MILESTONE: Westfield Burwood turns 60 – More from its 1966 opening

Sourced from: Anon. 1966. "Keynote is functional elegance". The Sydney Morning Herald, October 11: 21. Aerial photograph; photographer uncredited.

Westfield Burwood celebrates its 60th anniversary on 11 October 2026. Ten years ago, we explored the opening of the shopping centre in 1966. To mark this milestone, we're taking another look at its opening and sharing additional newspaper articles and advertisements from the time that have not previously been featured on this blog.

Official Opening

Source: Anon. 1966. "Shopping Town Open". The Daily Telegraph, October 11: 7. 

NSW Premier Robert Askin performed the official opening on 10 October 1966 in a private ceremony inside the shopping centre attended by 1000 people in evening dress.

Source: Anon. 1966. "Gowns Modelled at  Opening". The Sydney Morning Herald, October 11: 5. 

Farmers Advertisements

Below are three newspaper advertisements from Farmers that were not featured in the 2016 entry.

Source: Farmer's. 1966. "Farmer's Comes to Burwood with a New Concept in Service, Comfort and Variety" (Advertisement). The Sydney Morning Herald, October 11: 23.

Source: Farmer's. 1966. "Tomorrow...All Sydney Will Join In" (Advertisement). The Sun, October 10: 15.

Source: Farmer's. 1966. "Ten Day Celebrations to Introduce Our Beautiful New Store at Burwood" (Advertisement). The Sun, October 10: 16–17.

Construction Feature

Below is a feature article from The Sydney Morning Herald, published on 7 June 1966, as construction of the centre was progressing towards opening.

Source: Anon. 1966. "Burwood $8m drive-in centre well advanced". The Sydney Morning Herald, June 7: 14.

And finally, a leasing advertisement that was published in The Sydney Morning Herald on 7 June 1966.

Source: Westfield Development Corporation. 1966. "Westfield Development Corporation Has Plans for You" (Advertisement). The Sydney Morning Herald, June 7: 14.

Related Entries

• MILESTONE: Westfield Burwood opens (1966) - The original 2016 entry that looks at the opening of the centre, including key facts.
• 1964: Westfield Burwood Plans released 
• 2000: Westfield Burwood Redevelopment

2000: Westfield Burwood Redevelopment

Source: Westfield. 2000. "Westfield Burwood Grand Opening Thursday 17 August" (Advertisement). The Inner Western Suburbs Courier, August 14: 1. 

Did you know that Westfield Burwood is the only Westfield Shopping Centre to have been completely demolished and rebuilt as part of a redevelopment?

Source: Anon. 2000. "Designed for the new millennium". The Inner Western Suburbs Courier, August 14: 21.

This month is 25 years since the redeveloped complex opened to shoppers. The size of the centre was doubled to 62 000sq/m and contained 220 stores. Anchor tenants from the original complex returned, including Grace Bros and Coles. Target, which traded on a separate site in Victoria Street, moved into the complex and its former site was incorporated into Westfield, becoming home to a new 12-screen Greater Union (now Event Cinemas) complex. 

 

Source: Westfield. 2000. "It's easier to get here (but even harder to resist)." (Advertisement). The Inner Western Suburbs Courier, August 14: 155. 

Woolworths and Kmart opened new stores for the first time. The official opening was on August 17, 2000, by swimming legend Dawn Fraser, an Inner West local herself.

According to The Inner Western Suburbs Courier,  an estimated 90,000 flocked to the centre for the first day of trading.

Source: Anon. 2000. "Huge crowd flocks to Westfield". The Inner Western Suburbs Courier, August 21: 1.

Grace Bros was branded as Myer in 2004, before closing in 2007 and was replaced by David Jones. In 2024, a refurbishment saw David Jones reduce its trading space from three floors to two floors. The space on level 2 is now occupied by Aldi, JB Hifi, Nike and Rebel Sport. 

These advertisements were published in The Inner Western Suburbs Courier in its editions throughout August 2000.

Coles

Woolworths 

Kmart

Dymocks

Grace Bros published a special advertising supplement on August 17, 2000, in The Daily Telegraph. I share three of those pages with you.

Entry of interest

MILESTONE: Westfield Burwood opens (1966)

1964: Westfield Burwood Plans released

Full Citation Below

In 2016, I published an entry on the opening of Westfield Burwood in 1966. This year, the complex will turn 55.  Below is a clipping from The Daily Telegraph in July 1964 relating to the announcement of plans by Westfield to construct the centre. One eventual tenant (Mark Foys) was reported to have announced that they would open a store in the new centre. 

Source. Anon. 1964. "£2m. Plan for Burwood". The Daily Telegraph, July 1:9. 

This was not the final scheme. In June 1965, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the planned shopping centre had enlarged to encompass more of the block, which would be the built design. Additional retail space was added along with an office block facing Burwood Road.  

Source: Anon. 1965. "Myer's Gets Store Site Sought by Mark Foy's". The Sydney Morning Herald, June 17: 1. 

Despite three years of negotiations, Mark Foys was unsuccessful to act as the anchor for the new centre. Farmers (owned by Myer) was successful in securing the lease for 100 000 square feet of space (up from 80 000 square feet in the previous scheme). Mark Foys had to settle for a smaller space within the centre. 

Related:

MILESTONE: Westfield Burwood opens (1966)

EVOLUTION OF WESTFIELD MIRANDA: The fourth expansion (2014)

This is our last entry in the evolution of Westfield Miranda (Miranda Fair). It has been a great and exciting journey of its evolution.

This month happens to be five years since the last of the expansions over its 55-year period occurred.

The timing was perfect. The centre was turning 50. The perfect way to celebrate a half-century of serving the Sutherland Shire.

But how did it get there?

The last expansion was in 1992, which made it the first in 22 years. It also meant that the first decade of the 21st century was the only decade where there was no major expansion or upgrade of the complex.

Meanwhile, the Sutherland Shire continued to grow in population, but disposable incomes were on the rise fuelling demand for high-end retailers.

In 2009, expansion plans were approved by Sutherland Council, but construction did not commence until 2013.

This resulted in the current centre featuring 470 retailers (up 100).

Expansion works concentrated on the western half of the complex, with the entrance moved forward to the Kingsway, and there was a reconfiguration of the layout, though some of the original areas from 1964 were retained. The office building was demolished, and there was controversy over the demolition of the famous revolving star atop the building. The Moreton Bay fig at the Kingsway Entrance was incorporated into the expanded complex.

Myer shrank its space from four floors to three. This allowed Woolworths to relocate into the space. on level 2 Woolworths anchored a new fresh food hall that is more upmarket than the fresh food hall located at the eastern end of the centre (Anchored by Coles, who replaced Franklins).

Mini majors led by international clothing brands, including Uniqulo and Zara moved in.

A major feature of the expansion was the construction of an entertainment precinct which included a new Event Cinemas complex (relocated from the basement at the Kiora Road end) and restaurants along the Kingsway. The cinemas opened in 2015.

The former cinema site was converted into a Skyzone, a trampoline park catering to kids. Despite its popularity, it is due to close.

Model (and local) Cheyenne Tozzi officially opened the redeveloped centre on November 27, 2014. Below is a Nine News Report from November 2014 reporting on Stage 2.

Below are photos I have taken of the centre as it is today. Photos were taken by yours truly.

Restaurant Precinct

Kingsway Entrance (including the Moreton Bay fig tree)

That concludes the series on the evolution of Westfield Miranda (Miranda Fair). Below are links to the previous entries in the series.

1962
1964 (Part 1)
1964 (Part 2)
1969
1971 (Part 1)
1971 (Part 2)
1984-1985
1992

EVOLUTION OF WESTFIELD MIRANDA: More Expansion (1992)

The 1990's bought another expansion for Westfield Miranda which was its largest expansion to date. This was completed in 1992.

Westfield had spent around two decades purchasing sites in the block bounded by the Kingsway, Kiora Road, Urunga Parade and Jackson Avenue including shops, offices, Miranda Police Station and the Miranda Congregational Church. St Lukes Anglican Church refused offers to sell, though they did sell a small portion of the site.

For expansion to proceed (and gain support of locals and council), Westfield purchased sites within Miranda to relocate the police station (Cnr Wilcock Street and Kiora Road) and Miranda Congregational Church (Cnr Kariumbla and Kiora Street). Westfield also funded the construction of the new buildings for Miranda Congregational Church.

Source: Stark, N. 1991. "Huge Westfield complex set for Miranda". The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, May 16: 2.

Expansion plans were officially unveiled in 1991. The expanded centre would contain 370 retailers, up from around 160 retailers..

New retailers included David Jones which meant that Miranda would once again have two major department stores on the one site. BigW was now forced to compete with Target and did an upgrade of their store.

Grace Bros did an upgrade of their existing store.

Greater Union would occupy an eight screen entertainment complex and was joined by a new food court and restaurants.

Above: Advertisement to promote the opening of Greater Union at Miranda in 1992.

The expansion was completed in stages with the full expansion officially opened to shoppers on October 1, 1992. The crowds flocked in their hundreds of thousands. Yours truely as a young child does remember going on that first weekend and yes it was full.

Source: Davis, G & Habermann, L. 1992. "Shopping crowds flock to Miranda". The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, October 8: 2. 

Below are some advertisements to promote the Westfield Expansion as advertised in The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader on various dates in 1992.

Below is an advertisement for Country Road which promoted itself as a Department Store.

Westfield produced its own special advertisement for the opening of David Jones in August 1992.

Finally is an advertisement to promote Tilt, which was a video game and entertainment arcade complex. With the rise of video gaming during the 1990's, it would not see out the decade. It occupied the space now occupied by Aldi and The Reject Shop.

EVOLUTION OF WESTFIELD MIRANDA: Westfield Miranda Expansion Completed (1971)

In September 1971, just eighteen months after approval, the expanded Miranda Fair complex was completed and opened to the public.

The expansion made it the first shopping complex in Sydney to offer two department stores under one roof - Farmer's and Grace Bros. Grace Bros would trade over four levels. In 2019, Myer still maintain space on three of the four levels with Woolworths relocating into the vacant space as part of the 2014 expansion.

Woolworths had expanded to become a Woolworths Family Centre which was a hypermart comprising of BigW and Woolworths in the one shop.

Nock & Kirbys completed what became "the big 4".

Below is a map of the complex following the 1971 expansion as published in The Sydney Morning Herald on September 14, 1971. I recall a person who superimposed the map below with a 2014 map of the complex on the Skyscrapercity forums around 2015 but has since been removed. It is interesting to note that the Woolworths Family Centre for encompasses what is now BigW (plus more) and the escalators in the middle of Farmers is now an atrium surrounded by shops

Sydney newspapers published special supplements to mark the expansion along with The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader. 

A special feature of the centre was the creation of a 10 000 sq/foot Cameila Court given the local interest in Cameilas with the E. G. Waterhouse National Camellia Garden located nearby in Caringbah.

A snapshot

• 56 000 sq/m of retail and commercial space (up from 18 000 sq/m).
• 75 retailers (up from 20).
• Miranda Library was doubled in size.
• Five level office building (completed in 1972) would house professional tenants including doctors, lawyers and accountants.

NEVER BUILT SYDNEY: Early concept for the expansion of Westfield Hurstville (1986)

Just eight years after opening in 1978, Westfield were already planning for an expansion of its shopping centre at Hurstville.

An early concept plan would see the centre cross over Park Road; in effect turning the street into a tunnel and would not reach The Avenue as the centre eventually did.

Note that there was no plans for a cinema but were intent on a major department store (secured Grace Bros) and discount department store (secured Kmart).

Snowy Hill Park was to be retained, but was eventually replaced with parking.

Source: Gladstone, C. 1986. "Massive bonus for shoppers: Giant centre doubling area". The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, March 4: 1.