Doonside 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
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 ...
. Doonside is located 40 kilometres 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 Blacktown
Blacktown City Council is a local government area in Western Sydney, situated on the Cumberland Plain, approximately west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1906 as the Blacktow ...
and 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.
Featherdale Wildlife Park
Featherdale Wildlife Park is a zoo located in Doonside, Sydney, Australia. The park is located in Sydney's west, approximately from Sydney's CBD. The park contains various species native to Australia, and is known to be one of the world's larg ...
and the
Nurragingy Nature Reserve are popular local tourist attractions.
History
The traditional owners and early settlement
The Duruk people were once the owners of local land. The area now known as Doonside was named 'Bungarribee' (Bung meaning the 'creek' and garribee meaning 'cockatoo').
In 1802, Governor
Philip Gidley King
Captain Philip Gidley King (23 April 1758 – 3 September 1808) was a British politician who was the third Governor of New South Wales.
When the First Fleet arrived in January 1788, King was detailed to colonise Norfolk Island for defence an ...
reserved a large proportion of land for a Government Stock Reserve. For the next twenty years the land was used as grazing land for cattle and sheep by convict herdsmen. In 1822 part of the Government stock run was granted by Governor
Thomas Brisbane
Major General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1st Baronet, (23 July 1773 – 27 January 1860), was a British Army officer, administrator, and astronomer. Upon the recommendation of the Duke of Wellington, with whom he had served, he was appoint ...
to Scottish immigrant, Robert Crawford. Robert first named his 1,000
acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imp ...
(4 km²) Milton before renaming it "Hill End". In 1826 John Crawford purchased land adjacent Hill End fronting Richmond Road which he named ''Doonside.'' The region had various names, before officially becoming Doonside.
Robert James Crawford (1799-1848) had four children with Mary Campbell (d. 1832): Mary Crawford (b. 1826), Robert Crawford (1827-1906), George Canning Crawford (b. 1828), and Agnes C. Crawford (b. 1831). (Robert Crawford's four children's names are used today at Crawford Public School as sporting house teams). The elder Robert Crawford married Miss Jones of Bligh Street, Sydney, in 1832.
Robert Crawford (1827-1906) married Victoria Margaret Smyth in 1868. Their son, Robert (1868-1930), born in the same year became a published poet.
Bungarribee House
![Bungarribee Hometead NSW (1954)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Bungarribee_Hometead_NSW_%281954%29.jpg)
In 1822 the area south of Hill End (Doonside) was granted to a Scottish-born settler named John Campbell (1771-1827).
The property and house had a series of owners and tenants in the 19th and 20th centuries until acquired by the Commonwealth Overseas Telecommunications Commission (OTC) in 1949.
The newly formed National Trust had been trying to secure a lease from OTC but was unable to come to an agreement citing unworkable lease conditions. A Local Historian John Lawson offered to restore the house but was rejected by O.T.C. the house was demolished in 1958.
Doonside Railway and Station
The western railway arrived with a single line to Rooty Hill opening on 23 December 1861, there was no station official but the rail siding was know as Crawford siding. Doonside Railway Station was official opened on 27th September 1880. Electric trains arrived to Doonside station in 1955. Edith Crawford from the founding family, also being the oldest inhabitant, was given the privilege of 'cutting the ribbon'. Her death was in 1956.
In 1913, Doonside's dark platforms were illuminated only by the train guard’s lamp.53 Intending passengers had to signal the driver if they wanted the train to stop so they could board. Toilets were erected on the platform in 1922.
The present station was upgraded in 1955, replacing the original buildings. The design of the station buildings applied the railway Stripped Functionalist style, as was done at other stations between Lidcombe and St. Mary's. The station was one part of a much larger scheme to increase the tracks to four main lines between Lidcombe and St. Mary's during World War II in order to provide maximum track capacity to the American ammunition and general store built at Ropes Creek. Quadruplication was completed in 1981.
A signal box was incorporated into the 1955 building but was closed in 1963 when automatic boom gates were provided at an adjacent level crossing which was itself removed in 1980. The signal box equipment has been removed.
The pedestrian bridge that provides access to the platforms was built in 1958. Its twin beam construction is typical of 1940's footbridges on the Western line quadruplication. Since 1990, every component of the bridge, except the steel structure, has been replaced.
Wolkara
The Doonside name was changed briefly in 1921 to an
Aboriginal
Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to:
*Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology
* Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area
*One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...
name ‘Wolkara’ When the new railway station was being constructed, At Crawford rail siding. Wolkara was also the name of the post office that opened here in 1921, but in April 1929 it was changed back to Doonside, after local residents protested at the name change.
At the time of World War I
Prior to 1916, the only development at Doonside was confined to the Crawford family. The Crawford homestead and acreage block was on the south side of the railway line facing Doonside Road. Kelburn Crawford's daughters house, was between the homestead and Bungarribee. North of the line on the corner of Hillend Road and Doonside Crescent, was a brick cottage owned by the Italian family, Luparno. Opposite was a small gatekeepers cottage.
A brick home, owned by another Crawford daughter, was in Doonside Crescent. Properties fronted Hillend Road and were owned by Crawford children. Another cottage in Hillend Road was owned by the family named Harrison, in-laws to Crawford children. A workman's timber cottage was on the hill towards the tileworks' site.
The only road into Doonside was Doonside Road, running from Western Highway. Hillend Road only went as far as Power Street after which there was a track to Richmond Road ending in a gate. Power Street went to
Plumpton with the crossing over Eastern Creek being rough and dangerous in wet weather.
After the war (1914-1918), the company of Porter and Galbraith bought property from Crawford and erected a tileworks (PGH) in an area which is now the suburb of
Woodcroft. A soldier's settlement of about twenty poultry farms was established between the railway line and Bungarribee Road. Part of this land, during the 1930s depression, became a woman's settlement.
Early Doonside
There was no electricity until 1929 and water was drawn from wells. Horse-drawn carts would deliver bread and meat.
Blacktown
Blacktown is a suburb in the City of Blacktown, in Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Blacktown is located west of the Sydney central business district. It is one of the most multicultural places within Grea ...
was accessed by train as there were not any buses or schools.
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
Penrith, were the nearest high schools.
A store and post office were opened unofficially in 1926 by Bill Francis on the corner of Hillend Road and Cross Street. For some years his nephew Jack Francis operated the post office on the other side of the railway line but once it was made official it returned to its original site until 1987.
Suburb development
In 1912, twelve hundred acres of the Bungarribee estate were carved into eight to twenty-acre lots. In 1919 Directly south of the station was set aside for returning soldiers. 1923 was the first of many major subdivisions, the Doonside Station Estate subdivision
ill End Estatewas advertised for those who wished to secure a home or business site. The Subdivision extended from the Station north to Power street. 1931 the Crawford Estate was subdivided from Power Street up to Richmond Road, and again in the 1970's. After the PGH was closed the Suburb if Woodcroft was built on the site in the early 1990's. The suburb of Bungarribee was developed in the 2000's.
Heritage listings
Doonside has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
* Doonside Road:
Bungarribee Homestead Site
The Bungarribee Homestead Site is a heritage-listed archaeological site at the location of the former Bungarribee Homestead. The site is located at Doonside Road, Doonside, City of Blacktown, Sydney New South Wales, Australia. It was added t ...
People
Doonside's population was 13,451 in the 2016 Australian
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 5.3% of the population.
There was a mix of housing tenures in the suburb with 21.6% of properties owned outright, 30.6% being purchased and 43.6% being rented. The median household income of $1,340 per week was slightly lower than average and while the median rent ($310 per week) was also lower than average, the median mortgage repayment of $1,950 per month was higher. The most common industry of employment was hospitals (4.3%).
52.8% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were Philippines 9.3%, India 4.6%, Fiji 3.3%, New Zealand 2.9% and England 1.3%. The most common ancestries were Australian 18.2%, English 15.4%, Filipino 9.2%, Indian 6.2% and Irish 4.0%. 52.8% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Tagalog 6.1%, Arabic 4.1%, Hindi 3.9%, Filipino 2.6% and Punjabi 2.3%. The most common responses for religion were Catholic 31.4%, No Religion 14.3% and Anglican 10.1%.
Notable residents include:
*
Josh Addo-Carr
Josh Addo-Carr (born 28 July 1995) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a er for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League (NRL) and Australia at international level.
He began his career with ...
, rugby league player
*
Robert Crawford (1868–1930), poet
*
Hooligan Hefs
Alex Hatziminas (born 31 July 1997), known professionally as Hooligan Hefs, is an Australian hip-hop and EDM musician from Doonside, New South Wales.
Career 2017–present: Career beginnings
Hooligan Hefs appeared as a featured artist on Pisto ...
, rapper
*
Craig Moore
Craig Andrew Moore (born 12 December 1975) is an Australian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. His 2006 FIFA World Cup profile describes him as being "tough-tackling and uncompromising but also calm and composed under p ...
, soccer player
*
Mark Winterbottom
Mark "Frosty" Winterbottom (born 20 May 1981) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship, driving the No. 18 Holden ZB Commodore for Team 18. His career highlights include winning the ...
, race car driver
Transport
Doonside railway station
Doonside railway station is located on the Main Western line, serving the Sydney suburb of Doonside. It is served by Sydney Trains T1 Western line services.
History
Doonside station opened on 27 September 1880.
It was renamed Wolkara on 1 F ...
is on the
Main Western railway line
The Main Western Railway is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs through the Blue Mountains, Central West, North West Slopes and the Far West regions. It is with operational & under construction & repairs.
Description o ...
. It is served by
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 ...
North Shore & Western Line
The North Shore & Western Line (numbered T1, coloured orange) is a commuter rail line operated by Sydney Trains in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It serves the North Shore, parts of the Inner West and Western Suburbs.
It was previously t ...
services. The
Great Western Highway
Great Western Highway (also known as Broadway from to , Parramatta Road from Chippendale to , and Church Street through Parramatta) is a state highway in New South Wales, Australia. From east to west, the highway links Sydney with Bathurst, ...
runs along the southern border and the
M4 (Sydney)
The M4 Motorway is a dual carriageway partially tolled motorway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is designated as the M4 route. The M4 designation is part of the wider A4 and M4 route designation, the M4 runs parallel/below grou ...
is just to the south.
Busways
Busways is an Australian bus company operating services 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 ...
offers a number of bus services in the suburb including:
* route 753 from Doonside station to
Blacktown station through the north of the suburb;
* routes 725/726 from Doonside to Blacktown station through the south of the suburb.
* route 756 from Blacktown to
Mount Druitt
Mount Druitt is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown, and is part of the Greater Western Sydney reg ...
, passing through the north of Doonside and providing connections with suburbs such as
Woodcroft,
Glendenning,
Plumpton and
Rooty Hill
Rooty Hill is a heritage-listed historic site and now parkland at Eastern Road, Rooty Hill, City of Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1802 to 1828. It is also known as The Rooty Hill and Morreau Reserve. The property is ...
.
Schools
Doonside is home to two government run primary schools, Doonside Public School, near the station, and Crawford Public School, on Power Street in the north of the suburb. Not far from Crawford is Doonside Technology High School, a government run high school. There are two non-government schools in Doonside.
Mountain View Adventist College, on Doonside Road south of the railway line, is run by the
Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...
and caters for students from Kindergarten to Year 12. St John Vianneys Primary School is a diocesan Catholic school associated with the neighbouring church, also called St John Vianney's
Doonside Public School
A 'Provisional' school was opened in 1903 but closed due to lack of support. It was reopened again in 1911 for two years. In 1937 Doonside Primary School was opened.
The first application for the school was made to Blacktown Shire Council on 28 May 1934. It was unsuccessful because Council felt that Blacktown School was big enough to accommodate students and that there was a train service from Doonside to Blacktown. In March and November 1935 it was again applied for but declined for the same reasons. But after much consideration, approval was finally given on 14 July 1936 for a public school. An area of 4 acres 3 perches had been resumed for this purpose.
The government Architect prepared plans and invited tenders (quote) for building the school. Mr S W Brown was accepted with the quote of 1,850 pounds. The building was completed and opened on 22 November 1937 with Mr Oscar Swanson as teacher.
The first weeks enrolment was 53 by the end of term there were 58.
1939 saw the number of pupils increase to 94. By 1956 there were 202 and in 1962 the number had reached 600. The numbers continued to grow due to the development of the area as new estates and housing were established.
Doonside Technology High School
The High School was opened in 1964 as Doonside High School.
The School became a Technology High School in 1989.
Crawford Public School
Opened 1977
St John Vianneys Primary School
Opened 1986
Recreation
On the western edge of Doonside lies the
Nurragingy Reserve
The Nurragingy Nature Reserve is an Australian open urban park and forest, nature reserve and garden, it is a protected area owned by Western Sydney Parklands Trust and operated by Blacktown City Council that opened in 1981. The Nature Reserve is ...
, which is situated in the
Western Sydney Regional Park
Western Sydney Regional Park is a large urban park and a nature reserve situated in Western Sydney, Australia within the suburbs of Horsley Park and Abbotsbury.[Darug
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 ...]
man given a land grant in the Blacktown area in 1819. Just south of the railway line is the
Featherdale Wildlife Park
Featherdale Wildlife Park is a zoo located in Doonside, Sydney, Australia. The park is located in Sydney's west, approximately from Sydney's CBD. The park contains various species native to Australia, and is known to be one of the world's larg ...
, a private
zoo
A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for Conservation biology, conservation purposes.
The term ''zoological g ...
established in 1953 and specialising in Australian native animals and birds.
Across the railway line from Nurragingy is Kareela Reserve, a sporting complex, home to a number of local sporting teams including the
Doonside Roos
Doonside Roos Rugby League Football Club is an Australian rugby league football club based in Doonside, New South Wales formed in 1968.
Notable Juniors
Notable First Grade Players that have played at Doonside Roos include:
*Jarrod Sammut (2007- ...
rugby league team, Doonside Cricket Club and Doonside Little Athletics. The Doonside Hawks soccer club, the junior club of former Socceroos Captain Craig Moore, plays out of Glendenning Reserve in neighbouring
Glendenning while the Doonside Diamonds Netball Club play all their games (home and away) at the Blacktown City Netball Association complex in
Blacktown
Blacktown is a suburb in the City of Blacktown, in Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Blacktown is located west of the Sydney central business district. It is one of the most multicultural places within Grea ...
. All these clubs use maroon and white as their colours.
Doonside Junior Rugby League Club
The Rugby League Club Doonside Roos was founded in 1967 and its first committee meeting was held at the Doonside Hotel. The Colours of maroon and white and an embolem of a leaping Kangaroo were choosing to represent the club. The first games were played in the season of 1968 at Doonside High School's oval until a permanent home ground of Kareela Reserve (Kareela East Reserve) was completed. Games were played on Bert Sanders Reserve near Feathedale Wildlife Park one year due to the amenities at Kareela being destroyed in a fire.
1971 the club won its first premiership.
Doonside Cricket Club
Doonside Cricket Club was established in 1975. Games are played on Kareela Reserve (Kareela East Reserve).
Doonside Hawks Soccer Club
The soccer club was founded in 1981. The club's first home ground was to be Kareela West Reserve Doonside (today Charlie Bali Reserve) but was not completed in time for the inaugural season, so game were played at Mt Druitt Sports Centre until it was finished. Today the club's home ground is Glendenning Reserve of Richmond Road Glendenning.
Featherdale Wildlife Park
Featherdale Wildlife Park
Featherdale Wildlife Park is a zoo located in Doonside, Sydney, Australia. The park is located in Sydney's west, approximately from Sydney's CBD. The park contains various species native to Australia, and is known to be one of the world's larg ...
is a wildlife and zoo facility located in Doonside. It covers 3.29 hectares and has over 260 species on display and for interactive experiences.
References
External links
The 2001 City of Blacktown Social Plan
{{Sydney Blacktown suburbs
Suburbs of Sydney
City of Blacktown
Populated places established in 1929
1929 establishments in Australia