Charity Creek, a northern

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of 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 ...

, is a creek west of

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

, located in

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 ...

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 joins the Parramatta River at Meadowbank Park, Meadowbank.

Ecology

The source of the creek is in the suburb of

West Ryde West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

. The Charity Creek catchment area is . The catchment is bounded by Victoria Road, Devlin Street, Blaxland Road, Marlow Avenue and the

Main Northern railway line The Main North Line (also known as the Great Northern Railway) is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs through the Central Coast, Hunter and New England regions. The line was the original main line between Sydney and Brisban ...

. The catchment boundary crosses the railway line just south of

West Ryde railway station West Ryde railway station is located on the Main Northern line, serving the Sydney suburb of West Ryde. It is served by Sydney Trains T9 Northern Line services. History West Ryde station opened on 17 September 1886 as Ryde, being renamed We ...

. The catchment is predominantly residential with some commercial development in the vicinity of Rhodes Street and Herbert Street. Most of the drainage system in the Charity Creek catchment consists of concrete pipes or boxed culverts. The creek is culverted down to Meadowbank Boys High School. Below this is a short reach of natural open channel to the railway line. Downstream of the railway line the creek is a concrete lined channel. All the tributaries of Charity Creek are piped. Charity Creek Cascades, named after the creek, is an interconnected series of council parks running from

Top Ryde Ryde is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Ryde is located 13 km north-west of the Sydney central business district and 8 km east of Parramatta. Ryde is the administrative centre of the local government area of the ...

to West Ryde railway station. The area covers approximately , and stretches from Shepherd Street to Linton Lane.

History

Charity Point, near Charity Creek, is attributed to William Bennet, an early

settler A settler is a person who has human migration, migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a ...

who was both a farmer and South Sea trader. When his ships need repairing, a large number of south-sea islander crew camped on the shore. His kind treatment to them earned the names Charity Creek and Charity Headland. Dinner Point, now called Charity Point, at the Meadowbank Memorial Park, is said to have acquired its name on 15 February 1788. First Lieutenant William Bradley wrote:

At 1pm returned to the Boats and after dinner went in the smallest boat over the flats past a mangrove island.

Bradley then followed a creek so narrow that boat oars stuck their struck the sides until they were stopped by fallen trees. Charity Point, once backed by a creek which has been filled in, was originally named ''Mur-ray-mah'', perhaps meaning 'black bream', heard by the linguist Lieutenant William Dawes as ''karóoma'' (''garuma''). Charity Point was also a popular fishing spot. Kent, a nephew of Governor John Hunter, was first granted on 12 May 1796. He received a further grant in 1803, when his nephew William Kent Jnr obtained in the district of Eastern Farms. It was after the 1840s that the former orchards and farms of the Ryde area began to be subdivided and Charity Creek was filled in.

References

{{Rivers of New South Wales , state=autocollapse Creeks and canals of Sydney

Ecology

History

See also

References