Western Sydney Lakes

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Pondi Beach or Penrith Beach, a swimming spot, overlooking the Blue Mountains. Pondi Beach.jpg
Pondi Beach or Penrith Beach, a swimming spot, overlooking the Blue Mountains.

Western Sydney Lakes is an area located in the suburb of Castlereagh near Penrith in Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was previously known as the Penrith Lakes until 2022. [1] [2] It features lakes and parklands as well as recreational facilities. [3] The lakes contain Penrith Beach, nicknamed Pondi by the locals, which is an artificial inland beach. [4]

Contents

The area also contains the Sydney International Regatta Centre which was one of the first parts of the Penrith Lakes Scheme to be completed. [5] [6]

Description

The lakes themselves are a series of 12 man-made quarries from which coarse sand and gravel has been mined since the 1880s, [7] with large-scale mining operations occurring since the 1950s. [8] Penrith Lakes was the largest sand and gravel quarry in Australia [9] until the discontinuation of mining activities in 2015. [7]

Penrith Lakes is managed by the Penrith Lakes Development Corporation (PLDC) which was formed in 1980 by the three companies that operated quarries in the area that joined together and combined their land. They planned to rehabilitate the land that was quarried so it could be used for recreational purposes with the Penrith Lakes Scheme. [7] [10]

Pondi Beach

Also known as "Bondi of the West", Pondi Beach was first opened to public in December 2023, where it features over 700 carparking spaces. Rivaling the size of Sydney Harbour, the beach was constructed on a rectified quarry on private land north of Penrith, adjacent to the Nepean River, as an answer to the region's heatwaves. [11]

Sand was brought in to create a beach similar in length to Bondi and about 35 metres wide. The water is just slightly warmer than the ocean, reaching 24 °C (75 °F) at the height of summer. The 130 metres (430 ft) expanse of the beach is patrolled by lifeguards, and the selected swimming area extends 80 metres (260 ft) out, with parts up to 5.0 metres (16.4 ft) deep. Moreover, the name Pondi is a portmanteau of "Bondi" and "Penrith". [4]

33°42′28″S150°40′32″E / 33.707792°S 150.675453°E / -33.707792; 150.675453

References

  1. ↑ "A rich & diverse history". Western Sydney Lakes. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
  2. ↑ "Western Sydney Lakes set for major transformation". 8 December 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
  3. ↑ "Western Sydney Lakes". Western Sydney Lakes. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
  4. 1 2 "Western Sydney locals flock to newly opened Penrith beach dubbed 'Pondi'". ABC News. 19 December 2023. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
  5. ↑ "Regatta Centre". Penrith Lakes. Archived from the original on 25 November 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  6. ↑ "About the Sydney International Regatta Centre". Office of Sport. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
  7. 1 2 3 Paterson, Ian (21 September 2015). "Quarry closes as plans to build the Penrith Lakes scheme begin to take shape". Penrith Press. Retrieved 26 November 2023– via The Daily Telegraph.
  8. ↑ Thomson, R. S.; Phillips, B. C.; Evans, L.; Golaszewski, R. (25–27 June 2014). The hydraulic challenges of turning the vision for Penrith Lakes into reality. 5th International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures. Brisbane: The University of Queensland. pp. 1–8. doi:10.14264/uql.2014.24. ISBN   978-1-74272-115-6.
  9. ↑ "Penrith Lakes | EROS". United States Geological Survey . Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science . Retrieved 26 November 2023.
  10. ↑ "About us". Penrith Lakes. Archived from the original on 25 November 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  11. ↑ Chung, Frank (18 September 2023). "'Bondi of the west' remains off-limits to Sydney residents despite heatwave warning". news.com.au . Retrieved 26 November 2023.
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