The suburb of Randwick is located on the northern boundary of Randwick City and is bounded by the suburbs of Kensington to the west and Clovelly and Coogee to the east. The suburb includes the large open space area of the Randwick Racecourse and the Randwick Hospital complex, including the Prince of Wales Hospital. A large proportion of the suburb allows for medium-density residential development and includes houses and townhouses up to multi storey apartments. Approximately 60 per cent of all private dwellings in Randwick are flats, units or apartments. The North Randwick Conservation Area is significant for its Federation and inter-war housing.
Major redevelopment occurred in the 1960s and 1970s with the construction of blocks of residential walk-up flats which greatly influenced the character of the suburb. The suburb of Randwick is unusual in its housing mix, with a significant proportion of multi storey flats and units and high levels of private rentals. When compared with all other suburbs in Randwick City, the suburb has greater numbers of people aged between 25 and 34 years and fewer children and higher proportions of university students.
Randwick has a large commercial area extending along Belmore Road, which also incorporates multistorey apartments above. The commercial centre of Randwick and The Spot include a number of significant buildings which are listed by Council as heritage items and included in heritage conservation areas, recognising significant Art Deco development. Bus services operate on the main roads in Randwick, with buses along Belmore Road providing a public transport interchange, with a north/south connection and Alison Road providing east/west connections. Bus services are the only form of public transport available to the suburb.
History of Randwick
Randwick was Sydney's first suburban municipality and proclaimed on 22 February 1859, when it was described as a 'beautiful marine suburb... Randwick is synonymous with racing. Land was set aside for a race course and racing commenced in the early 1830s. By the early 1860s Randwick boasted 800 residents. There were new subdivisions and Randwick developed greatly following World War I so that by 1933 the population had reached 78957.
Lawrence, J. Pictorial History of Randwick, Kingsclear Books, Alexandria, 2001, pp.11-17.