Canterbury is located 10.5 kilometres (6.5 mi) south-west of the Sydney central business district in the City of Canterbury-Bankstown.

[2][3] The first European land grant in this suburb was of 40 hectares (100 acres) to a "very good, pious, inoffensive man", the Reverend Richard Johnson (1753-1827), the colony's first chaplain, in 1793.

In 1803, when it covered 360 hectares (900 acres), it was sold to Robert Campbell the elder (1769-1846), who then bought up most of the land north to Liverpool Road.

Although the soil in this area was rather poor, there was some farm cultivation, but the main work was wood cutting and carting, and brickmaking.

In 1840 the Australian Sugar Company bought 24 hectares (60 acres) of Campbell's Canterbury estate and a steam engine was installed, but after passing through the hands of several owners, the factory closed in 1856.

The Bankstown railway line was completed in 1895, encouraging suburban development and leading to the area becoming heavily populated.

This was too late for the Sugar Mill, which ceased production in September 1854, but was favourable for horse racing, which informally began in 1871.

A Town Hall was opened in 1889, but eventually Campsie became a more important centre and the city administration was moved from Canterbury in 1962.

Canterbury Park Racecourse, on the northern bank of the Cooks River has been one of Sydney's major racetracks since 1871.

Services operated between Canterbury and Summer Hill from 1915, however low patronage and competition from motor buses saw the line close in 1933.

[13] Canterbury Road is a major arterial route, 11 kilometres (7 miles) long and the only vehicular crossing of the Cooks River within the suburb.

Pedestrians and cyclists can cross the Cooks River at one of two dedicated footbridges making the riverside pleasant and accessible for recreational users.

It is built in the Gothic Revival Church style with a steeply pitched roof which was originally covered with slate, but now by cement tiles.

1.^ Canterbury extends across both sides of the Cooks River, which forms a natural defining boundary around the outer limits of the Inner Western suburbs of Sydney.