Pemulwuy Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales | |||||||||||||||
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Population | 5,532 (2021 census) [1] | ||||||||||||||
Postcode(s) | 2145 | ||||||||||||||
Elevation | 69 m (226 ft) | ||||||||||||||
Location | 30 km (19 mi) west of Sydney CBD | ||||||||||||||
LGA(s) | Cumberland Council | ||||||||||||||
State electorate(s) | Prospect | ||||||||||||||
Federal division(s) | McMahon | ||||||||||||||
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Pemulwuy is a suburb in Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Pemulwuy is located 30 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the Cumberland Council. Pemulwuy is home to the highest point between the Blue Mountains and Sydney, the summit of Prospect Hill.
The quarrying of blue metal, basalt and dolerite was abundant in the area in the past two centuries. [2] Pemulwuy, formerly part of Prospect, is a relatively new suburb, with development beginning in 2004 on the site of a former Boral quarry and CSIRO sites. [3] [4]
Pemulwuy is named after the Aboriginal warrior Pemulwuy, who led attacks on the British settlements in the surrounding areas, particularly on the Toongabbie settlement. When Captain-Lieutenant Watkin Tench made another official journey to the west in 1789, he began his journey with reference to Prospect Hill, which commanded a view of the great chain of mountains to the west. The first recorded ascent of Prospect Hill by a colonist is that of Tench and his party on 26 June 1789. [5]
In 1791 Governor Arthur Phillip started granting plots of land (mostly 12 to 28 hectares (30 to 70 acres)) to emancipated convicts in what is now Pemulwuy. Thirteen grants of land in the region were made in July 1791. [6] In 1799 Ensign William Cummings of the New South Wales Corps was granted 30 hectares (75 acres) at Prospect Hill. [7] From its commencement in 1791 with the early settlement of the area, agricultural use of the land continued. Much of the land appears to have been cleared by the 1820s and pastoral use of the land was well established by then. When Governor Macquarie paid a visit to the area in 1810, he was favourably impressed by the comfortable conditions that had been created. [8]
On 1 May 1801 Governor King took drastic action, issuing a public order requiring that Aboriginal people around Parramatta, Prospect Hill and Georges River should be "driven back from the settlers" habitations by firing at them'. In 1808 William Lawson was granted 220 hectares (550 acres) on the western slopes of the west ridge where he was to build his home Veteran Hall. He then bought Cummings' grant and it was here that his third son, Nelson Lawson built a magnificent home, Grey Stanes, on the crown of Prospect Hill. [9] [10] Prompted by suggestions to the Reverend Samuel Marsden by local Prospect Aboriginal groups that a conference should take place "with a view of opening the way to reconciliation", Marsden promptly organised a meeting near Prospect Hill on 3 May 1805. [11] [12] The conference led to the end of the conflict for the Aboriginal clans around Parramatta and Prospect. [10]
Quarrying in the area began in the 1820s and naturalist Charles Darwin visited the region in January 1836, to observe the geology. [13] By the latter part of the nineteenth century coarse-grained picrite, and other doloritic rock types were being extracted from William Lawson's estate on the west and north sides of the Hill. By the early twentieth century, the land had been acquired by quarrying firms anxious to expand their land holdings near this valuable source of raw material. The bulk of the present CSIRO site was acquired by the Commonwealth in 1946, and a further 15 hectares was acquired in 1963. In the early 1950s the site became operational and sheep were pastured for research purposes. Prospect Hill was for many years the primary source of road stone for the city's expanding infrastructure until the reserves of dolerite were exhausted.
Quarrying companies gradually took over more and more of Prospect Hill, mining the dolerite for use as roadstone until it was almost all gone and much of the hill with it. The Prospect quarry is formed by an intrusion of dolerite rock into Ashfield Shale . At least seven different rock types occur in the intrusion. The material is predominantly coarse-grained picrite with olivine-dolerite and dolerite. [14] Roads were paved with grey dolerite from Prospect Hill as early as the 1820s. By the end of World War II, the quarries closed down except for two that had the best class of basalt.
As at 19 February 2001, the southern portion of the land, located within the Boral Brickworks site, has been extensively quarried; however the CSIRO site has largely retained its original surface form. In 2002 Delfin Lend Lease entered a joint venture with Boral to develop the residential lands. On 30 January 2004 the eastern part of Prospect, which includes the quarry gap, became a new suburb called Pemulwuy containing the new housing estates of Lakeside and Nelson's Ridge and the industrial area within the oval-shaped ridge of Prospect Hill. Nelson's Ridge is being developed by Lend Lease in two stages with the first comprising the northern employment and northern residential lands and the second comprising the southern equivalents. This site will eventually be integrated with the Nelson's Ridge development through Driftway Drive as well as cycleways and pedestrian links being established between the two. [15]
Quarrying last occurred in 2007. Subsequently, the land inside the oval-shaped ridge was levelled from 2008 to 2010. The gap in the ridge that had previously been created by quarrying has been lowered to the floor level of the quarry and the drainage of the area reversed from its earlier northward flow to empty into Prospect Creek, while a new road, Reconciliation Road, has been driven through the centre of the hill and across the gap to Wetherill Park. [16] In the early 2010s, the 330ha quarry gap was transformed into light industry area with several warehouse distribution centres being established by 2015. Prospect Highway now winds through the gap. [17] [18] The Northern Residential lands have been established since the early 2010s. As of 2021, the Southern Residential lands, which will be built on Prospect Hill's woody South-Top, are under construction. [19]
Philip Gidley King mentions that the landscape of Prospect is "a very pleasant tract of country, which, from the distance the trees grew from each other, and the gentle hills and dales, and rising slopes covered with grass, appeared like a vast park. The soil from Rose Hill to Prospect-Hill is nearly alike, being a loam and clay." The tree cover was mainly the eucalypts, grey box and forest red gum. Spotted gum (Corymbia maculata) is also known to have occurred in the Prospect area. [20]
Prospect Hill, which lies in the suburb, is Sydney's largest body of igneous rock and rises to a height of 117 metres above sea level. The Early Jurassic activity resulted in the shaping of the Prospect dolerite intrusion, which unequivocally points that the hill had a volcanic origin. [21] [22] The eroded residue of the volcanic core forms Prospect Hill, which was battered down over millions of years to a small bulge, which is a laccolith, in the generally flat lands of western Sydney. [23] [24]
The eastern portion consists in the most part of high density town-house like development, while the western area consists of very large warehouse and distribution facilities. The southern zone of the suburb is promoted by property developers Lendlease as "Nelson's Ridge" named after Nelson Simmons Lawson, son of William Lawson, the owner of the Grey Stanes Estate. The northern zone of the suburb is promoted by Stockland as "Lakewood". [3]
Street names in the suburb include Watkin Tench Parade, named after Captain Watkin Tench, who was the first European to record an ascent of Prospect Hill in 1789. [25]
Climate data for Prospect Reservoir 1991–2020 averages, 1887–present extremes | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 47.0 (116.6) | 46.4 (115.5) | 39.5 (103.1) | 37.1 (98.8) | 29.4 (84.9) | 25.6 (78.1) | 26.5 (79.7) | 29.4 (84.9) | 35.0 (95.0) | 39.0 (102.2) | 42.0 (107.6) | 44.4 (111.9) | 47.0 (116.6) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 29.3 (84.7) | 28.6 (83.5) | 26.8 (80.2) | 24.1 (75.4) | 20.7 (69.3) | 17.7 (63.9) | 17.2 (63.0) | 19.3 (66.7) | 22.4 (72.3) | 24.8 (76.6) | 26.1 (79.0) | 28.0 (82.4) | 23.8 (74.8) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 18.0 (64.4) | 18.0 (64.4) | 16.2 (61.2) | 12.9 (55.2) | 9.7 (49.5) | 6.1 (43.0) | 6.6 (43.9) | 6.6 (43.9) | 9.5 (49.1) | 12.1 (53.8) | 14.5 (58.1) | 16.4 (61.5) | 12.3 (54.1) |
Record low °C (°F) | 10.0 (50.0) | 10.8 (51.4) | 7.9 (46.2) | 3.6 (38.5) | 1.2 (34.2) | −0.8 (30.6) | −0.6 (30.9) | −0.5 (31.1) | 1.7 (35.1) | 4.5 (40.1) | 6.8 (44.2) | 7.8 (46.0) | −0.8 (30.6) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 96.4 (3.80) | 126.9 (5.00) | 97.4 (3.83) | 67.4 (2.65) | 49.5 (1.95) | 76.1 (3.00) | 40.7 (1.60) | 39.7 (1.56) | 42.2 (1.66) | 55.3 (2.18) | 77.1 (3.04) | 75.5 (2.97) | 845.0 (33.27) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 1mm) | 8.3 | 8.7 | 9.2 | 6.5 | 5.3 | 7.0 | 5.6 | 4.2 | 5.1 | 6.6 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 82.9 |
Average afternoon relative humidity (%) | 52 | 54 | 55 | 50 | 57 | 54 | 52 | 43 | 45 | 44 | 51 | 51 | 51 |
Source 1: Prospect Reservoir (1991–2020 averages) [26] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: Prospect Reservoir (1965–2018 extremes) [27] Horsley Park (1997–present extremes) [28] |
The Pemulwuy Marketplace is located on the intersection of Greystanes Road and Butu Wargun Drive along with a community centre and child care centre. Ornamented by lomandras and eucalyptus trees, the marketplace features a Woolworths and a BWS outlet. Another shopping centre, called Nelsons Ridge Plaza, is located on Watkin Tench Parade.
The suburb is home to many parks and reserves such as:
The area is served by the Transit Systems 809 bus services from Merrylands, 810x, and 811x bus services from Parramatta and 800 and 812 bus service from Blacktown to Fairfield. [29] The barriers on Butu Wargun Drive mean that those living in the eastern portion, and working in the western must either walk or cycle over the ridge, or drive via the Great Western Highway to the north of the suburb, and Reconciliation Road.
Pemulwuy is a 5-minute drive to the M4 and 10-minute drive to Parramatta. Merrylands railway station and Pendle Hill railway station are only a few minutes drive away. [30]
Greater Western Sydney (GWS) is a large region of the metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia that generally embraces the north-west, south-west, central-west, far western and the Blue Mountains sub-regions within Sydney's metropolitan area and encompasses 11 local government areas: Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Camden, Campbelltown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Hawkesbury, Liverpool, Parramatta, Penrith and Wollondilly. It includes Western Sydney, which has a number of different definitions, although the one consistently used is the region composed of ten local government authorities, most of which are members of the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC). The NSW Government's Office of Western Sydney calls the region "Greater Western Sydney".
Seven Hills is a suburb in the Greater Western Sydney region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, located 33 kilometres (21 mi) North West of the Sydney central business district. Seven Hills is within the local government areas of the City of Parramatta and Blacktown City councils.
Pemulwuy was a Bidjigal warrior of the Dharug, an Aboriginal Australian people from New South Wales. One of the most famous Aboriginal resistance fighters in the colonial era, he is noted for his resistance to European colonisation which began with the arrival of the First Fleet in January 1788.
Prospect is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Prospect is located 32 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Blacktown and a small part of Cumberland City Council, is part of the Greater Western Sydney region. One of the oldest suburbs in Sydney, Prospect takes its name from the prominent nearby landmark of Prospect Hill - from the top of which people could get a prospect of the surrounding countryside.
Greystanes is a suburb in Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Greystanes is located 25 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Cumberland Council. Founded in the late 1790s, Greystanes is one of the oldest suburbs in Sydney.
The geography of Sydney is characterised by its coastal location on a basin bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Blue Mountains to the west, the Hawkesbury River to the north and the Woronora Plateau to the south. Sydney lies on a submergent coastline on the east coast of New South Wales, where the ocean level has risen to flood deep river valleys (rias) carved in the Sydney sandstone. Port Jackson, better known as Sydney Harbour, is one such ria.
The Cumberland Plain, also known as Cumberland Basin, is a relatively flat region lying to the west of Sydney CBD in New South Wales, Australia. An IBRA biogeographic region, Cumberland Basin is the preferred physiographic and geological term for the low-lying plain of the Permian-Triassic Sydney Basin found between Sydney and the Blue Mountains, and it is a structural sub-basin of the Sydney Basin.
The Lower Prospect Canal Reserve is a heritage-listed former farm and public water supply canal and now bushy corridor and nature reserve stretching 7.7 kilometres (4.8 mi) through the heart of suburban Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The lineal corridor stretches from Prospect Reservoir to Sydney Water Pipehead at Albert Street, Guildford with the majority of the reserve located in Greystanes, which is a suburb within the Cumberland Council area.
Prospect Hill, or Marrong Reserve, is a heritage-listed hill in Pemulwuy and Prospect in the greater western region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Situated about 30 kilometres west of central Sydney, the hill is Sydney's largest body of igneous rock and is higher than the ridges of the Cumberland Plain around it, with its present-day highest point being 117 metres high, although before its summit was quarried away it rose to a height of 131 metres above sea level.
Ashfield Shale is part of the Wianamatta group of sedimentary rocks in the Sydney Basin. It lies directly on contemporaneously eroded Hawkesbury sandstone or the Mittagong formation. These rock types were formed in the Triassic Period. It is named after the Sydney suburb of Ashfield. Some of the early research was performed at the old Ashfield Brickworks Quarry. This rock type is often associated with the Inner West and North Shore of the city. However, it has also been recorded at Penrith, Revesby, Bilpin and Mount Irvine.
Cumberland Council, trading as Cumberland City Council, is a local government area located in the western suburbs of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Council was formed on 12 May 2016 from the merger of parts of the Cities of Auburn, Parramatta, and Holroyd.
Former Great Western Road Alignment, Prospect is a heritage-listed stretch of road, now divided into four separately-named sections of road and partially divided by the M4 Western Motorway at, Prospect, City of Blacktown, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The road was initiated by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, likely surveyed by George Evans and built from 1815 to 1818 by William Cox. It is also known as The Western Road, The Great Western Road, The Old Western Road and The Great Western Highway. The property is owned by Blacktown City Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 27 June 2014.
Prospect Post Office is a heritage-listed former post office and shop at 23 Tarlington Place, Prospect, City of Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by James Watts and built by Watts from 1880 to 1890. The property is owned by the City of Blacktown. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
Royal Cricketers Arms Inn is a heritage-listed Australian pub at 385 Reservoir Road, Prospect, City of Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by James Manning and built by James Manning. It is also known as Cricketers Arms Inn. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
St Bartholomew's Anglican Church and Cemetery is a heritage-listed former Anglican church and cemetery at Ponds Road, Prospect, City of Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Henry Robertson and built from 1838 to 1840 by James Atkinson. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. Since 1975, the site has been leased to the Council of the City of Blacktown.
The Veteran Hall Remains are the heritage-listed archaeological remains of the former Veteran Hall house at Great Western Highway, Prospect, City of Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia. Veteran Hall was built in 1821 by William Lawson. The property is owned by Sydney Water. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 18 November 1999.
The Prospect Reservoir Valve House is a heritage-listed waterworks located at East of Reservoir, Prospect in the City of Blacktown local government area of New South Wales, Australia. Situated on the grounds of Prospect Nature Reserve, it was designed and built by The Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage. The property is owned by Sydney Water and Water NSW, agencies of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 18 November 1999.
Prospect Nature Reserve is a nature reserve and recreational area that is situated in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, which incorporates the Prospect Reservoir, and also features picnic spots, lookouts, walking tracks and BBQ areas within the Australian bush. It is located within the Blacktown City local government area, but is also close to the boundaries of Cumberland Council and the City of Fairfield.
The Prospect dolerite intrusion, or Prospect intrusion, is a Jurassic picrite or dolerite laccolith that is situated in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Lying in the heart of Cumberland Plain, in the suburb of Pemulwuy, the intrusion is Sydney's largest body of igneous rock, rising to a height of 117 metres (384 ft) above sea level. The site is formed by an intrusion of dolerite rock into Ashfield Shale. At least seven different rock types occur in the intrusion.
The Grey Box Reserve, or Greystanes Grey Box Reserve, is a small nature reserve situated in the suburb of Greystanes, New South Wales in Western Sydney, Australia. A remnant bushland of the Cumberland Plain Woodland, it mainly features native vegetation. The reserve is so-named because of its abundance of Eucalyptus moluccana, reflecting the pre-European cultural landscape of the area.