average), and the proportion of residents who stated a religious affiliation with Catholicism and Buddhism (the latter being in excess of nine times the national average). ^[26]

Selected historical census data for Fairfield local government area
Census year			2001 [27]	2006 [28]	2011 [29]	2016 [26]	2021 [2]
Population		Estimated residents on census night	181,300	179,893	187,766	198,817	208,475
		LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales			5th	11th
		% of New South Wales population			2.71%	2.66%	2.58%
		% of Australian population	0.97%	0.91%	0.87%	0.85%	0.82%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses		Vietnamese			14.6%	16.8%	19.5%
		Chinese			11.7%	11.4%	13.1%
		Australian			8.6%	7.8%	8.8%
		English			7.4%	6.9%	7.2%
		Assyrian				5.7%	8.2%
Language, top responses (other than English)		Vietnamese	15.5%	17.0%	19.1%	20.4%	21.1%
		Arabic	4.9%	6.4%	7.3%	7.9%	9.3%
		Assyrian Neo-Aramaic	4.9%	6.1%	5.6%	6.7%	7.8%
		Cantonese	5.8%	5.6%	5.0%	4.3%	3.7%
		Khmer	n/c	n/c	n/c	3.6%	–
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses		Catholic	35.2%	35.3%	33.9%	30.9%	30.3%
		Buddhism	21.2%	22.1%	23.0%	20.7%	19.9%
		No religion, so described	5.9%	6.4%	7.7%	12.6%	14.6%
		Not stated	n/c	n/c	n/c	7.3%	7.0%
		Islam	n/c	n/c	n/c	5.9%	6.3%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income		Median weekly personal income		$319	$369	$439	$485
		% of Australian median income		68.5%	64.0%	66.3%	60.2%
Family income		Median weekly family income		$873	$1,065	$1,263	$1,482
		% of Australian median income		85.0%	71.9%	72.8%	69.9%
Household income		Median weekly household income		A$946	$1,022	$1,222	$1,390
		% of Australian median income		80.8%	82.8%	85.0%	79.6%

Council

Current composition and election method

Fairfield City Council is composed of thirteen councillors, including the mayor, for a fixed four-year term of office. The mayor has been directly elected since 2004, while the twelve other Councillors are elected proportionally to two separate wards, each electing six councillors. The most recent election was held on 2 December 2021, and the makeup of the council, including the mayor, is as follows: ^[30]

Party		Councillors
	Western Sydney Community	10
	Australian Labor Party	3
	Total	13

The current Council, elected in 2021, in order of election by ward, is:

Ward	Councillor		Party	Notes
Mayor [30]		Frank Carbone	Western Sydney Community	Labor until 29 August 2016, serving as mayor for a fixed four-year term from 2021. [31]
Fairfield/Cabravale [30]		Kien Ly	Labor
		Dai Le	Western Sydney Community	Deputy Mayor 2021–2022. Also serving as the member for Fowler since May 2022.
		Milovan Karajcic	Western Sydney Community
		Kevin Lam	Western Sydney Community
		Carmen Lazar	Labor
		Charbel Saliba	Western Sydney Community	Currently serving as Deputy Mayor as of February 2024. [32]
Parks [30]		Reni Barkho	Western Sydney Community	Deputy Mayor 2023–2024. [32]
		Hugo Morvillo	Western Sydney Community
		Andrew Rohan	Western Sydney Community
		Marie Saliba	Western Sydney Community
		Michael Mijatovic	Western Sydney Community
		George Barcha	Labor

Past composition

Election	Seats (including directly-elected mayors) [33] [34]								Notes
	Labor	Liberal	Ind. Liberal	Unity	Women's	Official Labour	Progress	Independent [lower-alpha 1]
1953	6	—	0	—	—	2	6	1
2004	9	3	0	1	—	—	—	0
2008	8	4	0	0	—	—	—	1
2012	7	—	4	1	—	—	—	1
2016	6	3	0	—	—	—	—	4
2021	3	—	0	—	3	—	—	7	Fairfield Ward and Cabravale Ward merged to create Fairfield/Cabravale Ward

Mayors

Main article: List of mayors of Fairfield

Election results

2021

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2021 New South Wales local elections in Greater Sydney § Fairfield.[ edit ]

The Liberal Party did not endorse any candidates, including its three councillors elected in 2016. ^[35]

The election was conducted by the Australian Election Company. ^[35]

2021 New South Wales local elections: Fairfield ^{[35] [36]}

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Frank Carbone		39,445	42.5		6
	Women's Party		18,774	20.2	+20.2	3	3
	Labor		23,081	24.9	−20.2	3	3
	The Real Local		3,468	3.7	+3.7	0
	Independent		3,007	3.2		0
	Our Local Community		2,880	3.1	+3.1	0
	Independent Liberal		2,207	2.4	−16.1 [lower-alpha 2]	0	3 [lower-alpha 2]
Formal votes			92,862

Town Clerks/General Manager/City Managers

Name	Term	Notes
George Edward Young	28 February 1889 – 1 September 1891	[38] [39]
Francis Atkin Kenyon	1 September 1891 – 4 November 1892	[40] [41]
Edward Farr	4 November 1892 – 17 July 1900	[42]
Richard Henry Stokes Dummett	17 July 1900 – 3 April 1916	[43] [44]
George Davis	3 April 1916 – 1 August 1942	[45] [46] [47] [48]
William James Witt	1 August 1942 – May 1953	[49] [50]
Vic Winton	May 1953 – 1976	[51]
F. A. Elliott	1976–1986	[52]
Terry Barnes	1986 – October 1999	[53] [54] [55] [56]
Alan Young	October 1999 – date	[57]

Sister cities

• Palmi, Italy ^[58]
• Zhenjiang, China

References

1. Including local groups.
2. Compared with the Liberal Party result at the 2016 election. ^[37]

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Fairfield (Local Government Area)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022. 
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Fairfield". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
3. Smithfield-Wetherill Park
4. "CABRA. COUNCIL CHAMBERS". The Biz . New South Wales, Australia. 24 June 1943. p. 3. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
5. Master Builders' Federation of Australia. and Illuminating Engineering Society of Australia (N.S.W.). Building and engineering 1942 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-319042287
6. "Cabramatta Civic Hall". Heritage database. NSW Office of Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
7. Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Gandangara (NSW)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University Press. ISBN   978-0-708-10741-6. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
8. "Government Gazette Proclamations and Legislation". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 772. 11 December 1888. p. 8754. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
9. "LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1919". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. No. 191. 29 October 1920. p. 6301. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
10. Spearritt, Peter (2000). Sydney's Century: A History. Sydney: UNSW Press. pp. 272–273. ISBN   9780868405131 . Retrieved 3 November 2017.
11. "LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1919.—PROCLAMATION". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. No. 67. 18 May 1979. p. 2353. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
12. Frost, Carleen (6 May 2009). "Political assassin Phuong Ngo honoured all over Fairfield". Fairfield Advance. Archived from the original on 29 November 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
13. Morri, Mark (5 September 2014). "Phuong Ngo murders rival John Newman in Australia's first political assassination in 1994". Herald Sun. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
14. Morri, Mark; Thompson, Lachlan (3 September 2014). "John Newman murder: Downfall of a merciless crime lord saved soul of Cabramatta". Fairfield Advance. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
15. "Sydney council trials ban on spitting". ABC News . Australia. 4 September 2006. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
16. Watson, Rhett (21 August 2009). "Laws powerless to prosecute spitting in the street". The Daily Telegraph . Sydney. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
17. Hagias, Matt (24 January 2013). "Spitting fines could return". The Daily Telegraph . Sydney. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
18. "Man in custody, four people injured in alleged stabbing incident at Sydney church". ABC News. 15 April 2024. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
19. "Bonnyrigg House". New South Wales State Heritage Register . Department of Planning & Environment. H00281. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence .
20. "Land Next to Male Orphan School". New South Wales State Heritage Register . Department of Planning & Environment. H01390. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence .
21. "Fairfield Railway Station group". New South Wales State Heritage Register . Department of Planning & Environment. H01143. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence .
22. "Horsley complex (homestead, outbuildings, garden, farm)". New South Wales State Heritage Register . Department of Planning & Environment. H00030. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence .
23. "Lansdowne Bridge". New South Wales State Heritage Register . Department of Planning & Environment. H01472. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence .
24. Don’t forget the Southern Hemisphere’s Largest Industrial Zone Daily Telegraph 13 November 2015
25. Yennora Industrial Site Set For Carve Up; theurbandeveloper.com; 21 Sep 2015
26. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Fairfield (C)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
27. Australian Bureau of Statistics (9 March 2006). "Fairfield (C)". 2001 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
28. Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Fairfield (C)". 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
29. Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Fairfield (C)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
30. Green, Antony. "City of Fairfield". ABC News. Archived from the original on 27 February 2024. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
31. "Mayor Frank Carbone". Fairfield City Council. 86 Avoca Road Wakeley NSW 2176. Archived from the original on 28 February 2024. Retrieved 28 February 2024. Mayor Carbone was first elected to Fairfield City Council in September 2008. He was popularly elected as the Mayor of Fairfield City in the 2012 and then again in the 2016 and 2021 local elections
32. "Councillor Charbel Saliba elected as Deputy Mayor". Fairfield City Council. 86 Avoca Road Wakeley NSW 2176. 27 September 2023. Archived from the original on 28 February 2024. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
33. "L.G. Elections". The Biz.
34. "Fairfield council election, 2021". The Tally Room.
35. "City of Fairfield". ABC News.
36. "Frank Carbone's independents take control of Fairfield City Council, routing Labor". The Daily Telegraph.
37. "Fairfield council election, 2021". The Tally Room.
38. "MUNICIPAL DISTRICT OF SMITHFIELD AND FAIRFIELD". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 165. 19 March 1889. p. 2179. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
39. "MUNICIPAL DISTRICT OF SMITHFIELD AND FAIRFIELD". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 204. 9 April 1889. p. 2726. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
40. "MUNICIPAL DISTRICT OF SMITHFIELD AND FAIRFIELD". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 583. 8 September 1891. p. 7184. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
41. "FAIRFIELD'S FIRST MAYOR". The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate . Vol. LXV, no. 4113. New South Wales, Australia. 7 February 1935. p. 18. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
42. "MUNICIPALITY OF SMITHFIELD AND FAIRFIELD". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 782. 8 November 1892. p. 8947. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
43. "MUNICIPALITY OF SMITHFIELD AND FAIRFIELD". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 737. 27 July 1900. p. 5891. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
44. "MR. R. S. DUMMETT". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 27, 236. 21 April 1925. p. 5. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
45. "THE NEW TOWN CLERK". The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers' Advocate. Vol. XXIX, no. 2314. New South Wales, Australia. 8 April 1916. p. 5. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
46. "MR. G. DAVIS TO RETIRE". The Clarence River Advocate. New South Wales, Australia. 6 March 1941. p. 4. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
47. "Tribute to Town Clerk". The Biz. New South Wales, Australia. 13 August 1942. p. 3. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
48. "MR. GEORGE DAVIS". Northern Star. New South Wales, Australia. 26 December 1950. p. 5. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
49. "FAIRFIELD'S TOWN CLERK". The Biz. New South Wales, Australia. 2 July 1942. p. 1. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
50. "TOWN CLERK RESIGNS". The Biz. New South Wales, Australia. 28 May 1953. p. 9. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
51. "FAREWELL PRESENTATIONS". The Biz. New South Wales, Australia. 2 July 1953. p. 1. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
52. "NOTICE OF RESUMPTION OF LAND BY FAIRFIELD MUNICIPAL COUNCIL.—LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1919". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. No. 99. 6 August 1976. p. 3388. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
53. "FAIRFIELD CITY COUNCIL.—Local Government Act 1919 (Section 269A)". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. No. 186. 5 December 1986. p. 6008. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
54. "FAIRFIELD CITY COUNCIL". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. No. 42. 3 April 1992. p. 2545. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
55. "FAIRFIELD CITY COUNCIL". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. No. 152. 23 October 1998. p. 8484. Retrieved 25 November 2017– via National Library of Australia.
56. General Manager from 1992 and City Manager from 1998
57. "Senior Staff". Fairfield City Council. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
58. "Fairfield City Council". Archived from the original on 6 July 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.

External links

• Official website