Bonnet Bay, NSW 2226

Quiet, leafy family suburb in southern Sydney roughly 29 km south of the Sydney CBD, in the Sutherland Shire local government area. It sits on the eastern bank of the Woronora River, which flows north into the Georges River, with the suburb's boundaries largely set by the river (west and north), Jannali to the south and bushland reserve on parts of its eastern edge. At the 2021 census it had 2,238 residents, and the suburb is almost entirely residential with a bushland setting — about 1.5 km² in size with eight parks covering nearly a quarter of its area. A quirky local landmark: every street except Tudar Road is named after a US president, with Washington Drive running the length of the suburb. The suburb was developed from 1969 (Fillmore Road was the first street) with all house plots completed by 1985, and it has been ranked among Sydney's safest suburbs.

At a Glance

Transport

Bonnet Bay has no railway station — public transport is bus-based. The Route 968 bus (U-Go Mobility / Sydney Buses Network) serves the suburb, connecting Bonnet Bay to Jannali, Miranda and Kareela. The nearest train stations are Jannali and Como in the neighbouring suburbs on the Illawarra (T4) line of the Sydney Trains network. The suburb has only two roads in and out, and street layout follows steep sandstone terrain with one-way Upper/Lower sections of Washington Drive. School-bus services also link Bonnet Bay to Jannali High School and Sutherland Public School.

Schools

Bonnet Bay Public School — NSW government primary school on Tudar Road, officially opened in 1979 by Princess Anne (in her capacity as president of the Save the Children Fund), which also offers before- and after-school care. The suburb has no high school; secondary students travel to schools in neighbouring suburbs — school-bus routes run from Bonnet Bay to Jannali High School and Sutherland Public School.

Shopping & Amenities

Bonnet Bay is almost entirely residential with minimal retail: the small Bonnet Bay Shopping Village on Kennedy Crescent includes a supermarket, hairdresser, pizza restaurant/takeaway and café. The village was reportedly sold for about $37 million at auction in October 2018. For broader shopping, residents head to neighbouring Jannali or nearby Sutherland/Miranda.

Parks & Outdoors

Bonnet Bay fronts the Woronora River on its western and northern sides, with the waterway joining the Georges River just north of the suburb near Como. Recreation facilities in the suburb include a boat ramp, picnic areas, a cricket oval, soccer oval, two netball courts and two tennis courts, spread across the suburb's eight parks which cover about 24.7% of its area. The surrounding bushland — Burnum Burnum Reserve on the suburb's edge — hosts rare protected plant species, though it also represents a bushfire threat that last manifested in the 1994 Como bushfires.

Property Market

The median house price in Bonnet Bay was around ~$1.8M (2026 trackers: median house value $1,841,361, +4.1% over 12 months, Valuer-General data as of 1 Aug 2026 via Andrea Monti; propradar put the median at ~$1.8M, +6.0% YoY, as of 7 Aug 2026) (mid-2026). See our full Sydney property price map for how the suburb compares across the city. Thin sales market — only 16 house sales in the 12 months to Aug 2026, and the median can move sharply on one or two properties (Andrea Monti/Valuer-General). 2026 trackers cluster around $1.8M (propradar ~$1.8M, +6.0%; Andrea Monti $1,841,361, +4.1%; an earlier July 2026 estimate put it at $1,790,500), though premium riverfront and deep-water-view properties sell well above the median. Housing stock is almost entirely detached family homes on bushland lots (median land size of houses sold ~613 m²; ~$2,878/m²) in a suburb built out between 1969 and 1985.

New Developments

Minimal — Bonnet Bay is a mature, built-out residential suburb: construction began in late 1969 (Fillmore Road) and all house plots were completed by 1985, with little new development since. The most notable recent transaction was the sale of the Bonnet Bay Shopping Village, the suburb's only retail centre, for about $37 million at auction in October 2018. No major residential developments were reported at the time of writing.

Jobs & Local Economy

Bonnet Bay is overwhelmingly residential — its only local employment base is the small Bonnet Bay Shopping Village (supermarket, café, hairdresser and takeaway). Most working residents commute out of the suburb: the Route 968 bus links Bonnet Bay with the Sutherland Shire's main centres of Jannali and Miranda, and trains from Jannali/Como run north to the Sydney CBD, which is about 29 km away.

Nearby Suburbs

Illawong, Como, Jannali, Sutherland, Woronora, Bangor

Sources & method

Researched 4 September 2026 from named public sources — census and government records, transport authorities, council and planning documents — plus published sales data. Where sources disagree on a figure, the guide says so rather than picking one.

Sources cited in this guide:

• Wikipedia — Bonnet Bay
• Transport for NSW
• NSW Government

Corrections are welcome — if something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will fix it.

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