History
The City of Rockdale was originally known as the West Botany Municipality. The Municipality of West Botany was declared on 13 January 1871 and covered 9 square miles (23 km2) in 1884. It included much of the land which was later used to build Sydney Airport. The West Botany name was officially changed to Rockdale in 1887, when land was being sub-divided for residential development. Among the main developers during this period was Frederick Jamison Gibbes, a Member of Parliament whose name is perpetuated by Gibbes Street in Banksia.
The area of the municipality was reduced when the mouth of Cooks River was moved further south of its original position in the mid 1940s, to allow for the extension of Sydney Airport. Only a small part of the airport remains in the local government area today. As the city's population increased, more suburbs were created within its boundaries. The Municipality of Rockdale was declared a city in 1995, and is now known as the City of Rockdale.
Read more about this topic: City Of Rockdale
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