Changing Australian Communities Strathfield

A community is a group of people having ethnic or cultural or religious characteristics in common, living in a particular local area. The community that I have chosen to base this assignment on is the city of Strathfield.

Geographical Location/Information:

Strathfield is the "Heart of Sydney" due to its significant location in Sydney's Inner West (1); its geographical location is 33Ð'o52'10" North, 151Ð'o5'59" West. The population of Strathfield is 28206 people (13862 males and 14344 females).

Religion:

The majority of Strathfield is populated by Korea Republic of South immigrants: 1746 Ð'- 6.3% and Chinese 1636 5.9% therefore the most common religions are Presbyterian (2) and Buddhist. There are also many Catholics, and Catholic Churches, such as St Anne's. St Anne's was first built by Father John Therry in the year 1859-1864 (3). Then in 1966 the church underwent a renovation which basically rebuilt the whole church from scratch and that is where it stands today (4).

Culture:

There are various ethnic and cultural backgrounds in Strathfield, these include; Asian, Arabic, Sri Lankan, Indian, Russian and Australian. There is a variety in Strathfield and for example near the station there are many Korean and Chinese marts and shops; so each individual culture is seen around Strathfield either by the shops or churches, or even schools (5).

Age/Gender:

In Strathfield there are several primary and high schools not to mention a University. There for there are many residents aged 5-18+. These educational facilities include: Meriden school, Trinity Primary school, Martin de Porres Middle School, and St. Patrick's, Strathfield High, Strathfield Girls, and the Australian Catholic University. Even though there are many youngsters that attend school is strathfield the median overall age is 36 years. There are many young couples, and old couples, although the residents that take the cake are aged between 25-44 years of age (6).

Language:

The 2001 census demonstrated that the 4 most spoken languages in Strathfield were:

English- 11601 people, 41.8%

Chinese languages- 3831 people, 13.8%

Korean- 1940 people, 7.0%

Tamil (Indian) - 1775 people, 6.4%

Compared to the 1996 census it stated that Arabic, was the second most common language spoken besides English, now Chinese, Korean and Tamil have taken that position. The most common nationality in Strathfield is Chinese, Korean, and Indian; followed by other types of Asian and Arabic.

Industry:

In Strathfield due to the various options of transport residents can either catch a train, bus, walk or cycle to work. The shops in Strathfield are more like variety stores that sell everything and anything. Many people that work in the main facilities situated in Strathfield mostly live in Strathfield or the outer suburbs of Strathfield such as Homebush, Burwood, Lidcombe etc..

Socio-economic