Loftus

Loftus is a suburb, in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.

Loftus is a suburb, in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Loftus is 29 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire.

Loftus was named after Lord Augustus William Frederick Spencer Loftus, governor of New South Wales between 1878 and 1885. The Illawarra railway line to Sutherland was completed in 1885. The next station south was Loftus Junction, which opened on 9 March 1886. The name was changed to Loftus ten years later and in 1979 the station moved to the present site.

The Sydney Tramway Museum at Loftus (a non-profit community organisation run entirely by volunteers) was created in 1950, in a large tram yard shed beside the rail tracks that ran across the Princes Highway into the Royal National Park. During the latter years of World War II this had been an army camp site, with the national park used as a training ground. The public school opened in January 1953. The official post office opened in July 1953 but closed in 1980.