Liberty Grove, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Liberty Grove is a suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

 in the inner-west
Inner West (Sydney)
The Inner West is a general term which is used to describe the metropolitan area directly to the west of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia...

 of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, in the state of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Liberty Grove is located 16 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district
Sydney central business district
The Sydney central business district is the main commercial centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It extends southwards for about 3 kilometres from Sydney Cove, the point of first European settlement. Its north–south axis runs from Circular Quay in the north to Central railway station in...

, in the local government area of the City of Canada Bay
City of Canada Bay
The City of Canada Bay is a Local Government Area of New South Wales, Australia and located in the metropolitan area of Sydney. The city was formed in December 2000, following the merger of Concord and Drummoyne councils...

.

Liberty Grove is squeezed in between Homebush Bay Drive to the west and the Northern Line
Northern railway line, Sydney
The Northern Line is part of the metropolitan rail network in Sydney known as CityRail. It serves the northern suburbs of Sydney and the Lower North Shore, along with parts of the Inner West and the Hills District. The line utilises the Epping to Chatswood Line and parts of the Main Northern Line,...

 railway to the east. It is surrounded by the suburbs of Rhodes
Rhodes, New South Wales
Rhodes is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Rhodes is located 16 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Canada Bay...

 to the north and Concord West
Concord West, New South Wales
Concord West is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Concord West is located 16 km west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Canada Bay...

 to the east and south and shares the same postcode of 2138.

The Liberty Grove development won the 1999 Urban Development Institute of Australia award for excellence.

European settlement

Free settlers who arrived on the Bellona
HMS Bellona (1760)
HMS Bellona was a 74-gun Bellona-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. Designed by Sir Thomas Slade, she was a prototype for the iconic 74-gun ships of the latter part of the 18th century...

in January 1793 began farming the area and knew it as 'Liberty Plains'. The name has been adapted for the modern residential development of Liberty Grove.

Liberty Grove opened in 1998 to much fanfare. It was built on former industrial land to cater for the increasing number of people buying investment properties in Sydney in the lead up to the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Its opening day attracted much attention in Sydney.

Find out more about Liberty Grove at www.libertygrove.net.au

Developments

Though lots within Liberty Grove are either Strata Title (high rise and low rise units) or Torrens Title (town houses, duplexes and free-standing dwellings), all property within Liberty Grove is subject to a Community Scheme (registered as DP270371), with common property owned by the community association. Lot owners pay a community association fee which is used for maintenance of common property. The by-laws of the community association are binding on all lot owners in the same way as the by-laws of a strata scheme.

Amenities

The Liberty Grove complex contains swimming pools, tennis courts, basketball court, gymnasium, village green and parks, function room, convenience store and entrances to Rhodes and Concord West. Rhodes Shopping Centre
Rhodes Shopping Centre, Sydney
Rhodes Shopping Centre is located in the suburb of Rhodes in the Australian state of New South Wales. It features the only IKEA in NSW, a Reading 8-cinema complex, Coles supermarket and about 100 specialty shops, as well as professional offices including a medical centre.The shopping centre opened...

 is only 100m from the northern entrance. Every home in the estate is connected to a common television antenna system by means of underground coaxial cable. The system was originally designed only to handle analog transmissions, but from March 2006 has been upgraded to also handle digital free to air channels.

Transport

Vehicle access to Liberty Grove is only available from Homebush Bay Drive.
If travelling south, there is a turning lane and entrance to the centre of Liberty Grove.
If travelling north, take the left hand turnoff that also leads to Rhodes Waterside, and then drive underneath Homebush Bay Drive to access the northern vehicle entrance.
As well as the two vehicle entrances, there are two pedestrian entrances, one to the east, leading underneath the railway line to Queen Street, and one to the south, leading to Concord Avenue and King Street.
The northern (vehicle) entrance is only a ten minute walk to Rhodes railway station and the southern (pedestrian) entrance is only a ten minute walk to Concord West railway station and Bicentennial Park
Sydney Olympic Park
Sydney Olympic Park is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Sydney Olympic Park is located 16 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Auburn Council....

.

Issues

The community association bylaws govern some aspects of residential life. These are some of the issues that have arisen.
  • A common recurring issue within the community is whether to make Liberty Grove a gated suburb, somehow restricting vehicle entry to residents and guests.
  • Parking can be a problem - there are sometimes insufficient visitor parking spots and parking on the side of the road is disallowed. Security patrols issue warning notices to cars parked in violation of the bylaws. Liberty Grove has threatened to take repeat offenders to tribunal in an attempt to fine residents who violate these laws.
  • Mobile phone base station antenna - one of the high rise units was approached by a mobile phone telecommunications carrier to have a 3G base station antenna installed on the roof of their building, in return for a rental fee. The residents of the building agreed (voting at a strata meeting), but this was overturned at a general meeting of the community association, on grounds of aesthetics
    Aesthetics
    Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...

    and perceived potential safety issues.
  • Aesthetics - while no two dwellings in Liberty Grove are identical, there is a common aesthetic theme throughout the suburb. Any changes to the exterior of a dwelling (including change of paint colour, or installation of a satellite dish or air-conditioner) must be approved by the community association executive committee.
  • Rhodes Waterside - this large shopping centre has opened very close to Liberty Grove, which is very convenient but also increases traffic flow past the northern entrance, and it is fairly common for vehicles to travel through Liberty Grove in the mistaken belief that it's a shortcut. Residents also sometimes bring shopping home in shopping trolleys and then leave the trolleys on the side of the road, hoping they will be collected by the shopping centre.
  • Use of community facilities - the pools, barbecues, play equipment and parks are privately owned by the community association and for the use of residents and their guests only. However, this is impossible to enforce and occasionally non-residents will use these facilities. Some residents are concerned about this and is one of the reasons they advocate for making Liberty Grove a gated suburb.
  • Security - while crime in the area is in general quite low, Liberty Grove does employee security guards to patrol the grounds and also to help enforce some of the bylaws.


While not everyone agrees with the decisions of the executive committee, the overall level of concern is quite low. Positions on the community association executive are not hotly contested.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK