Badgerys Creek, also known as Badgery's Creek, is a
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
of
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, 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
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, located approximately west of the
Sydney central business district
The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or c ...
, in the
local government area
A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...
s of the
City of Liverpool. It is part of the
Greater Western Sydney
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, and far western sub-regions within Sydney's metropoli ...
region and is adjacent to
Kemps Creek,
Austral and the
Blue Mountains (New South Wales)
The Blue Mountains are a mountainous region and a mountain range located in New South Wales, Australia. The region borders on Sydney's metropolitan area, its foothills starting about west of centre of the state capital, close to Penrith o ...
.
The suburb is best known as being the most favoured site for a
Second Sydney Airport
The need for and location of a second airport serving Sydney, Australia was the subject of much debate. The new airport would supplement or replace the city's existing Kingsford Smith Airport. Governments had debated the issue since the 1940s, ...
. In April 2014, the
Abbott Government confirmed the construction of the
Western Sydney Airport
Western Sydney International Nancy-Bird Walton Airport, also known as Western Sydney Airport or Badgerys Creek Airport, is a new international airport currently under construction within the suburb of Badgerys Creek, New South Wales, Australia. ...
, initially scheduling construction in 2016, but construction actually began in September 2018 and is scheduled for completion in 2026.
History
James Badgery was a British-born farmer and
miller
A miller is a person who operates a Gristmill, mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Mill (grinding), Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surname ...
who, in 1806, was granted in the suburb that bears his name today. His original land grant was on the north side of Elizabeth Drive; land which today is used for farming research by the
CSIRO
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...
and
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
. Badgery named his property ''Exeter Farm'' but the creek running through the property became known as Badgery's Creek and that name was eventually applied to the local area.
Badgery bought other land to the south of his grant and after he died, the area was subdivided in the 1880s, vastly increasing the local population. Badgerys Creek Post Office opened on 10 July 1894 and closed in 1989.
A school was established in 1895 and the area gradually developed as a rural suburb which by 1981 had a population of .
In 1986, the
Federal Government
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...
announced that the
Second Sydney Airport
The need for and location of a second airport serving Sydney, Australia was the subject of much debate. The new airport would supplement or replace the city's existing Kingsford Smith Airport. Governments had debated the issue since the 1940s, ...
would be sited at Badgerys Creek. The government bought a number of properties for that purpose, and as a result of that, as well as concerns about living near an airport, many people moved away, meaning that by 1996 there were fewer than 500 residents. By 2016 the population had further shrunk to 225. Construction of the airport hadn't started, but in 2012 an 8 million report into Sydney's aviation needs found that Badgerys Creek remained the best site, with construction subsequently scheduled to start in 2016.
Geography
Badgerys Creek
Badgerys Creek, also known as Badgery's Creek, is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of the City of Liverpool. It i ...
flows north into a reservoir in the suburb's north, as does
South Creek, the suburb's eastern boundary. West of the reservoir lies Mills Hill, and south-west of that, by just over a kilometre, is Raymond Hill, . The western boundary is Oaky Creek, and then Cosgrove Creek after the two merge north of Elizabeth Drive, and to the south-west the hill known as Anchau ( ).
Climate
Badgerys Creek has a
humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
(''Cfa'') with hot summers, which vary from dry to humid, and cool winters. Due to its open grassy location, nighttime temperatures are slightly cooler than the nearby suburban areas in western Sydney. There is the occasional frost in some winter mornings, where the months from April to September have recorded severe frost. Most of the rain falls in late summer and early autumn, which is usually accompanied by a
thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...
. Due to the
foehn effect
A Foehn or Föhn (, , ), is a type of dry, relatively warm, downslope wind that occurs in the lee (downwind side) of a mountain range.
It is a rain shadow wind that results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air that has dropped most of ...
, the driest months are in late winter and early spring, which have the most sunniest days.
On 4 January 2020, a heat logger registered a temperature of in the suburb, which was on the same day when
Penrith recorded a temperature of .
The Sydney suburbs that hit 50C last summer
by Angus Thompson from The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
. Retrieved 26 November 2020
Commercial area
North of Elizabeth Drive, a substantial amount of land is taken up by the CSIRO
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...
Research Station, the University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
MacGarvie Smith Veterinary Farm, and a landfill depot. Much of the research establishment is dotted with reservoirs. The southeast includes a brickworks, and land owned by Telstra
Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...
, also featuring a number of reservoirs. The suburb is also home to the Hubertus Liverpool Rifle Club.[''UBD CityLink Street Directory'' Sydney Maps 224, 225, 244 & 245, 19th Edition, Universal Publishers, 2007, Published in Australia ]
South of Elizabeth Drive was also a settled area.
Schools
The suburb had one primary school, Badgerys Creek Public School, decommissioned in 2014 to make way for Sydney's second airport. Nearby there were two churches with cemeteries, also moved.
Demographics
In the 2016 Census, there were 225 people in Badgerys Creek. 68.5% of people were born in Australia and 57.5% of people only spoke English at home.[
]
Parks
The suburb is home to Badgerys Creek Park. A toilet block formerly provided has been demolished.
References
{{Sydney Penrith suburbs, state=collapsed
Suburbs of Sydney
City of Liverpool (New South Wales)
City of Penrith
Resumed localities in Australia