Pest Control Around Bankstown Council

The City of Bankstown, a local government area in southwest Sydney, Australia, centered around the suburb of Bankstown, operated from 1895 to 2016. The final mayor of the City of Bankstown Council was Clr Khal Asfour, a member of the Labor Party.

In 2015, a review of local government boundaries by the NSW Government Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal suggested merging the City of Bankstown with the City of Canterbury to create a new council covering 110 square kilometers (42 sq mi) and supporting a population of around 351,000. On 12 May 2016, the NSW Government announced the merger of Bankstown with Canterbury to form the City of Canterbury-Bankstown.

The traditional Aboriginal inhabitants of the land now known as Canterbury-Bankstown were the Dharug (Darag, Daruk, Dharuk) and Eora peoples. Their early reliance on the riparian network of the Georges River and Cooks River catchments towards Botany Bay is evidenced by remnants dating back 3,000 years, such as rock paintings, stone tools, middens, and axe grinding grooves.

Following European arrival in 1788, settlers burned oyster shells from Cooks River middens to produce lime for building mortar. European incursions and land grants led to tensions, climaxing in a confrontation between Europeans and a group of Aboriginal people led by Tedbury, son of Pemulwuy, in what is now Punchbowl in 1809. However, resistance to European settlement waned after Tedbury’s death in 1810.

The District of Bankstown was named by Governor Hunter in 1797 after botanist Sir Joseph Banks. It remained largely rural until residential and suburban development ensued with the construction of the Bankstown Railway Line. The railway’s extension from Marrickville Station (later Sydenham Station) to Burwood Road (later Belmore Station) in 1895, and further to Lakemba, Punchbowl, and Bankstown by 1909, spurred rapid development, shifting Bankstown’s commercial center from Irish Town (now Yagoona) to the vicinity of Bankstown railway station.