Cheltenham takes its name from a house built by William Chorley, a Sydney tailor and men's outfitter, who acquired the land when it was released from the Field of Mars Reserve. He named the house after his birthplace of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. Chorley asked the government to build a station here and to name it after his property when it opened in 1898. Sutherland Road was named for John Sutherland, Minister for Public Works from 1887 to 1889.^[3]

The Beecroft Cheltenham History Group was founded in 1987 by local history enthusiasts to record the history of Beecroft and Cheltenham and to collect and preserve photos and other historical information relative to the area. Since 2005 it has been part of the Beecroft Cheltenham Civic Trust.^[4] In 1995 a book covering the history of Beecroft and Cheltenham up to 1914 was published.^[5] In 2004 a book on walks around the district was published.^[6] In 2005 a book about the Beecroft Children's Library was published.^[7]

Cheltenham has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• 67 Cobran Road: Ahimsa^[8]

According to the 2021 census, there were 2,166 residents in Cheltenham.

Ethnic diversity

64.2% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was China at 9.5% followed by Hong Kong with 3.6%, England with 3.0%, India with 2.3% and India with 1.7%. The most common ancestries in Cheltenham were English 27.2%, Australian 25.5%, Chinese 24.4%, Scottish 12.3% and Irish with 10.3%. 66.1% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 11.4%, Cantonese 7.2%, Tamil 1.4%, Korean 1.4%, Hindi 1.0%.

Age distribution

The average age of people in Cheltenham was 46, compared to the national median of 38. Children aged under 15 made up 16.6% of the population, and people aged 65 and over made up 19.3% of the population.

Income

Cheltenham is a wealthy suburb, with the median weekly household income being $3,573, more than double the national median weekly income of $1,746.^{[citation needed]}

Housing

Nearly all of the dwellings in Cheltenham are made up of separate houses, being at 95.7%.^{[citation needed]}

Religion

The most common responses for religion were No Religion 39.2%, Anglican 15.2%, Catholic 14.1%, Hinduism 4.1% and Buddhism 3.5%.^[1]

Cheltenham railway station is on the Northern Line of the Sydney Trains network. It is one of the few stations with no surrounding business district, due to William Chorley placing covenants on the surrounding land.^{[citation needed]}

The M2 Hills Motorway runs along the southern border of the suburb. For many years, Sutherland Road ran through both Beecroft and Cheltenham, and acted as a shortcut between Beecroft Road and Epping Road. This road ran to the east of the Railway line and, during peak hour, was quite busy. With the opening of the M2 Hills Motorway in 1997, Sutherland Road was closed at the Devlins Creek bridge - where the M2 enters a tunnel under North Epping. The result of this closure is that the areas east of the railway line are now very quiet, and the house values have benefitted.^{[citation needed]}

•  
  Cheltenham station from the bridge on Cheltenham Road
•  
  Devlins Creek, in flood under the M2, looking to Sutherland Road

Cheltenham Girls' High School, a government school, is located along Beecroft Road and The Promenade. Beecroft Public School and Arden Anglican School are primary schools in nearby Beecroft.^{[citation needed]}

From its early days, Cheltenham was almost exclusively a residential suburb with no shopping area developed at all in its planning. Residents of Cheltenham often shop in Beecroft, Pennant Hills or Epping. The nearest shopping mall is in Carlingford.

Ahimsa (an Indian word meaning non-violence) is the name of a bush retreat located in Cobran Road. It was originally the home of the environmentalist Marie Byles, who died in the house in 1979. It can be accessed at the rear of Day Road and Cobran Road (both roads are cul-de-sacs). The site is administered by the National Trust of Australia. The house is leased privately but the bush area is open to the public within certain restrictions.^[9]

• Beecroft Cheltenham Civic Trust webpage
• Beecroft Cheltenham History Group Inc (1995). Beecroft and Cheltenham : The Shaping of a Sydney Community to 1914. The. ISBN 0-646-24286-5. (295 pages) [1]^{[permanent dead link]}

• Joan Rowland (2008). "Cheltenham". Dictionary of Sydney. Retrieved 26 September 2015. [CC-By-SA]
• "Cheltenham NSW 2119 Northern Suburbs · Sydney Region". Domain. Archived from the original on 28 February 2024. Retrieved 28 February 2024.

33°45′30″S 151°04′32″E / 33.75839°S 151.07569°E / -33.75839; 151.07569