Kirkham, New South Wales

Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb
name = Kirkham
pop = 655 (2006)
city = Sydney
state = nsw
lga = Camden Council
postcode = 2570
stategov = Camden
fedgov = Macarthur
near-nw = Cobbitty
near-n = Cobbitty
near-ne = Harrington Park
near-w = Cobbitty
near-e = Narellan
near-sw = Camden
near-s = Camden
near-se = Elderslie
dist1 = 60
location1= Sydney CBD Kirkham is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, roughly 60km southwest of the Sydney CBD. It is located in the Camden Council local government area. The suburb is largely undeveloped at present and possibly will remain so since much of it is on low-lying flood-prone land.

History

The area now known as Kirkham was originally home to the Muringong, southernmost of the Darug people. In 1805 John Macarthur established his property at Camden where he raised merino sheep. In 1810, explorer John Oxley was granted 600 acres nearby, which he named Kirkham. cite web | url = http://www.camden.nsw.gov.au/page/history.html |title= "The History of Camden" | publisher = Camden Council | accessdate = 2007-06-10]

People

Demographics

In the 2006 Australian Bureau of Statistics Census, the suburb of Kirkham had a population of 655 people. Like other suburbs in the Camden area, the people are very homogenous with 84% Australian born and the only other countries of birth greater than 1% being England (5%) and Scotland (2%). The average weekly income of $646 is substantially higher than the national average ($466) but the average monthly mortgage repayments ($2694) are more than double the national average ($1300).Census 2006 AUS | id = SSC17731 | name = Kirkham (State Suburb) | quick = on | accessdate = 2007-07-03]

Governance

Kirkham is part of the north ward of Camden Council represented by David Funnell (currently deputy mayor of Camden), Cindy Cagney and Peter Johnson. Chris Patterson is currently the local mayor. The suburb is contained within the federal electorate of Macarthur, represented by former ultra-marathon runner Pat Farmer (Liberal), and the state electorate of Camden, currently held by former mayor Geoff Corrigan (Labor).

References

External links