Baulkham Hills 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 ...

in the Hills District of

Greater 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 Mountains ...

, 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 ...

. It is 30 kilometres north-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 ...

within 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 ...

The Hills Shire The Hills Shire (from 1906–2008 as Baulkham Hills Shire) is a local government area in the Greater Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The suburb is north-west of the Sydney central business district, and encompasses stre ...

. Baulkham Hills is the administrative seat of

, an outer metropolitan shire within Greater Sydney. The suburb is also the most populous within the Hills Shire. It is known colloquially as "Baulko". Baulkham Hill’s Norwest Business Park is home to several Fortune 500 companies, a number of shopping centres, high-rise buildings, and industrial and recreational spaces.

Geography

Baulkham Hills is predominately a residential suburb of the Hills District, with

Norwest Business Park The Norwest Business Park is a business park in the suburbs of Norwest, New South Wales, Norwest and Bella Vista, New South Wales, Bella Vista in the Local government areas of New South Wales, local government area of The Hills Shire in Sydney, N ...

in the northern part of the suburb. Baulkham Hills Junction is the intersection of three major roads;

Windsor Road Windsor Road is a notable road in the Hills District of Sydney. It starts from Windsor, New South Wales and ends at Northmead, New South Wales. However, Windsor Road is not continuous. The northern section of Windsor Road (Windsor to Kellyvil ...

, Old Northern Road, and Seven Hills Road. It is also bound by

Old Windsor Road Old Windsor Road is a notable road in Sydney, Australia. It starts from Kellyville, New South Wales and ends at Northmead, New South Wales, just north of Parramatta. The northern end links with Windsor Road while the southern end links with ...

and the

North-West T-way The North-West T-way is a continuous series of bus-only lanes and bus roadways between Parramatta, Blacktown and Rouse Hill in Western Sydney. Opened in stages between March and November 2007, the T-way was the second bus rapid transit route to ...

in the west; and the Hills Motorway in the south, forming part of the National Highway.

History

The land that is now called Baulkham Hills was originally home to the

Bidjigal The Bidjigal (also spelt Bediagal, Bejigal, Bedegal or Biddegal) people are an Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands are modern-day western, north-western, south-eastern, and southern Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. The ...

people, who are believed to be a clan of the

Darug people The Dharug or Darug people, formerly known as the Broken Bay tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian people, who share strong ties of kinship and, in pre-colonial times, lived as skilled hunters in family groups or clans, scattered throughout much ...

, who occupied all the land to the immediate west of Sydney. The best-known Aboriginal person from that time is

Pemulwuy Pemulwuy (also rendered as Pimbloy, Pemulvoy, Pemulwoy, Pemulwy or Pemulwye, or sometimes by contemporary Europeans as Bimblewove, Bumbleway or Bembulwoyan) (c. 1750 – 2 June 1802) was a Bidjigal man of the Eora nation, born around 1750 in th ...

, a Bidjigal leader who led the Indigenous resistance movement against the British forces, including sacking farms in Castle Hill, before his eventual capture and execution by the British militia. The Bidjigal people are today commemorated by

Bidjigal Reserve The Bidjigal Reserve is a reserve in New South Wales, Australia. It lies predominantly within The Hills Shire, with a small section south of the M2 Motorway in the City of Parramatta. The reserve lies in the suburbs of , , , , West Pennant Hil ...

which straddles the suburbs of , Baulkham Hills, , and . The first European settler in the Baulkham Hills Shire was William Joyce, who arrived in Australia in October, 1791. In December, 1794, he was given a grant of 30 acres (121,000 m²) in what became Baulkham Hills. He built a farmhouse on this land, but it was damaged by a fire in 1804, so he rebuilt it. The house still stands; however, it is now on a 2,055 m² property which backs onto Old Windsor Road. The suburb was largely made up of land grants until the mid 19th century, when many of these started to be subdivided into farms. This was accelerated by the construction of the

Rogans Hill Railway Line Rogan's Shoes is a family-owned shoe store headquartered in Racine, Wisconsin. It operates 29 stores in three Midwestern states: Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. History Rogan's Shoes was founded in 1971 with its first store in Racine, Wiscon ...

. Urban developments were expedited from the 1960s. The name Baulkham Hills was given to the area by Andrew McDougall, a settler from

Buckholm Hills Buckholm is a farm near to the A7, in the Scottish Borders, Galashiels area of Scotland. Places nearby include Abbotsford, the Bow Castle Broch, Clovenfords, Darnick, Eildon, the Gala Water, the Lugate Water, and Stow. Buckholm Tower was ...

County of Roxburgh Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh ( gd, Siorrachd Rosbroig) is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the north-west, and Berw ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The name, which reminded McDougall of his homeland, was officially recognised in 1802. Baulkham Hills Post Office opened on 1 April 1856. On 29 June 2018, a small portion of the Baulkham Hills suburb was proclaimed as part of the new suburb of Norwest.

Heritage listings

Baulkham Hills has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Seven Hills Road, Bella Vista:

Pearce Family Cemetery The Pearce Family Cemetery is a heritage-listed former farming land and now cemetery located at 257 Seven Hills Road, Bella Vista in The Hills Shire local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It is also known as the Pearce Cemetery. ...

Demographics

According to the , there were 37,050 residents in Baulkham Hills. 60.1% of residents were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were China 6.9%, India 4.8%, England 2.7%, South Korea 2.0% and Sri Lanka 1.6%. 61.8% of residents spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 8.3%, Cantonese 4.1%, Korean 2.6%, Hindi 2.3% and Tamil 1.6%. The most common responses for religious affiliation were

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

26.6%, No Religion 23.6%,

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

14.2% and Hinduism 5.7%.

Transport

The bulk of Baulkham Hills residents own private vehicles and travel to work using these, however bus services and the new Sydney Metro North West line services the suburb. At the intersection known as Baulkham Hills Junction several major roads meet including: Seven Hills Road, Old Northern Road and

. The fastest route from the

Sydney CBD The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main 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 city centre is often refer ...

is via the

M2 Hills Motorway The Hills Motorway (also known as the Hills M2 Motorway, M2 Motorway or simply M2) is a tollway in north-western Sydney, Australia, owned by toll road operator Transurban. It forms majority of Sydney's M2 route and part of the 110 km Sydn ...

, exiting at Windsor Road. Baulkham Hills is serviced by the

Hillsbus Hillsbus is an Australian bus company that operates services in the Hills District, New South Wales, Hills District of Sydney. Founded in 2004 when National Express merged its Glenorie Bus Company and Westbus (Hills District operations only) sub ...

bus company, which provides services to the nearby commercial centres of Castle Hill,

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

and frequent services to the Sydney CBD. Hillsbus provides services to the City via routes 610/610X which cover the previous route M61, 614X and 615X. The 610/610X services can also be caught in the westbound direction serving Kellyville. Services are also provided to St. Leonards,

Milsons Point Milsons Point is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The suburb is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of North Sydney Council. Mil ...

and North Sydney, through route 612X. Route 600 provides a high-frequency service to the areas around Parramatta,

Pennant Hills Pennant Hills is a suburb in the Northern Sydney region, or Upper North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Pennant Hills is located 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Hornsb ...

and Hornsby. In the past, there was the Rogans Hill line, connecting the suburb to Parramatta. Railway Street near Baulkham Hills Junction is a reminder of this. It was closed down in 1930 due to traffic problems on Windsor Road and large financial losses. Land owned by the rail authority was sold to the Hills Bowling Club in the mid-1970s to build their two front bowling greens.

Commercial area

Grove Square Maple Grove is a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 70,253 at the 2020 census. making it Minnesota's 11th most populous city. Maple Grove serves as a retail, cultural and medical center in the north ...

is a

shopping centre A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

, located on the intersection of Windsor Road and Old Northern Road. It features supermarkets operated by Coles, Woolworths, and

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 t ...

plus 70 specialty shops. A redevelopment was completed in 2008 to significantly expand the floor space of the centre. In the northern part of the suburb, there is another shopping centre called Norwest Marketown, together with many other businesses. The

located nearby is partially in Baulkham Hills and Bella Vista.

Hospital

The Hills Private Hospital ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

on Windsor Road (near the corner of Merindah Road) was redeveloped into a rehabilitation and mental health hospital, after the previous hospital's owners,

Healthscope Healthscope is a for-profit Australian company which operates private hospitals, medical centres and rehabilitation hospitals. The company is headquartered on St Kilda Road, Melbourne. It operates medical/surgical hospitals and a number of psyc ...

, moved its operations to the nearby Norwest Business Park. The hospital includes a 92-bed rehabilitation unit and a 19-bed mental health unit, providing both inpatient and day program services.

Parks and reserves

Baulkham Hills features a number of parks and reserves, such as the

(previously known as Excelsior Reserve), with native fauna such as koala, swamp wallaby, echidna, and eastern water dragon. Smaller reserves include the Sophia Doyle reserve and the Crestwood Reserve, which are habitat to brushtail and ringtail possums and a wide range of birds and lizards. The Baulkham Hills Shire Bushland Conservation Committee is a voluntary committee of Council that assists with the management of the Shire's bushland.

Schools

* Matthew Pearce Public School * Crestwood High School * Crestwood Public School *

Baulkham Hills High School Baulkham Hills High School (colloquially known as Baulko) is a government-funded academically selective co-educational secondary day school, located in Baulkham Hills in the Hills District of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The princi ...

Model Farms High School Model Farms High School is a public high school in Baulkham Hills, a suburb in northwest Sydney, New South Wales. The school is named so because the area was set up to demonstrate farming practices to convicts and others who wished to start ...

* Baulkham Hills North Public School * Jasper Road Public School * St. Michael's Primary School * Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School

also has an Army Cadet Unit, which is open only to students at Baulkham Hills High School.

Places of worship

Baulkham Hills has some 15 places of worship belonging to various

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

denominations including: * St. Michaels Catholic Church * Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church * Holy Trinity Anglican Church * Crossway Anglican Church * St Matthews Uniting Church * The headquarters of Hillsong * Norwest Anglican Church (Chapel Lane is the evening congregation) * Africa Inland Mission International A Baha'i Spiritual Assembly is also located in the suburb.

Culture

Baulkham Hills has a public library. It does not have a theatre or a cinema; although these are found in the adjacent suburb of Castle Hill where many residents make use of them. The regions

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popular ...

station,

Alive 90.5 Alive 90.5 FM (formerly 2CCR) is a community radio station based in Baulkham Hills in Sydney. The station broadcasts to the Hills District and parts of Greater Western Sydney. This includes the City of Parramatta, Cumberland City Council a ...

, broadcasts from studios and a transmission tower in the suburb. File:Northbound on the Old Northern Road at Baulkham Hills (1).jpeg, Old Northern Road at Baulkham Hills File:Northbound on the Old Northern Road at Baulkham Hills.jpeg, Old Northern Road at Baulkham Hills File:Northbound on the Windsor Road at Baulkham Hills.jpeg, Windsor Road at Baulkham Hills File:Norwest Lake.jpg, Norwest Lake

Events

The annual Orange Blossom Festival is held in Baulkham Hills Shire each September. The HYPE Festival is held every April during National Youth Week and again in September during the Orange Blossom festival and attracts large crowds of youths each year. It has featured high-profile Australian music acts such as

Gerling Gerling were an Australian electronica, alternative rock trio formed in 1993. From early 1997 the members were Darren Cross on guitar and lead vocals, Presser (real name Paul Towner) on drums and Burke Reid on guitar and vocals. Their second a ...

, Something With Numbers,

Parkway Drive Parkway Drive is an Australian metalcore band from Byron Bay, New South Wales, formed in 2003. As of 2018, Parkway Drive have released six studio albums, one EP, two DVDs, a split album and one book, titled ''Ten Years of Parkway Drive''. The ...

, and

The Getaway Plan The Getaway Plan are an Australian rock music band, which formed in 2004. Founding mainstays are Matthew Wright on lead vocals, piano and rhythm guitar and Clint Ellis on lead guitar. They were joined in 2014 by Dan Maio on drums, and his br ...

Notable residents

Doug Bollinger Douglas Erwin Bollinger (born 24 July 1981) is a former Australian cricketer. He has played first-class cricket for the New South Wales cricket team and international cricket for Australia. He is a left-handed batsman and a left-arm fast bowl ...

, Australian cricketer *

Tom Burton Thomas Burton (October 14, 1961 – March 29, 2010) was an American professional wrestler, also known by his ring name Tom Davis, who competed in North American regional and independent promotions during the 1980s and early 1990s including the Un ...

, Sailor and Olympic Gold Medalist * Dave Evans, Australian Radio/TV Personality (

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations. The network dates back to th ...

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

) *

Delta Goodrem Delta Lea Goodrem AM (born November 9, 1984) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Goodrem signed to Sony Music at the age of 15. Her debut album, '' Innocent Eyes'' (2003), topped the ARIA Albums Chart for 29 non-consecutive week ...

, pop singer and actress. * Denise Hofman, co-author of "Forever Nine'', a study of Michael Guider * Dave Jones, YouTube Engineering Video Blogger * Nick Phipps rugby union professional *

Jana Pittman Jana Pittman (born 9 November 1982) is an Australian former athlete. During her athletic career Pittman specialised in the 400 metres run and 400-metre hurdles events. She is a two-time world champion in the 400 m hurdles, from 2003 and 200 ...

, Australian Olympic athlete *

Mitchell Starc Mitchell Aaron Starc (born 30 January 1990) is an Australian international cricketer who plays for the Australian national team and New South Wales in domestic cricket. A left-arm fast bowler and a lower order left-handed batsman, Starc repres ...