Ambarvale is a suburb of

south-western Sydney South Western Sydney is a region of the metropolitan area in southwest Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the predominantly working class area of Greater Western Sydney. The region lies in the Cumberland Plain. Local governm ...

in the state of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. Ambarvale is located 55 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown and is part of the Macarthur region. The suburb is predominantly residential and contains a mix of public and private housing.

History

Aboriginal culture

The history of the region begins over 40,000 years ago and is contained in the continuing culture of the

Tharawal people The Dharawal people, also spelt Tharawal and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people, identified by the Dharawal language. Traditionally, they lived as hunter–fisher–gatherers in family groups or clans with ties of kinship, ...

. The surrounding land still contains reminders of their past lives in rock engravings, cave paintings, axe grinding grooves and shell middens.

European settlement

The suburb draws its name from a property established in 1816 by former convict Samuel Larkin. The property was actually where modern day St Helens Park is located. One of the earliest properties in what is now known as Ambarvale was a dairy farm called ''Glen Lora''. In 1972, the farms were sold for housing and the new suburb was officially opened in 1976.

Demographics

According to the 2016 census of population, there were 169,420 people in Ambarvale. * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 5.7% of the population. * 67.1% of people were born in Australia. The most next most common countries of birth were New Zealand 2.8%, Philippines 2.4% and England 2.2%. * 70.9% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Arabic 2.8%, Spanish 2.4% and Samoan 2.2%. * The most common responses for religion were Catholic 28.5%, No Religion 21.1% and Anglican 16.9%.

Commercial area

Ambarvale has an

ALDI Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when ...

shopping centre on Woodhouse Drive. This was completed early in 2010, with the old shopping centre being demolished. Beside ALDI is the Ambarvale Tavern, which has a bistro and gambling facilities. Just north of the suburb is

Macarthur Square Macarthur Square is a large indoor/outdoor shopping centre located in the south western Sydney suburb of Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia. The shopping centre was opened by the Lend Lease Corporation and GPT Group on 10 September 1979. T ...

shopping centre, one of the largest shopping centres in southwestern Sydney.

Transport

Macarthur railway station Macarthur railway station is located on the Main South line, serving the Sydney suburb of Campbelltown. It is served by Sydney Trains T8 Airport & South and NSW TrainLink Southern Highlands Line services. It is the southern extremity of the ...

is located just north of Ambarvale, providing connection to Campbelltown

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and Sydney CBD via the

Airport & South Line The Airport & South Line (numbered T8, coloured green) (''commonly called the East Hills Line)'' is a suburban commuter rail line in Sydney, Australia. It connects the Sydney central business district with the southwestern suburbs via Sydney Ai ...

of the

Sydney Trains Sydney Trains is the operator of the suburban passenger rail network serving the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The network is a hybrid urban-suburban rail system with a central underground core that covers over of track and 170 ...

network. NSW TrainLink also services Macarthur providing connections to the Southern Highlands, Canberra,

Griffith Griffith may refer to: People * Griffith (name) * Griffith (surname) * Griffith (given name) Places Antarctica * Mount Griffith, Ross Dependency * Griffith Peak (Antarctica), Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Glacier, Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Rid ...

and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. Bus services are provided by Busabout and

Interline Bus Services Interline Bus Services is an Australian bus company operating services in South West Sydney. History Interline Bus Services was formed when the Oliveri family purchased route 102 Campbelltown Hospital - Macquarie Fields from Herbert Harriso ...

, leaving from Kellicar Road (under the bridge). The routes are 870–4, 886–89, 890–98 to and from Campbelltown.

Schools

The suburb contains two public primary schools, Ambarvale Public and Thomas Acres Public, plus one public high school,

Thomas Reddall High School Thomas Reddall High School is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive school, located in Ambarvale, a south-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1991, the school caters to approximately 570 students ...

. The high school named Ambarvale High School is actually located in Rosemeadow.

Housing

The majority of housing in Ambarvale is in the form of detached houses although attached houses and walk-up flats also exist. The majority of dwellings in Ambarvale were constructed in the 1970s and 1980s.

References

{{Sydney Campbelltown suburbs Suburbs of Sydney Towns in the Macarthur (New South Wales) City of Campbelltown (New South Wales)