Woolloomooloo, NSW 2011

Harbourside, former docklands suburb in a low-lying valley at the head of Woolloomooloo Bay on Sydney Harbour, only 1.5 km east of the CBD in the City of Sydney LGA. Its defining landmark is the heritage-listed Finger Wharf — 410 metres long and the longest timber-piled wharf in the world — redeveloped in the 1990s into apartments, a hotel and restaurants. Woolloomooloo grew as a working-class maritime suburb of wharves, pubs and boarding houses, and it is still home to historic terraces on the escarpment below Potts Point alongside areas of public housing — about 22% of homes across postcode 2011 were owned by Housing NSW as of 2011. At the 2021 census the population was 3,792 ; today it combines a village feel with wharf-side dining, the Artspace contemporary arts centre and dramatic inner-city history.

At a Glance

Transport

Bus-based: route 311 (Eddy Avenue, Central, to Millers Point, operated by Transdev John Holland) serves the suburb, and buses run along William Street, which forms the valley's southern rim — the corridor has carried trams and buses into the city since the 1890s. There is no railway station inside the suburb: Kings Cross station (T4 Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line) is about a 10-minute walk away via Potts Point, and the Eastern Suburbs railway crosses the suburb on a concrete viaduct — the Woolloomooloo viaduct between the Domain tunnel portal and Kings Cross. There is no public ferry wharf in the suburb — Garden Island's wharf belongs to the Royal Australian Navy base, and public ferries run from Circular Quay.

Schools

Plunkett Street Public School — small NSW government primary (K–6, around 75 students including a significant Aboriginal cohort) at the Forbes/Plunkett Street corner in Woolloomooloo. Sydney Distance Education High School — NSW government secondary (Years 7–12) — shares the same Plunkett Street campus in Woolloomooloo. Immediately adjacent suburbs add Darlinghurst Public School (government K–6, in Potts Point) and St Vincent's College (independent Catholic girls' Years 7–12, in Potts Point) as further nearby options.

Shopping & Amenities

Dining and entertainment are concentrated on and around the Finger Wharf at 6 Cowper Wharf Road — the heritage wharf now holds a hotel, restaurants and cafes with marina and harbour views. Artspace, an independent contemporary visual-arts centre, occupies the heritage-listed Gunnery building at 43–51 Cowper Wharf Road. Everyday retail in the suburb itself is village-scale; the closest full-size supermarket is the Woolworths at the top of the hill in Potts Point, with the CBD's shops a short walk or bus ride away.

Parks & Outdoors

The Finger Wharf promenade runs 410 metres out over Woolloomooloo Bay with marina berths and wide harbour views. Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool — a 50-metre outdoor saltwater pool 'set on Woolloomooloo Bay near the Royal Botanic Garden' at 1C Mrs Macquaries Road on the Domain edge — opens for the warm months (September–April) with a licensed cafe (City of Sydney). The Royal Botanic Garden and The Domain lie immediately adjacent on the bay's western edge, and the suburb's bay-side walkways link to Potts Point's McElhone and Butler stairs (City of Sydney; Dictionary of Sydney).

Property Market

The median house price in Woolloomooloo was around $2,250,000 (12-month median house sale price, Allhomes, retrieved Sep 2026; +80% year-on-year on an extremely thin market — CoreLogic counted only 9 house sales in the past 12 months, too few to publish its own house median, and realestate.com.au's market summary cited a $1,500,000 overall median sale price) (mid-2026). See our full Sydney property price map for how the suburb compares across the city. A mixed market of historic terraces, public-housing towers and wharf-side apartments. Houses are rare — 9 house sales versus 94 unit sales in the past 12 months — so house medians swing wildly between trackers while the unit median is firmly around $1.06–1.08M. Public housing remains a significant part of the stock — about 22% of homes across postcode 2011 were owned by Housing NSW as of 2011 — and the majority of residents rent.

New Developments

The Finger Wharf is the suburb's defining redevelopment: saved from demolition by a green ban in 1991 and redeveloped in the 1990s as a fashionable complex of residential apartments, a hotel and restaurants, it was listed on the NSW State Heritage Register in April 2000 and is owned by Transport for NSW. The Gunnery wool store at 43–51 Cowper Wharf Road was similarly adapted for reuse and now houses Artspace. Beyond the wharf precinct, new supply comes from apartment conversions and infill around the bay-side village; the suburb's heritage terraces and public-housing stock leave little room for large new projects.

Jobs & Local Economy

Hospitality, tourism and accommodation anchor the local economy — the Finger Wharf's hotel, restaurants and marina — alongside the creative sector around Artspace. Maritime and defence employment is next door at the Royal Australian Navy's Garden Island base, whose sailors and officers have long shaped the suburb's commerce. St Vincent's Hospital precinct (public and private hospitals plus medical research institutes) sits immediately adjacent in Darlinghurst, and the CBD — 1.5 km away — is the main workplace for most residents.

Nearby Suburbs

Potts Point, Darlinghurst, East Sydney, Rushcutters Bay, Garden Island

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 — Woolloomooloo
• Wikipedia — Finger Wharf
• ABS Census
• Dictionary of Sydney
• 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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