Kirrawee Suburb Review

Versatile Shire suburb offers balance and greenery, while its recent central facelift adds extra convenience, too.

Summary: Having undergone a fairly significant central facelift in recent years while still retaining its surrounding character, Kirrawee in Sutherland Shire is a suburb in which the drastic changes will be immediately obvious for those who haven’t visited for several years. Its main inner hub has been massively modernised and provides a concentration of new, slick housing and retail, while its external streets still offer diverse housing both large and small as well as pretty bush-style greenery.

It fares well in terms of transport connections by both road and rail – although the road side of things are under increased stress and stuck in “catch-up” mode for the time being. It also provides a surprisingly good array of dining and boutique spots for food and drink that couple with its quality education offerings, opportunities for employment, and safe and well-kept overall streetscape to make for a versatile and appealing suburb that can cater to multiple budget levels and life stages.

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What happens when the old and new of suburban Sydney development actually collide in a way that’s not entirely destructive to the fabric of the suburb?

The result looks something like modern-day Kirrawee, with what was typically a quiet, pretty and slightly under-equipped piece of Sutherland Shire living now also home to a modern centre that’s actually provided something useful rather than just unnecessarily adding more cars to its roads.

In the past, it wouldn’t have been criminal to describe most of Kirrawee’s residential areas as “sleepy”.

Much of the suburb still consists of the same older generation of low-lying, single or split-level homes on peaceful and leafy back streets that have remained the same way for decades, broken up only by its large cluster of warehousing and industrial on the north side, the Princes Highway carving it in two, and the relative eyesore that used to be the Brick Pit taking up a fairly pointless chunk of land.

That’s changed significantly with the addition of the massive new South Village development, which was still only fairly recently completed and has altered the complexion of the suburb massively; and mostly for the good.

It’s helped add more affordable supply to what has traditionally been quite an expensive place to live overall, for one.

It also adds an extra dynamic to what already was quite an appealing suburb in general, as Kirrawee’s central Sutherland Shire location has always been a convenient spot from which to access multiple parts of Sydney – both elsewhere within the Shire and further north on the “mainland” as well.

In fact, it offers one of the better balances of a high level of transport connectivity while still providing plenty of greenery both within and nearby versus many of its neighbouring peers.

This connectivity comes from two main factors. The first is how simple it is to jump on main arteries like Acacia Road / the Princes Highway from pretty much any part of Kirrawee. Given the suburb’s layout, it’s only a couple-of-minute drive to a main roadway regardless of how “deep” back you live in the suburb.

This is extremely handy, but it also means there’s a fair bit of ambient road noise for many properties which don’t have much physical distance between themselves and these roads; combine this with the heavy traffic they see, and it’s ideal to live at least a block (or more) back if possible. Otherwise, invest in double-glazing.

The ease of access to the highway is tempered by the increased traffic in recent years, however. While Kirrawee’s South Village itself is part of the culprit, it’s more the combined effect of multiple similar high-density developments that have popped up recently in the likes of Miranda, Woolooware and various other parts of the Shire which have added more strain to the roads here.

It’s exacerbated as pretty much everyone in the region is funnelled to choke points over Tom Ugly’s and the Captain Cook bridges to get to the city for work, with those who work west instead also not having things too much better either.

This development all happened before upcoming road upgrades like the F6 were implemented, which ended up being something like putting the cart before the horse.

As a result, the driving commute from Kirrawee can easily take over an hour for city workers, and is thus a better mode of transport for those who work locally within the Shire or on the southern side of Sydney instead.

Fortunately, Kirrawee offers its train station as the logical alternative for those who work in the CBD. Like the rest of the rail-connected suburbs of the Shire, the trains here run on the reliable T4 Line, with Kirrawee still being close enough to the end of the line (Cronulla) that you’re likely to be able to get a seat in the mornings.

At just over a 35 minute train ride into Town Hall, Kirrawee offers a very respectable train commute into the city, with connections elsewhere available either at Wolli Creek or further on at Central.

The only other notable issue with a train-based commute while living in Kirrawee is that it can be a bit of a hike to the station when living back in some of its deeper residential streets.

At its furthest, you could be looking at a 25+ minute walk to reach the station from your house, which means looking at an inconvenient drive-park-ride combo instead.

For those living in the South Village apartments, this is obviously not an issue. They follow traditional smart suburban design of having high-density right next to the station without requiring more traffic to clog up the streets in order to get there.

South Village itself provides much more than only apartments, as well. Traditionally Kirrawee’s retail and dining was limited to Oak Road’s older, strip-style collection of shops that show the legacy of the suburb.

They’re not bad themselves, with a decent little assortment of restaurants, bottle shop, pharmacy, dentists, bakeries, post office and other practical needs – however this did not include a supermarket, or even a small grocery store.

This meant having to travel to other suburbs just for some of the basics. That’s also been where South Village has come in and helped; the complex not only offers an expected Coles supermarket, but also an ALDI as well.

It’s also added an array of respectable dining options to Kirrawee – Indian, Thai, Japanese, burger joints, bar-style dining and much more are all here now, and it’s all new, shiny and modern.

Other misc services like hairdressers, acupuncture, massive chemists, fruit & veg, fitness and more round out its offerings, while it also offers a play area for the kids inside, and a decent (if somewhat sterile) multi-purpose park out the front. Play equipment, basketball court, and plenty of flat open green space make it a pretty decent overall centrepiece for the suburb.

And, of course, the massive Westfield Miranda lies within easy striking distance for larger-scale shopping, clothing, and other diverse retail needs.

Amenity-wise, elsewhere in its back streets Kirrawee also has another handful of little hidden gems as well. This sets it apart from many other residential-heavy suburbs where you pretty much have no choice but to head into the single retail strip even for a basic bite to eat.

Kirrawee instead has a number of cute and convenient little boutique eateries (and… drinkeries?) of various kinds mostly dotted around the back streets of its half north of the Princes Highway.

These include highlights such as a Kirrawee branch of the popular Bourke Street Bakery, gourmet options at the Black Olive, bakery-style foods and sweets at Baked Patisserie, and a couple of other pie shops.

Add in a couple of little micro breweries in Sunday Road Brewing and the Shark Island Brewing Company, and there’s quite a lot going on nowadays to be able to occupy yourself locally within Kirrawee itself rather than having to go elsewhere.

This doesn’t even include more major hotel The Prince, a very solid spot for both a bite and a drink in and of itself, or bowls club Club Kirrawee for a more subdued beer or reasonably-priced food.

Throw in a massive Bunnings and other mixed services like car washes, self-storage, and a ton of individual businesses, and Kirrawee offers plenty of opportunities not only to shop, but also for employment as well.

There’s a fair chunk of potential jobs here for a residential suburb, including within its Kirrawee Business Centre complex which houses multiple other businesses on a solidly-designed grounds.

One of the other more distinguishing features about Kirrawee is that it’s also oddly highly auto-centric. That is to say: if you’re after some kind of car-related service or feature – whether that’s smash repairs, modifications, cleaning, or even to buy a brand new one – Kirrawee is southern Sydney’s go-to hub for much of this.

It’s the default spot to get your car serviced within the Shire, with much of the suburb’s large chunk of industrial/warehousing district on the north side occupied by all-things-car-and-transport. This also tends to be the slightly “cheaper” side of Kirrawee in terms of housing, with more older fibro-type builds still forming a significant chunk of its residential.

This changes as you head further to the extremities of the suburb, both north and south; the north side starts to slope down significantly towards its tip, which soon evolves into a cluster of large, high-end homes adjacent to thick bushland.

It’s mostly a flat and walkable suburb as a whole except in some of these areas, where the occasional very-steep residential street looms. These further-out parts of Kirrawee are still fairly bushy and leafy, with towering gum and willow trees common sights in its low density residential areas.

It’s a fairly green suburb overall, with roomy front lawns and wide nature strips on most of its freestanding homes, and generally quite wide back streets with plenty of room for on-street parking.

While Kirrawee doesn’t really have a single, massive “flagship” park, it makes up for it both with a ton of little individual smaller parks and reserves dotted throughout, particularly the lovely little greenery-rich walks to Forest Road Reserve. This can easily be taken to the larger scale as well due to its close proximity to massive Royal National Park, which offers countless opportunities for bushwalks not far away.

It’s also only a 15-ish minute drive away from the beaches of Cronulla although this can often be a nightmare for parking, so taking the train just a few stops to get there instead comes recommended.

Kirrawee is also, somewhat sneakily, one of the more dog-friendly suburbs in Sydney. This comes through in multiple forms – not only in its abundance of big yards for pets, but also courtesy of its Veterinary Hospital and a grooming studio, while being home to one of the only properly-fenced dog parks in Sutherland Shire.

Helena Street Dog Park is not a particularly pretty dog park and can be a little dirty, however it boasts a good social scene and is divided up into separate fenced areas for both small and larger dogs which can make things easier for smaller breed owners.

For sports, Kirrawee Oval is the default for kids and others to play cricket and soccer, while multiple tennis courts help round out its offerings which is quite well-rounded for a suburb of this size.

This also carries over to its educational opportunities; Kirrawee’s home to a couple of highly-regarded public schools both for primary and highschool students, and also boasts a decent array of childcare with around 5 different options for early learning centres dotted within and close by to its borders.

This combines with a modest crime rate of 0.11% per capita to make for a largely family-friendly environment on the whole.

It’s also home to a couple of aged care centres for elder family members to call home as well, balancing out both the young and old demographics here.

In terms of housing supply and streetscape, Kirrawee offers fairly good variety in types of living.

It boasts a pretty significant chunk of older brick unit blocks – mostly concentrated around its west side – to cater for those looking for something cheaper, along with multiple townhouse complexes.

As mentioned, there’s still a larger array of older – and the odd rundown – fibro houses mostly on the north side, while the southern side trends more towards grander, multi-level large brick homes with huge front lawns, pools, and other upmarket features.

Some of the blocks here are starting to be subdivided into double and even triple duplexes, which are ultra-modern and fairly pricey as a result. Many of its back streets are undeniably pretty, will most houses exceedingly well-kept, clean, and with obvious effort put into maintaining their lawns and gardens.

Price-wise, Kirrawee is thus pretty flexible and caters to quite a lot of life stages and budget levels, particularly given the modern apartments that South Village now offers on top of existing supply.

It’s around middle-of-the-pack for Sutherland Shire for house prices, with the median currently around $1.1 million, although it’s a pretty tightly-held suburb and there’s not too much volume in terms of free-standing house movement.

This is also obviously subject to the current “pandemic pricing” resurgence at time of writing which are seeing things spike all over the place, so take these median figures with a grain of salt moving forward.

“What happens when the old and new of suburban Sydney development actually collide in a way that’s not entirely destructive to the fabric of the suburb?”

For apartments, the rental price range is quite wide given the massive gap between pricing for its older preexisting apartments vs. the new modern ones.

2-bedders can go for as little as $400 per week rent for the older builds, with the price typically jumping up quickly to around $550 per week for the modern, slick equivalent.

The Verdict

If you don’t mind sacrificing a little more bustle and noise in return for a swathe of amenities at your fingertips without having to travel to other suburbs for both shopping and entertainment, Kirrawee may just offer the best balance of any Shire suburb. Its new additions were integrated in a way that they didn’t spoil the atmosphere of pre-existing Kirrawee too much, while filling in gaps in its shopping and dining space that probably actually did need to be filled.

It’s flexible enough that people looking for multiple lifestyles are all catered for within the one suburb, whether that’s downsizing for the sake of convenience or going larger-scale while still having ample amenities close by. Almost any single item one could ask for within a residential suburb is catered for outside of its own beach, whether that be dining, cafes, parks, sporting facilities, good schools, safety, or greenery – they’re all here in at least some form, and all at least of decent to above-decent quality.

Kirrawee’s array of businesses also offer the potential for some to live and work in the same suburb, and thus not have to deal with painful commutes; and for those who do have to commute to the city, its train connectivity and relatively easy journey makes that highly viable as well.

Driving into the city and some associated traffic issues with its lagging-behind road situation are its main weak points – pretty common throughout Sydney in general – so it’s probably better suited for those who can work in the south, at least for the time being until upgrades are completed.

It’s a suburb with enough going on to provide some of its own entertainment, and even provide reasons to visit for people from other suburbs – something which can’t be said of many more “boring” suburbs throughout Sydney. Pricing here is also around “average” by current Sydney standards, which when you’re getting a quality suburb in return, equals good value and a pleasant place to live overall.