Camellia 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 ...

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 ...

. Primarily industrial with no residential population,

environmental remediation Environmental remediation deals with the removal of pollution or contaminants from environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment, or surface water. Remedial action is generally subject to an array of regulatory requirements, and may al ...

commenced in late 2015, with the suburb ear-marked as a major centre for future

high density Disk density is a capacity designation on magnetic storage, usually floppy disks. Each designation describes a set of characteristics that can affect the areal density of a disk or the efficiency of the encoded data. Such characteristics include ...

living. Camellia is located 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 ...

of the

City of Parramatta The City of Parramatta, also known as Parramatta Council, is a Local government in Australia, local government area located west of central Sydney in the Greater Western Sydney region. Parramatta Council is situated between the City of Ryde and ...

. The suburb is bounded by the

Parramatta River The Parramatta River is an intermediate tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With an average depth of , the Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson. Seco ...

to the north, Clay Cliff Creek to the west, Duck River to the east, and Grand Avenue. Major roads dissecting the suburb are Grand Avenue (east-west) and

James Ruse Drive The James Ruse Drive is a urban freeway (North of Hassall Street/River Road West) and highway (south of Hassall Street) located to the east and north of Parramatta, in Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The road's southeastern termin ...

(north-south). Camellia shares the postcode of 2142 with the separate suburbs of Granville, South Granville, Holroyd and Rosehill.

History

The Burramattagal clan were the indigenous people who originally inhabited this area, relying on the fish, shellfish, bird life reptiles and marsupials that were once abundant in the waterways and forests adjoining the

and the freshwaters of Clay Cliff Creek. On 22 April 1788 Governor

Arthur Phillip Admiral Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first governor of the Colony of New South Wales. Phillip was educated at Greenwich Hospital School from June 1751 unti ...

and his party of officers and

marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

journeyed inland by boat from

Sydney Cove Sydney Cove (Eora: ) is a bay on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, one of several harbours in Port Jackson, on the coast of Sydney, New South Wales. Sydney Cove is a focal point for community celebrations, due to its central Sydney locatio ...

to find better farmlands for the new settlement. They landed at the head of a navigable river near what is now Clyde, which he called '' Duck River'' due to the abundance of ducks in the area. They left their boats to explore the area but could not penetrate the thick bush. The party moved to the banks of Clay Cliff Creek, where they decided to camp because of its fresh water. Joseph Lycett - Residence of John Macarthur Esq near Parramatta N

Joseph Lycett - Residence of John Macarthur Esq near Parramatta N

In his Journal, surgeon John White recorded: Clay Cliff Creek was the common boundary of the land grants to wool pioneer John Macarthur, who by the early 1800s extended his land grants and his

Elizabeth Farm Elizabeth Farm is an historic Estate (land), estate located at 70 Alice Street, Rosehill, New South Wales, Rosehill, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Elizabeth Farm was the family home of wool pioneer, John Macarthur (wool pioneer) ...

holdings to gain the complete river frontage between the township of Parramatta and Duck River. The railway station that opened here in 1885 was originally called Subiaco, but it caused confusion because this was the name of the Benedictine school on the opposite side of

. In 1901, the station name was changed to Camellia, after the Camellia Grove Nursery nearby that specialised in growing

camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controversy ...

s. This land was leased by Silas Sheather since 1852 on what was originally part of the of

Heritage listings

Camellia has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Grand Avenue: Sewage Pumping Station 67 In the northwest of Camellia, today within an inaccessible industrial zone, lies the lone grave of

First Fleet The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...

convict Eleanor Magee (neé McCabe), her child Ian Magee, and her unborn baby. The three drowned in the adjacent Parramatta River when their boat capsized in 1793, and they were buried on what was then the land of convict Christopher Magee, their husband and father. It is one of the oldest European graves in Australia.

Commercial area

Camellia is predominantly an industrial and commercial area. An office block close to the railway station contains 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 t ...

supermarket. This is the former site of the

James Hardie James Hardie Industries plc is a global building materials company and the largest global manufacturer of fibre cement products. Headquartered in Ireland, it is a dual-listed company, being listed on the Australian and New York Stock Exchanges. ...

asbestos plant where

Bernie Banton Bernard Douglas Banton AM (13 October 1946 – 27 November 2007) was an Australian social justice campaigner. He was the widely recognized face of the legal and political campaign to achieve compensation for the many sufferers of asbestos-relat ...

worked.

Transport

Camellia railway station Camellia railway station, originally Subiaco railway station, was a railway station in Sydney, Australia, that was open between 1885 and 2020. It was located on the Carlingford line, serving the suburb of Camellia and at the time of closure w ...

on the Carlingford Line was formerly part 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. The

Sandown railway line The Sandown Line is a short former industrial railway line in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It began life as the Bennett's Railway, opening on 17 November 1888. The line diverges from the Carlingford railway line, ...

served the industry in Camellia. Passenger service ceased in 1991. A conversion of the Carlingford to Camellia section of the Carlingford railway line as well as part of the Sandown line to light rail was announced in 2015 as part of the

Parramatta Light Rail The Parramatta Light Rail (often unofficially referred to as the Western Sydney Light Rail) is a project for a light rail line in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, which is under construction and due to start passenger services in 2024. The ...

project. A second line, from Sydney Olympic Park, will join with the Carlingford line at either Camellia or Rydalmere before both lines proceed to Westmead. Grand Avenue is the main road in Camellia.

Gallery

Camellia Grand Avenue.JPG, Grand Avenue, decorative rocks Camelliasydney.jpg, Industry in Camellia

References

External links

* {{Geography of Parramatta River Suburbs of Sydney City of Parramatta