[3] Summer Hill has a mix of Federation-era houses, with medium density apartment blocks near the railway station.

[5] Despite formerly being working class, Summer Hill and many of the surrounding suburbs have gradually undergone gentrification over recent years.

[6] Before the First Fleet arrived at Port Jackson in 1788, what is now known as Summer Hill was part of a larger area where people of the Wangal and Cadigal nations lived.

There is research to show in the greater Sydney region 8000 - 10000 Aboriginal people were resident, fluctuating on seasons and during tribal conflicts.

[7] What is now called the Hawthorne Canal (originally Long Cove Creek) appears to have been the boundary between the Cadigal and Wangal Aboriginal nations.

Today there is a small park in Summer Hill, called Cadigal Reserve, located at 1-4 Grosvenor Crescent.

A bronze plaque placed by Ashfield Council names the reserve after the Cadigal (Eora) group of Koori people.

[7] This suggests that the land was open terrain favoured by kangaroos, that they were common in the area and may have formed a significant part of the Aboriginal diet.

The land in the eastern corner of Summer Hill was an additional grant of 30 acres (12 ha) made to Henry Kable in 1804.

[6] An early known use of the name "Summer Hill" was on Saturday 8 December 1849 when The Bathurst Free Press reported it as the residence of James and Ann Bennett who were tried and convicted of participation in the Wellington Mail Robbery.

Local historians regard the suggestion that the name is a derivation of "Sunning Hill" as a dubious story which has no substance.

[6] Subdivision of gardens for housing continued in the 1920s and 1930s, and socioeconomically the suburb changed as some of the wealthier inhabitants moved to the North Shore.

Demolition of most of the surviving mansions in the 1970s allowed erection of home units, especially within walking distance of the railway station.

Following Drynan's death, Kelvin Grove was owned or leased by a succession of different people, including the Haberfield real-estate developer Richard Stanton, Croydon brick-maker William Downton, and two sisters named Freeman (one of whom was a nurse).

[6] St Andrew's Anglican Church has three distinctive internal transept arches, and was designed by a Presbyterian, Alexander Leckie Elphinstone Junior.

[12][13] An expansion plan by Trinity involving the demolition of houses in nearby Seaview Street caused controversy in 2007.

Summer Hill's shopping precinct is centred around a small town square with good pedestrian access, and is surrounded by cafés and restaurants along Lackey and Smith Streets.

[16] The Summer Hill flour mill was built circa 1922, utilising the north–south goods railway line that was constructed during World War I.

Anthony Albanese held various ministerial appointments under the Rudd and Gillard governments, eventually becoming Deputy Prime Minister.

During the 2010 Federal election, Greens candidate former Marrickville Mayor Sam Byrne, received 45% of the vote in comparison to Albanese's 54%.

At the 2013 election, Albanese received over 70% of the two party preferred vote, making it currently the ALP's safest seat in the country.