Padstow was first named Padstow Park Estate after the town of Padstow in Cornwall, England. The Cornish Padstow's name means "the holy place of St Petrock", an important Cornish saint. The estate included the grants of Simon McGuigan, Joseph Cunningham and Michael Conroy . Timber-getting and farming were the main activities here. The Padstow Park post office opened in 1927 and the first school opened in January 1929. The railway station opened on 21 December 1931, which encouraged development in the area, especially after World War II. The suburb’s name was changed to Padstow in 1939.
Commercial area
Padstow shopping centre is located around Padstow railway station. Most of the shops are located on the southern side, around the Howard Road and Padstow Parade intersection, but more shops are located on the northern side past Memorial Drive on Cahors Road.
Street names
A number of the streets in the vicinity of Padstow railway station have Egyptian themes as names, including Arab Road, Cairo Avenue, Pyramid Avenue and Sphinx Avenue. To the west of Padstow, on the border with Revesby there is also a group of streets with outer space related names, such as Uranus Road, Mars Street, Neptune Street, Hydrae Street and Vega Street.
According to the 2016 census, there were 13,306 residents in Padstow. 57.3% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were China 7.7%, Vietnam 3.8%, Lebanon 2.4%, India 1.9%, New Zealand 1.7% and Pakistan 0.9%. 50.2% of residents spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Cantonese 7.4%, Arabic 7.1%, Mandarin 6.4%, Vietnamese 4.6% and Greek 3.8%. The most common responses for religion in Padstow were Catholic 24.0%, No Religion 21.3%, Anglican 12.3% and Eastern Orthodox 7.8%.
Churches
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Padstow Uniting Church
Schools
Padstow has five schools - four public schools and one Catholic school. All are K-6, with students then moving to high-schools in the nearby suburbs of Revesby, Picnic Point, East Hills or Milperra. is located on Watson Road, with an access from Halcyon Avenue. is located on Faraday Road but is bounded by Doyle Road and Segers Avenue. gains its title from the original name of the suburb. It is the oldest school in the suburb. The other State owned school, is on the southern end of Chamberlain Road at Padstow Heights. is down the road from . is on Chamberlain Road but also has an entrance from Harvey Avenue- it is a single-stream primary school which was opened in 1962. The presbytery for the church is also on Harvey Ave. is a special needs school for students aged 4–18 requiring moderate to high support and provides a challenging and structured educational environment. is in Napoli Street.
Sport
The suburb is home to two junior football clubs: Padstow United, whose home ground is Playford Park at the intersection of Gibson, Cahors, Watson and Sphinx Roads, and the Padstow Hornets, who play at Stuart Street Reserve on Stuart Street. In the 1960s the suburb also supported additional football clubs including the now defunct clubs of Padstow Pirates Soccer Club, the Padstow Hotspurs Soccer Club and the Padstow RSL Junior Soccer Football Club. The Padstow Pirates and South Bankstown Soccer clubs used Playford Park as their home ground. Padstow Park, which is on the corner of Davies Road and Banks Road, is the home ground of the Padstow Panthers Junior Rugby League Club. It was also the home ground of the now defunct St Lukes Junior Rugby League Club and the Padstow RSL Junior Soccer Football Club. Padstow is also home to Doug Frost Swim School, where Ian Thorpe first began swimming. Padstow Bowling & Recreation Club situated in Iberia Street has two first class synthetic greens and keen supporter of Zone 12 NSW Bowling Association new members are welcome.
