Brighton Le Sands (formerly Brighton-le-Sands and also known simply as Brighton or Brighton Beach), is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.
Brighton Le Sands (formerly Brighton-le-Sands and also known simply as Brighton or Brighton Beach), is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Brighton Le Sands is located 13 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, on the western shore of Botany Bay. Brighton Le Sands is in the local government area of the Bayside Council and is part of the St George area.
Lady Robinsons Beach and Cook Park run along the eastern border of Brighton Le Sands, on Botany Bay. The beach is also commonly referred to as Brighton Beach and is known for its off-white sand. Brighton Le Sands features a mixture of low density houses, medium density flats, high rise apartments, retail, cafés and restaurants. The Grand Parade runs along the foreshore and intersects with Bay Street, at the commercial centre. The higher density developments are located along these roads.
History
The area between the Cooks River and Georges River was originally known as Seven Mile Beach. It was changed to Lady Robinsons Beach in 1874 to honour Governor Sir Hercules Robinson's wife. Cook Park, established in about 1882, is a strip of reserve land 30 metres inland from the high water mark of the sea. The park is named after Samuel Cook who advocated it as a public pleasure area. The name Seven Mile Beach was last used in the Sydney Morning Herald on 28 February 1879, whilst the first use of the name Lady Robinson's Beach by the same newspaper was on 1 June 1877.
New Brighton was the name given to his new housing estate by tramway pioneer Thomas Saywell, who had plans to emulate the famous seaside resort Brighton in England. Land acquisitions began in the 1840s but no significant development of Brighton Le Sands occurred until the railway opened to Hurstville, via Rockdale in 1884. In 1885 Thomas Saywell constructed a tramway from Rockdale to Lady Robinsons Beach, along Bay Street. He was given a 30-year lease on the line. Thomas Saywell also financed and built the public swimming baths, a substantial picnic area called the Shady Nook Recreational Park (1898-1918), a race course and the Brighton Hotel, on the current Novotel site. The developments were a huge success. To avoid confusion with the English Brighton, the district became known as Brighton-le-Sands. [is it not simply named after its namesake in Waterloo, Liverpool, England?) From 1900, the tramway was electrified. The tramway passed into government ownership in 1914. The line was closed in September 1949, as the Sydney tramway system was slowly wound down. A bus route replaced the tram route.
Brighton Baths attracted a large number of Sydney's weekend holidaymakers. The racecourse operated from about 1897 to 1911. The baths were also popular with punters who could cool off after a stressful day at the races.
Brighton Hotel was stripped of its licence in 1892 due to violence and reckless behaviour that found expression in the hotel and its surrounding area. The depression of the 1890s meant that many unemployed workers lived in the district and frequented the hotel, leading to a crisis for the area. The area several kilometres north of the hotel was used during the depression as one of many shanty sites that spread across Sydney, especially in the 1930s. Thomas Saywell offered the use of the hotel to The Scots College. Albert Aspinall, brother of the first Principal, Arthur Ashworth Aspinall, transformed the ground floor of the building to classrooms and the hotel rooms into the dormitory. In 1895 the principal of the college, Arthur Aspinall, decided to transfer The Scots College to Bellevue Hill. This was to avoid both the proximity of the local racecourse and the distraction the nearby beach was having on his students.
By 1900 there were pleasure grounds south of Bay Street, as well as a pony racetrack. Development of the land south of Bay Street for housing began before World War I [Post Office Directories]. Extensive development of the northern area of the suburb occurred after World War I, in the late 1920s and again in the 1950s. For the first 20 years of the 20th century, a small boat ran a ferry service around Botany Bay, with an important stop at Brighton Le Sands. In 1966 a freak storm hit the coastline, destroying the baths and much of the beach. The expansion of Sydney Airport and Port Botany involved dredging sand from the bay and disrupted sedimentary sand flows. This caused serious damage to the area. Beach restoration projects have attempted to restore the damage done to the coastline in recent years.
Weather
Things to do
Lady Robinsons Beach, Brighton Le Sands Baths
Cook Park, White Oak Reserve, CA Redmond Field Memorial Playing Fields, Tony Baker Reserve, Bicentennial Park East
Bayside Church (Australian Christian Churches), church plant of Shirelive Church
St Thomas More Catholic Church, St Andrews Uniting Church, St Marks Anglican Church
Brighton Le Sands Primary School
Brighton Le Sands Library (Bayside Library)