Rockdale Suburb Review

Summary: Convenient, well-positioned and incredibly well-equipped with amenities, Rockdale isn’t the prettiest suburb in the world but packs a ton into a relatively small space. It boasts good connectivity to the city and elsewhere by both road and rail, and a wide variety of housing types suitable for a range of budgets and lifestyles. It’s also very busy in sections, with its main roads packed with traffic and a continually growing number of apartments adding to its population. It’s also decent value, considering its location.

Key stats

Practical if not overly pretty, and decently-priced without being a bargain, Rockdale is a suburb for those who are willing to sacrifice a little bit of comfort and quiet in return for convenience and a huge range of options for shopping, dining and services right on their doorstep.

One of the busiest suburbs of the St George region, it’s well-positioned in terms of access to many other key parts of central Sydney – be that Sydney city itself, other key employment hubs, Sutherland Shire, the Airport, and even the beach.

As a result, those who like having pretty much everything you could need for Sydney life without living in the actual heart of the CBD will find lots to like about Rockdale – and those who don’t, won’t.

In return, life here means giving away a little bit of comfort and cleanliness, and dealing with a road situation that has never been good at the best of times, and is downright dismal at worst.

Rockdale’s key strength lies in the sheer array of amenities it has to offer. It’s absolutely packed with all kinds of services and stores large and small that one could want nearby. Banks, cafes, local restaurants, chemists, auto dealers, medical… you name it, and Rockdale has it in spades.

Most of its individual charm comes from its small-scale older dining and produce shops that come with a very “local” vibe. On the north side of Rockdale near the station along Walz Street in particular it’s a buzzing little scene of locals of multiple ethnicities chatting over a coffee on the footpath, or bantering with their neighbourhood fruit market owner.

There’s some great restaurants covering a big range of cuisines; Thai, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Lebanese, many good miscellaneous takeaway joints (shout out to Charcoal Kingdom) and more mean you’ll never be without a decent place to grab a bite to eat.

It’s a little dirty in spots and some of the storefronts are a little rundown, but you’ll also not be playing overpriced city prices here either. Rockdale has a pretty cool amount of diversity in general, both in its people and its food, that make things interesting.

It’s also got some good spots to enjoy a drink. The St George Tavern and Grand Hotel are both semi-historic venues that offer well-priced pub food and alcohol, as well as places to watch sporting events.

Connectivity is its other main benefit. Rockdale’s train station sees pretty frequent services, and offers the prospect of a 20 minute commute into the city. It’s also well-serviced with buses both along its main arterial roads and within the suburb itself.

While in theory Rockdale also provides great access for drivers, the sheer volume of cars on the roads here makes it far from the case. While the back streets of the suburb are generally quite quiet and easy to drive in, its main roads are clogged with traffic at many hours of the day.

This extends not only to the Princes Highway – a virtual carpark that’s eternally busy and noisy – but the awkward cluster at the Sevenways intersection, and secondary streets like West Botany Street and Bay Street as well.

The continuing addition of more highrise apartment blocks is obviously not helping things here, either. Essentially: take the train if you can.

Rockdale’s also a bit of a magnet for “rev heads”; there’s a ton of hotted-up cars speeding around, it’s road-rage central, and oh boy you’d better not be one second off the mark once traffic lights change or you’ll receive the horning/berating of a lifetime.

It’s a suburb that’s reflective of Sydney’s bad car culture as a whole, and makes for a commute that’s not fun on a daily basis.

Split Personality

In terms of layout, Rockdale’s quite different on the west and east sides of the suburb. The west side, outside of its shopping and dining strip near the station, is almost exclusively residential, with a heavy concentration of older, mid-level red brick freestanding homes.

There’s the occasional new build plopped in to break things up as well – the further you go from the station, the newer most of the homes become.

It’s mostly houses other than a concentration of mid-rise apartment blocks along Villiers Street. There’s not much “in-between” sized housing in Rockdale in general (townhouses, duplexes, etc.) – it’s mostly either apartments, or full-blown houses.

The back streets here are generally quiet and fairly leafy, although there’s not much parkland to speak of outside of the occasional micro-park. It’s nice enough, and there are some pretty homes, but it’s not exactly gorgeous.

The east side of Rockdale is more of a mixed bag. This is where most of the busy-ness occurs, as its huge array of storefronts along the highway couple with fast-food dining outlets, local businesses and highrise apartment buildings to feel much more hectic.

Further out in its residential section, it also contains some of the suburb’s most impressive and largest houses branching off of Bryant Street.

It’s also where you’ll find the suburb’s main retail area: Rockdale Plaza. This is a solid and well-equipped shopping centre with a good mix of big-box and smaller scale retail, a food court and other necessities. It sort of sums up Rockdale as a whole – it’s useful, has everything you need, but isn’t particularly spectacular.

Elsewhere here you’ll find its main industrial and warehouse park around the south-west, with yet more large-scale outlets, hardware stores, auto repairs, gyms and the like. This is also where its best hub of greenery sits – Rockdale Bicentennial Park.

It’s a large, expansive green space with not only play equipment for the kids and picnic facilities, but excellent sporting grounds as well. Add in its other handful of reserves and parks (including Rockdale Park), and this side of the suburb is far greener in spots and where you’ll likely go with both pets and kids in tow.

Rockdale in general is quite sports-centric and offers very good public spaces for outdoors-y types. It’s got an array of public fields, courts and pitches for the likes of soccer, tennis and various other sports, so those who enjoy their exercise can find a lot to like.

It’s also quite close to the beach. The waterfront down at Brighton Le Sands is within walking distance for those living on the east side, while a short drive or cycle can bring you there in short order as well.

Rockdale’s home to a wide range of sporting facilities

Rockdale is also a decent – if not amazing – prospect for those with kids. It’s got several good childcare/kindy facilities and multiple school options in both Rockdale itself as well as neighbouring Kogarah and Bexley. It’s generally safe as a whole without any truly “dodgy” streets, but has some issues crime-wise with both drug offenses and and car theft which put it above the Sydney average.

In terms of price, Rockdale is quite good (for Sydney) given its location. Its abundance of apartment builds both old and new means it’s possible to get into the market quite a bit easier than elsewhere so close to Sydney City.

“It sort of sums up Rockdale as a whole – it’s useful, has everything you need, but isn’t particularly spectacular.”

There’s a fair array of quite decent renovated 2-bedroom apartments for under $600k in solidly-built older buildings (or under $500 per week for rental), although you’ll want to avoid being too close to the Princes Hwy for noise purposes.

For freestanding homes, Rockdale’s supply of smaller and older houses means you can find a place for around $1 million, or slightly over – again, not “cheap” by any means, but decent for its location within the Sydney market.

The Verdict

Rockdale’s a suburb that’s likely going to be ideal some, and a turn off for others. If you don’t mind having a buzzing backdrop to your daily life and appreciate the convenience of having quite a lot to do right nearby, then it certainly checks a lot of boxes.

What Rockdale lacks in high-end quality, it sure as hell makes up for in sheer quantity – it’s parks, restaurants, sporting fields and shops may not be the “best” in Sydney, but there’s so damn many of them that you’ll be spoiled for choice and likely be able to find a couple you really like.

For those with a bit more money, its higher-end residential back streets typically give pretty good breathing room in a “buffer zone” between your home and the busy parts. In this scenario, you’d be able to have peace and quiet and then also walk just a few minutes to have everything you need – the best of both worlds, but not affordable for everyone.

Its roads are a major problem, however. Unless you’re heading in the opposite direction to the major traffic flow, commuting is a headache. The onflow effects in terms of noise – both from the traffic itself and all the people visiting – can be an issue as well.

For families and professionals who don’t mind a more “upbeat” pace, Rockdale can serve its purpose well. There’s just a lot to do here, and whether that’s a plus or a minus will depend more on your individual personality than anything else.