The City of Rockdale, New South Wales.

The City of Rockdale is a Local Government Area in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The city centre is located 12 kilometres south-south-west of the Sydney central business district, on the western shores of Botany Bay. The city is part of the St George area which contains the three local government areas of the City of Rockdale, City of Hurstville and Municipality of Kogarah. It is also part of the Southern Sydney region.

The City of Rockdale has been previously known as the Municipality of West Botany and the Municipality of Rockdale. The City of Rockdale was declared in 1995. Rockdale was known by Europeans as Frog Hollow, then White Gum Flat and later West Botany.

Suburbs in the local government area

Suburbs in the City of Rockdale are:

• Arncliffe
• Banksia
• Bardwell Park
• Bardwell Valley
• Bexley
• Bexley North
• Brighton-Le-Sands
• Dolls Point
• Kingsgrove
• Kogarah
• Kyeemagh
• Monterey
• Ramsgate
• Ramsgate Beach
• Rockdale
• Sandringham
• Sans Souci
• Sydney Airport
• Turrella
• Wolli Creek

The City of Rockdale also manages and maintains the following localities:

• Bardwell Creek
• Cooks Cove
• Lady Robinson Beach
• Muddy Creek
• Rocky Point
• Sandringham Bay
• St Kilda Point

Commercial Area

Rockdale has a mixture of residential, commercial and light industrial areas. The main shopping strip runs along the Princes Highway, on the eastern side of Rockdale railway station. The commercial centre spreads out into surrounding streets and on the western side of the railway line. King Street has developed into a cosy strip of cafes and grocery shops. Commercial developments run along the length of the parts of Bay Street and West Botany Street. The light industrial areas are located around West Botany Street.

Rockdale Plaza, which opened in 1997, is a medium sized shopping centre located on Princes Highway. It contains two supermarkets, two discount department stores, a motor registry, a medical centre, a food court, real estate agent, sports store, electrical appliance store, video rental shop and specialty shops. It was built on the former site of the Walton's department store and tenpin bowling centre.

Rockdale Town Hall and the St George Tavern are examples of some of the Art Deco architecture in the area.

Population

According to the 2006 Australian Bureau of Statistics Census of Population, there were 13, 901 people usually resident in Rockdale. 53.2% stated they were born overseas with the top countries of birth being China 9.5%, Macedonia 5.2%, and Bangladesh 3.7%. English was stated as the only language spoken at home by 29.9% of residents and the most common other languages spoken were Macedonian 15.7%, Mandarin 7.2% and Arabic 7.2%. The most common responses for religious affiliation were Catholic 22.8%, Orthodox 16.1% and Islam 10.1%.

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