Tempe (/tɛmpiː/ tem-PEE;) is a suburb in the Inner West[2] of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.

Tempe is located 9 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Inner West Council.

Tempe sits on the northern bank of the Cooks River and is separated from Sydney Airport by the Alexandra Canal, also known as Sheas Creek.

Tempe was named after the mansion on the southern banks of the Cooks River in the area that is now known as Wolli Creek.

Alexander Brodie Spark (1792–1856), an immigrant from Elgin, Scotland, built Tempe House in 1836.

It was named after the 'Vale of Tempe', a beautiful valley set at the foot of Mount Olympus in Greece, which was prominent in ancient Greek legend.

The solicitor Richard Henry Way built Lymerston, an Italianate villa that still stands in Hillcrest Street, in 1842–43.

A tram service once operated from Circular Quay along the Cooks River line to Tempe.

The line ran down City Road from Broadway, then along King Street, Newtown before proceeding down the Princes Highway to its terminus at the Cooks River.

Tugs towed the laden punts along the channels of the river to the head of navigation at the Tempe Dam, near the present Princes Highway bridge.

On the river bank, immediately to the south of the dam, the contractors erected three wharves where the timber was unloaded and placed on small 4-wheeled railway trucks for conveyance by horse teams, over a temporary tramway,[9] to the company's depot which was established about midway between St Peters and Sydenham railway stations.

Fossils of a very large amphibian were discovered in the clay, and one is now displayed at the reptile exhibits at Taronga Park Zoo.

Located at 125 Unwins Bridge Road, this single-storey house, built circa 1858, is as an example of the Australian bungalow and is listed on the Register of the National Estate.

[11] In July 2009, Tempe residents gained Interim Heritage Orders to protect the former quarry cliff face, (the quarry where the stone for Milford Haven-Nelson Lodge was quarried from), a man-made sandstone block retaining wall built in the 1880s, a historical footpath with historical views, a late 19th-century Federation cottage and a Californian bungalow, all of which were at risk of complete demolition from a 37 townhouse development.

This development was refused by Marrickville Council after over forty submissions were made against it by Tempe residents.

The main shopping strip includes the Tempe Hotel, a newsagency, a light and sound store, a doctor's surgery, a dentist's surgery, a Thai Restaurant, a picture framing business "Frame Up", and Camera Warehouse.

The Riverview Hotel, formerly Valve Bar and Venue,[18] formerly the Harp Irish Pub, and originally the Riverview Hotel (built in 1922), is located on the Princes Highway close to Harry's Cafe de Wheels, formerly known as Deno's Diner, formerly known as Cobb & Co., a fast food outlet designed on the 1950s drive-in model.