Panania, New South Wales

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St Christopher's occupies one of the oldest buildings in Panania - a former Art Deco cinema.

A view of Panania looking north from the railway station.

Panania is a suburb in south-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located 23 kilometres south-west of the central business district in the local government area of the City of Bankstown. The postcode is 2213, which it shares with adjacent suburbs East Hills and Picnic Point.

Panania is mostly a residential suburb, which was developed after World War II and contains many modest freestanding bungalows built from asbestos cement sheeting (commonly known as fibro). It has a retail shopping area, adjacent to Panania railway station. It is also the site of several local government facilities including a senior citizens centre and a public library.

Other notable public buildings include Holy Trinity Anglican church, and St Christopher's Roman Catholic church and parish school. St Christopher's church is housed within a converted Art Deco cinema, and retains a number of original features, including a decorative ceiling. After a grant from the Sydney Archdiocese and many donations from parishoners, St. Christopher's underwent renovations costing $165,000 which were completed early in 2006.

[edit] Location

Panania is bounded on the north by the M5 South Western Motorway and the suburb of Milperra and on the south by Picnic Point, which features parklands along the Georges River. East Hills is the suburb to the west and Revesby is located to the east.

[edit] Transport

Panania railway station is on the East Hills line of the CityRail network. Parts of Panania are serviced by buses operated by Veolia Transport NSW, generally following the routes established by McVicar's Bus Service. The East Hills railway line, which originally terminated one stop after Panania, at East Hills cut through the "middle" of the suburb Panania, virtually dividing the suburb into two distinct precints, ( which it had also done to most of the suburbs on that line). During the 1980s the railway line was extended with a rail bridge over the George's River, through many new areas all the way to Campbelltown. This had the effect of raising Panania's suburban status as "she" was no longer 2nd last on the line, but comfortably midway.

[edit] Sport

Panania is home to St Christopher's Soccer Club and Panania-East Hills RSL Youth Soccer Club, two soccer clubs based at Marco Reserve and Kelso Reserve respectively.

[edit] History

Originally Panania was part of the East Hills area. The name Panania was given to the area when the East Hills railway line was completed in 1931. Panania is an Aboriginal word meaning sun rising in the east and shining on the hills. It has been alternatively suggested that the name may have in fact been based on that of Pannonia, which was an ancient province of the Roman Empire southeast of the Danube River.

During the construction of the line the name Nioka was used for the station which is an Aboriginal word meaning the green hill. Other names suggested for suburb were Linden Park and Elmswood.

Panania North Primary School, a short two block walk on the Northern side of the railway line, became a Demonstration school in the late 1970's so that Trainee Teachers from neighbouring, newly established, Milperra College of Avdvanced Education, (allegedly of University standard) could observe some of the best Teachers in the state at work. In the College's early years some of the Trainee Teachers were former pupils of the school from before it became a Demonstration school. All graduated & some also did post graduate studies.

[edit] Local Identities

Both Steve and Mark Waugh, two former Australian cricketers, attended Panania Public School, and Ian Thorpe, former Olympic gold medalist swimmer, attended East Hills Boys Technology High School with the two Waugh brothers. Actor Brian Brown also hails from Panania.

[edit] References

• West of the River Road, by Jacqueline Davies, Dorothy Mulholland, Nora Pipe(1979). Towrang Publications, p20.

[edit] External links

Coordinates: -33.95793° 151.00200°

• Maps and aerial photos
  • Street map from Street Directory, MSN Maps and Multimap.
  • Satellite image from Google Maps, WikiMapia and Terraserver.