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Killarney Heights: How FANS Built Australia’s French Capital
Killarney Heights became Australia’s French capital thanks to FANS, whose bilingual program transformed the suburb into a thriving francophone hub.
Killarney Heights might be a sleepy suburb in Sydney's Northern Beaches, but for much of Australia's French community, it is their chosen home. Surrounded by bushland and the tranquil waters of Middle Harbour, thousands of people from the other side of the world have relocated to Killarney Heights, while many simply visit for the unique French experience it offers.
Over the years, the cultural markers have grown. There are French cheeses in the local deli, handmade saucisson in the grocer's, while the bottle shop stocks bubbly from small champagne houses. Come 3pm, there are families picking up baguettes to take home for dinner and children heading off to French class.
This leafy suburb — just 12 kilometres from Sydney's CBD — is the French capital of Australia.
According to the 2021 census, 6.1 per cent of Killarney Heights's population speak French at home — compared to 0.3 per cent of Australia as a whole.
It may seem bizarre that this peaceful little place became a cultural epicentre, but it was precisely the suburb's sleepiness that made it possible. In 1998, a circle of French-speaking newcomers happened to settle in the Northern Beaches and founded a French playgroup for their preschoolers. As their children approached school age, they asked the Department of Education if they could establish a bilingual kindergarten in the local area.
The department suggested several schools that had room to grow, including Killarney Heights Public School (KHPS), where then-principal Jessica Wiltshire was interested both in boosting sluggish enrolment numbers and the potential of bilingual education. In 1999, the school offered its first bilingual class, with a French teacher employed by the newly established French-speaking Association of the North Shore (FANS) delivering the Australian curriculum in French alongside the department's teacher.
Word of mouth about the program grew, and now, over 25 years later, 16 teachers deliver this program school-wide, with about 85 per cent of KHPS students registered.
FANS has also worked with Killarney Heights High School to ensure francophones and prior KHPS students can continue to study French at the appropriate secondary level.
FANS general manager Anne Bentley, originally from New Caledonia, said the program had transformed the school and suburb, said:
"People in the francophone community choose the school because of the program, while anglophones are interested in the bilingual approach, and as the French community has expanded, we've seen businesses cater to French tastes."
Lauren Emanuel's daughters are enrolled in the bilingual program. She said:
"There are French-speaking students and French teachers dispersed among the classrooms, so they're really immersed in it. I love hearing people talking in French when I go to the cafe, and my kids love all the French pastries. It's such a unique community."
Community events include crepe and raclette nights, a French market, and the annual Fête de la Musique in June — when the French celebrate the northern hemisphere's longest day. During May's federal election, the school even served up "democracy croissants".
Source: ABC News
