It’s the Sydney suburb known for shootings and gangs. Now it’s finding a new identity

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If you Google Merrylands and hit the news tab, you’ll read dozens of headlines about shootings and gang warfare.

The western Sydney suburb is the birthplace of the notorious Alameddine crime network, and it’s the original postcode of rapper Ali Younes, aka Ay Huncho, whose family home in Merrylands was sprayed with more than 20 bullets last month.

Asiya Rahimi studies law at Western Sydney University – a feat she recognises wouldn’t be possible in Afghanistan – and works at the Hazara Cultural Association, helping her community learn English and file government paperwork.

Crime has sunk its teeth into the suburb for decades. It’s an element of Merrylands that many residents have told the Herald is difficult to ignore, but one that shouldn’t define the suburb.

For 18-year-old law student Asiya Rahimi – whose family fled war-torn Afghanistan when she was 10 and who now calls Merrylands home – the suburb is more than its headlines.

“Crime happens everywhere across Sydney, and when something small happens here, it gets a lot of attention,” she says. “What people don’t see is the positive side: the hardworking families, the small businesses, the community centres that help people every day. There’s a lot of good here.”

Sitting south of Parramatta, where nearly three-quarters of residents speak a language other than English at home, is a suburb finding a new identity. The old side, shaped by mid-century housing commission homes and waves of migration, is slowly being replaced by families and younger people moving into luxury apartments.

Hrt 2 Hrt, a shop of “old” Merrylands, surrounded by new development.

One block tells the story.

Across from a shopping centre sits a family-owned Lebanese bakery and restaurant, Hrt 2 Hrt. The business has operated from the same location for 30 years, evading development, which has inched right up against its walls.

Surrounding the bakery is a modern red-brick apartment complex, Mason & Main, built by Coronation Property, and the accompanying “Eat Street” below. It features dimly lit restaurants: Japanese, Middle Eastern and American-style diners.

Recent developments in Merrylands, including the Mason & Main complex, the Civic Square and the yet-to-be-opened Gladstone Village, are transforming the suburb.

The Mason & Main apartment complex rises behind traditional Merrylands shops.

“We’re Parramatta’s closest neighbour, think North Sydney to the CBD,” Cumberland City Council Mayor Ola Hamed said.

“That proximity brings opportunity, and you can feel the buzz: new infrastructure, green spaces, vibrant businesses and a growing sense of pride. Merrylands isn’t just rising, it’s redefining what western Sydney can be.”

For local economies to attract investment, it has to be where people can “live, work and play”, according to Neil Perry, chief economist at the Centre for Western Sydney.

Perry said Merrylands had a big opportunity to capitalise on its cultural identity, similarly to how suburbs such as Marrickville, Balmain and Sydenham had.

The new Gladstone Village being constructed behind Merrylands main strip of shops – most of which have been anchored there for decades.

“A place like Merrylands, which has got … nice historical housing, through time [will draw] natural movement out there, [supported] by lots of events and cultural activities and exploring and celebrating its own diversity – that brings that kind of wealth.”

Richmond-raised Jackson Hulls, who has spent the better part of a decade visiting his partner Priyanka Parajuli in Merrylands before moving into the Coronation-built complex last year, said the suburb needed the “gentrification”.

“I think it did need a bit of gentrification,” he said. “We used to get chased walking home from the gym by people. Old Merrylands versus current, I would say there’s been a pretty big shift, a lot more families.”

Inside the older shops along Merrylands old strip is Ali Sharifi. His business, which he has handed down to his son, Jahar Sharifi, has been operating from the same location for 20 years.

According to the latest NSW crime statistics from June, incidents of major offences, including robbery, breaking and entering, and vehicle thefts, have fallen or stabilised in the past 10 years.

Hulls said that while overall crime in Merrylands had gone down over the past few years, he had noticed an increase in organised crime.

“It was a bit rough for a while there. It feels a lot safer where all the developments are happening. There’s a lot more security,” he said.

Emir Biber, who moved his business, Hayat Turkish Cuisine, from the “old side” of Merrylands to Eat Street last year, said the new development had given the suburb a “buzz” at night.

“Merrylands has a new look. It’s got a Dubai-like feel,” he said. “If you go to the old side of Merrylands, where our old shop was, it’s really run down. [The newer precinct] is just a nicer place to take your family out.”

Walli ASR Food Market owners father Ali Sharifi (left) and son Jahan Sharifi (right), who opposes the rapid development of Merrylands.

Stationed only metres down the road, Jahan Sharifi, who has taken over his family’s Afghan food market business, believes recent developments, including the Mason & Main complex, have gone too far.

“It’s enough. A lot is happening now, on every corner of Merrylands, they’re building high-rises,” he said.

“They build them up, and people come from everywhere ... they don’t know each other much anymore. It used to be way better.”

The Sydney Morning Herald has opened a bureau in the heart of Parramatta. Email [email protected] with news tips.