A fast-growing suburb in Sydney’s west has named a number of streets near the local mosque after cities in Pakistan.
Riverstone, which is 48km north-west of the city centre in the City of Blacktown area, now has Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Multan streets, all containing new-build housing.
The Pakistan-inspired streets are near the Riverstone Masjid, which is located inside a heritage-listed farmhouse once called Warrawong and has separate street entries for men and women.
Most of the homes in the area are brand new double-story houses which take up most of the 250-300sqm blocks, built in very close proximity to one another with small or non-existent backyards, although some vacant lots remain and others are still under contruction.
When Noticer News visited the suburb many of the tradesmen working on the houses near the mosque were of Pakistani or Indian appearance, as were most of the real estate agents on the street signage.
According to the 2021 Census, Riverstone has a population of 8,627. 65.9% were born in Australia, 6.8% in India and 1.5% in Pakistan.
A comparison to earlier surveys is impossible due to boundary changes, but the Blacktown local government area went from 61.4% Australian-born in 2001 to 50.4% in 2021, and saw a population increase of 141,000 people.
Islam was the second fastest growing religion in Australia (3.2% of the population) after Hinduism (2.7% of the population) at the time of the 2021 Census.
There were 89,633 Australian residents born in Pakistan in 2021. 53.3% were Australian citizens, 92.2% were Muslim, and 35.6% had arrived in the previous five years. 97,593 had Pakistani ancestry.
Noticer News asked the City of Blacktown council why the streets were named after Pakistani cities and was promised an answer, but did not hear back in time for publication.
