List of people from the greater Ashfield area

• James Muir Auld (1879–1942): Ashfield-born artist; winner of the 1935 Wynne Prize^[1]
• Normand Henry Baker (1908–1955): Archibald Prize-winning artist who was born in Summer Hill^[2]
• Geraldine Brooks (born 1955): Pulitzer Prize-winning author (for March); wrote about her childhood in Ashfield in the book Foreign Correspondence^[3]
• Henry Halloran (1811–1893): poet and resident of Ashfield; buried in St John's cemetery^[4]
• Robert McAnally (1882–1956): composer and conductor
• Adam Phillips (born 1971): award-winning animator and artist who utilizes Adobe Flash; worked with Disney during the 1990s
• Robie Porter (Rob EG) (born 1942): musician and record label owner
• Arthur Streeton (1867–1943): artist who briefly lived in Summer Hill^[5]
• Rod Taylor (1930–2015): Hollywood movie star
• P. L. Travers (1899–1996): author of five volumes of Mary Poppins stories; boarded at Normanhurst School in Ashfield beginning in 1912 and later lived with her mother and younger sisters at 17 Pembroke Street^[6]

• John Goodlet (1835–1914): timber merchant and philanthropist who established the Goodlet Institute in Ashfield^[7]
• Mei Quong Tart (1850–1903): prominent Sydney businessman, tea house owner and acting consul to Imperial Chinese government in late 19th century; lived in Gallop House at 48 Arthur Street^[8]

• Norman Allan (1901–1977): NSW police commissioner in 1962–72; was a resident of Haberfield^[9]
• Justice Greg James (born 1944): former NSW Supreme Court judge, current president of Mental Health Review Tribunal of New South Wales and resident of Summer Hill
• Ian Temby, KC (born 1942): first commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption of New South Wales; former resident of Summer Hill
• Rt Hon Sir Cyril Walsh (1909–1973): justice of the High Court of Australia and resident of Summer Hill^[10]

• Colonel Matron Kathleen Best (1910–1957): nurse and first director of the Women's Royal Australian Army Corps^[11]
• Alick James Bryant (1903–1985), also known as James John Bryant: believed to have been the youngest Australian soldier to serve during the First World War^[12]
• Pat Hughes (1917–1940): air force officer who shot down more German planes during the Battle of Britain than any other Australian^[13]
• John Paton (1834–1914): Scottish-born soldier awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry at the Siege of Lucknow in India; retired to Summer Hill; a park on the corner of Smith and Henson Streets in Summer Hill is named after him^[14][15]
• Major General Gustave Ramaciotti (1862–1927): owned the Theatre Royal property by the corners of King and Castlereagh Streets; base commander during World War 1, from 1915 to 1917; retired in 1917 and was appointed C.M.G.^[16]

• Augustus Alt (1731–1815): first surveyor-general of New South Wales; arrived with the First Fleet in 1788 and was granted a substantial parcel of land in northern Ashfield^[17]
• Robert Campbell (1769–1846): early settler responsible for giving Ashfield its name^[18]
• Elizabeth Underwood (ca. 1794–1858): early landowner of Ashfield Park estate who subdivided it to form the village of Ashfield in 1838^[19]

• Joseph Abbott (1843–1903): wool-broker and politician^[20]
• Michael Fitzpatrick (1816–1881): public servant, land agent and politician^[21]
• Mark Hammond (1844–1908): gold miner, mayor of Ashfield and member of the NSW Parliament^[22]
• Ninian Melville (1843–1897): well-known Sydney furniture maker and mortician who subsequently became the mayor of Ashfield, and a parliamentarian^[23]
• William John Miles (1871–1942): accountant, businessman and far-right political activist^[24]
• Richard Murden (1906–1997): Haberfield furniture salesman, twice elected mayor of Ashfield and also elected to the NSW Parliament
• Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896): former NSW premier, lived in Ashfield during the 1870s^[25]
• Herbert Pratten (1865–1928): jam maker and politician, was mayor of Ashfield and later Federal Minister for Trade and Customs from 1923 to 1928; Pratten Park named in his honour^[26]
• Murray Robson (1906–1974): soldier awarded the DSO in WWII and NSW opposition leader from 1954 to 1955; his father, William Robson (1869–1951), was also a member of parliament and mayor of Ashfield
• Sir Bertram Stevens (1889–1973): premier of New South Wales from 1932 to 1939^[27]
• Paul Whelan (born 1943): mayor of Ashfield from 1972 to 1976 and Minister for Police in the Carr government from 1995 to 2001

Also see List of mayors at the end of the page.

• Richard Baker (1854–1941): curator/director of the Technological Museum in Ultimo (now known as the Powerhouse Museum); lived in Ashfield for 30 years in a house named "Eudesmia", which still stands; proponent of decorative use of the Waratah in logos and symbols^[28]
• Dr John Belisario (1820–1900): dentist at the end of the 19th century; recorded as living in Summer Hill in the 1891 census; first dentist in Australia to administer ether to a patient to carry out dental work^[29]
• Professor Edgeworth David (1858–1934): noted geologist and Antarctic explorer^[30]
• Walter Wilson Froggatt (1858–1937): entomologist, founder of the Naturalists' Society of New South Wales and author; Froggatt Crescent in Croydon, and the Froggatt prize for Science at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney are named after him^[31]
• Ian Clunies Ross (1899–1959): veterinary scientist and founder of the CSIRO; for a while was commemorated on the Australian $50 note^[32]

• Daphne Akhurst (1903–1933): five times Australian Open tennis champion; educated at Normanhurst School in Ashfield and Sydney Conservatorium of Music^[33]
• Kevin Berry (1945–2006): swimmer who won gold in the 200m butterfly at the 1964 Summer Olympics; resident of Summer Hill
• Stan Rowley (1876–1924): Olympic athlete who won three individual bronze medals (60m, 100m, 200m) at the Paris Olympics in 1900; won a gold medal as part of the British cross-country team^[34]

• Margaret Chandler (1934–1963): one of the two victims who died under mysterious circumstances in the well-publicised Bogle-Chandler case; lived in Croydon with her husband Geoffrey^[35]
• Reverend Bill Crews (born 1944): as minister of Ashfield Uniting Church, created the Exodus Foundation to assist homeless and abandoned youth^[36]
• David Elphinstone (1847–1916): prominent architect and builder, resident of Summer Hill
• Edwin Johnson (1835–1894): education reformer, undersecretary to the Department of Public Instruction^[37]
• Bea Miles (1902–1973): eccentric Sydneysider, born in Ashfield but spent much of her later life living on the street and whose life was the inspiration for the book and movie Lilian's Story^[38]
• Louise Taplin (1855–1901): matron, until her death, of The Infants' Home in Ashfield; led the home through the 1890s depression