Area Info

Lane Cove Area Info

Lane Cove is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lane Cove is located 9 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Municipality of Lane Cove. Lane Cove West and Lane Cove North are separate suburbs.

Lane Cove occupies a peninsula on the northern side of Sydney Harbour, at the opening of the Lane Cove River.

History

There are a number of possibilities of the origin of the name 'Lane Cove'. The first written use of the name was by Lieutenant William Bradley after he had just sailed along the river in 1788. Some have argued that the it was named after Lieutenant Michael Lane, a respected cartographer, who had once worked with Captain Cook. Others say that it was in honour of John Lane, who was the son of the London Lord Mayor at the time as well as a good friend of the first Governor, Arthur Phillip. In any case, the name stuck, and by the 1800s was being used to refer to all the land north of the river.

Aboriginal Culture

Prior to the arrival of the First Fleet, the area in which Lane Cove is situated was inhabited by the Cam-mer-ray-gal Group of the Ku-ring-gai Aboriginal Tribe. The group, which inhabited the north shore of Port Jackson, was one of the largest in the Sydney area.

European Settlement

Lieutenant Ralph Clark was the first European to land, not too far from the entrance to the Lane Cove River on 14 February 1790. There were land grants in 1794 to some privates and non-commissioned officers in the New South Wales Corp, however not many of these grants were actually settled as the steep, timbered land was not particularly habitable. However Lane Cove was an excellent source for timber and other commodities that the settlers required. During the 19th century, farms and dairies were also established. There were also many industrial and manufacturing factories constructed around Greenwich.

Most of the residential growth in the area however occurred after Second World War when returning soldiers were granted blocks of land around Lane Cove. The land value, which was relatively cheap during this time, surged during the 1980s and 1990s when the water views, large suburban blocks, ease of transport and quiet streets became popular.

Commercial Area

Although Lane Cove is primarily a residential area, it contains some commercial and light industrial areas.

Lane Cove has a shopping centre that includes a pedestrian plaza at the eastern end of Burns Bay Road, where it meets Longueville Road. There is a Coles supermarket and a number of small specialty stores in this area, as well as a large number of restaurants and cafes. At the end of Longueville Road is the Longueville Hotel, which is the only pub in the suburb.

Several large businesses are located in Lane Cove including poker machine manufacturing company Aristocrat Leisure Limited, the Australian headquarters of statistical software company SAS, and the headquarters of hearing implant developer and manufacturer Cochlear Limited.

Lane Cove Library

Lane Cove Library is operated by the council and is a member of the Shorelink Library Network, allowing residents to borrow books from libraries throughout the Lower North Shore. Council passed a vote in late 2004 for a major shopping retailer to redevelop parts of Lane Cove, which would also require the construction of a new library.

Lane Cove Aquatic Centre

Lane Cove Aquatic centre was redeveloped in 2003 and is operated by Lane Cove Council. It contains a 50 metre swimming pool which was there before the renovations. In the new block, there is a 25 metre swimming pool along with a shallow pool for toddlers and young children. There is also an aquatic section which includes water springs, a sauna, spa and a kiosk. Carlile Swimming operates the Learn to Swim School and Thompson Swimming runs the squad program. The centre is home to the Lane Cove Swimming Club under Head Coach, John Thompson. The swimming events in the Greenwich Village Games are held at Lane Cove Aquatic Centre.

Parks

Around 16% of the area is devoted to public recreational areas including Burns Bay Park, Tambourine Bay Park and Tantallon Oval. As well as this there is a large amount of bushland surrounding the river's edge especially near Riverview. Lane Cove also has many small creeks and rivers that flow through it and therefore has many expanses of bushland. The Lane Cove River is the largest river in the area. Lane Cove National Park is located close to the suburb. The Lane Cove Bushland Park is home to an endangered species of fungus, Hygrocybe lanecovensis, which is found nowhere else. The species was discovered in the 1990s.

Demographics

According to the 2001 Census, there were 30756 people living in Lane Cove including 14870 males (48.35%) and 15886 females (51.65%). The majority (64.6%) were born in Australia, with the other main countries of birth being the United Kingdom (5.9%), New Zealand (2.7%) and China (1.9%). The most popular type of dwelling was a separate house (48.9%).

Reference: Wikipedia