Need a doctor or dentist? Move to Strathfield!

The results of the 2016 Census, as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald on January 22 2018, show that Strathfield was easily the most popular neighbourhood for Sydney’s doctors (537) followed by Randwick and Mosman. Strathfield also had more dentists than any other suburb – 97 in all. Castle Hill and Epping were also popular with dentists.

This is a similar result to Census 2011, where the Sydney Morning Herald on 8 January 2011 also reported that Strathfield had the highest proportion of doctors of any suburb in Sydney.

The large number of doctors in Strathfield could be due to the close proximity of Strathfield to many Sydney hospitals such as Royal Prince Alfred (RPA), Concord and Canterbury.  However, large populations of medical professionals living in Strathfield is not a statistical aberration.

Strathfield historically has a high proportion of professionals (particularly from medical and legal professions) and higher than average levels of higher education.  This has been consistent demographic for over 100 years.

Census 2016 records that 35.6% of all occupational groupings in Strathfield (suburb) are professionals, against 31.9% in the wider Strathfield Council area and 26.3% in the Greater Sydney area.

There have been many prominent people associated with the medical profession residing in Strathfield including Sir Phillip Sydney Jones (knighted for his work on tuberculosis, who lived at ‘Llandilo’ The Boulevarde Strathfield), Col. Dr Frederick Macguire (director of Medical services in the AIF in World Wars I and II, lived at ‘Wirrulda’ Redmyre Road Strathfield,),  Dr Arthur Mills (Physician with Prince Alfred Hospital and Professor of Principles and Practices of Medicine at Sydney University ‘Brunyarra’ The Boulevarde) and Dr Walter Burfitt (‘Radstoke’ Malvern Crescent Strathfield).  This is a just a few of the many medical professionals who have lived in Strathfield.

Featured photo:  ‘Oroya’ Private Hospital (later Strathfield  Private Hospital)