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Location
Menai is located southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Located 29 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire.
Shopping
Menai contains a bustling shopping centre around Menai Road with many retail stores and fine restaurants. Two major retail developments are called Menai Metro and Menai Marketplace. Menai Marketplace is located beside the Menai Community Buildings and features a Woolworths supermarket, Big W discount department store and many specialty shops including an Electronics Boutique, Bakers Delight, Michel's Patisserie and Gloria Jean's.
The third major retail development boasts Dan Murpheys Bottle Shop, Dick Smith Electronics, Good Life Health Gym, Super Cheap Auto and other various specialty shops.
Schools
Menai's schools include Menai Primary [K-6], Aquinas College [Catholic, 7-12] and Holy Family Primary School [Catholic, K-6]. Residents also use schools in neighbouring suburbs such as Alfords Point Primary [Public, K-6] in Alfords Point, Menai High [Public, 7-12], Tharawal [Public, K-6] and Illawong Primary [Public, K-6] in Illawong and Bangor Primary School [K-6] and Inaburra High School [K-12] in Bangor.
Alfords Point Pre-School Kindergarten, an early learning centre is located opposite the shops. There are several long daycare centres including ABC Menai, Allison Crescent Child Care Centre, Bradman Road Child Care Centre, Carter Road Long Day Care Centre, and Jumpstart Childcare.
Sport & Recreation
An indoor sporting complex is adjacent to the Menai shopping centre. Menai is home to the Menai Junior Rugby League Football Club who are known by the rhyming couplet "menai, head high", in a reference to their tough playing style by other rugby league juniors throughout the Sutherland Shire. Menai is also home to the Menai Dragons basketball association.
Menai is also home to various junior soccer clubs such as Menai Hawks FC, Bangor Junior Soccer Club, Barden Ridgebacks FC and Cricket teams Bangor Taven Cricket Club and Illawong Menai Kookaburras. The 2234 community is a popular sporting community.
Menai – the Name
Menai is not, as many people first guess, an Aboriginal name, but is named after Menai Bridge, a town on the Menai Strait in Wales, Great Britain.
The area now known as Menai was originally called Bangor in 1895 by the land's owner, a farmer named Owen Jones, after his birthplace Bangor in Wales. To avoid confusion with Bangor in Tasmania, the Postmaster General's Office changed the suburb name to Menai in 1910. Menai Bridge in Wales lies opposite Bangor on the Menai Strait. When Menai expanded, the eastern section became Bangor again.