Potts Hill, 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 local government area

City of Canterbury-Bankstown The City of Canterbury Bankstown (also known as Canterbury-Bankstown Council) is a local government, local government area located in the South Western Sydney, South Western region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The council was formed on ...

, is 21 kilometres south-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 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. It is a part of the

South-western Sydney South Western Sydney is a region of the metropolitan area in southwest Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the predominantly working class area of Greater Western Sydney. The region lies in the Cumberland Plain. Local government ...

region. Potts Hill shares its

postcode A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal a ...

of 2143 with neighboring suburbs

Regents Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwe ...

and

Birrong Birrong, a suburb of local government area City of Canterbury-Bankstown, is located 22 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, and is a part of the South-western Sydney region. ...

. Much of the area of Potts Hill is occupied by the Potts Hill Reservoir owned and operated by

Sydney Water Sydney Water, formally, Sydney Water Corporation, is a New South Wales Government owned statutory corporation that provides potable drinking water, wastewater and some stormwater services to Greater Metropolitan Sydney, the Illawarra and the B ...

History

Potts Hill is named for

Joseph Hyde Potts Joseph Hyde Potts (1793 – 1865) was an accountant and in 1817 was the first employee to be engaged by the Bank of New South Wales (now Westpac). On 9 August 1834 he married Emma Bates (d.1901). The marriage was conducted by the Rev. Willia ...

, an accountant in the

Bank of New South Wales The Bank of New South Wales (BNSW), also known commonly as The Wales, was the first bank in Australia, being established in Sydney in 1817 and situated on Broadway, New South Wales, Broadway. During the 19th century, the bank opened branches ...

, who received a grant of in 1833. He originally called his property Hyde Park and had increased his holdings to by 1835. Two reservoirs were built here between 1888 and 1923 as part of the Sydney water supply system.

Heritage listings

Potts Hill has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Pressure Tunnel and Shafts * Cooper Road:

Potts Hill Reservoirs 1 and 2 Potts Hill Reservoirs 1 and 2 are heritage-listed reservoirs at Cooper Road, Potts Hill, City of Canterbury-Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Board of Water Supply and Sewerage and built from 1880. The reservoirs are no ...

Potts Hill migrant camp

In 1946 the Metropolitan Water, Sewerage and Drainage Board (MWS&DB) (now

) started to build the City Water Tunnel – a water supply tunnel from Potts Hill to Waterloo in Sydney to supplement the existing Pressure Tunnel (started 1946, finished 1961). From 1948 to 1955 workers camps were set up at Potts Hill to accommodate the European migrant workers (Poles, Czechs, Lithuanians, and Ukrainians) who were indentured from the many

displaced person Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...

s brought to Australia after World War II. Due to the proximity of Regents Park, the camp was also known as the Regents Park migrant camp. Conditions at the Potts Hill camp were primitive. Known as "tent city", many workers had to live in tents, some of the huts were in bad repair and there was a lack of hot water, showers and electric coppers. In early 1951 there were nearly 1,000 men living in the camp. The local businessman who sold food to the workers neglected to install refrigeration and had a poor record for hygiene. Workers' wives were only allowed in the camp between 11 am and 5 pm on Sundays. Wives, particularly in hospitals, were often on night work, and did not have week-ends off. Sometimes married couples could not see each other for several months. The workers also experienced hostility from the union members of the Water Board.

Potts Hill radio astronomy field station

In 1948 the Division of Radiophysics of 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 ...

obtained permission from the Water Board to operate a field station on vacant land adjacent to the Potts Hill reservoir. The southern and eastern sides of the No. 1 reservoir were used for the east–west and north–south arms of the solar grating arrays. By 1952 it had become the Division's largest field station. Equipment included a 4-element

Yagi Yagi may refer to: Places *Yagi, Kyoto, in Japan * Yagi (Kashihara), in Nara Prefecture, Japan *Yagi-nishiguchi Station, in Kashihara, Nara, Japan * Kami-Yagi Station, a JR-West Kabe Line station located in 3-chōme, Yagi, Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima, ...

and single Yagi antennas, a 16-ft x 18-ft

paraboloid In geometry, a paraboloid is a quadric surface that has exactly one axis of symmetry and no center of symmetry. The term "paraboloid" is derived from parabola, which refers to a conic section that has a similar property of symmetry. Every plane ...

, a

Mills Cross Telescope The Mills Cross Telescope was a two-dimensional radio telescope built by Bernard Mills in 1954 at the Fleurs field station of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in the area known now as Badgerys Creek, ab ...

prototype, a 68-inch paraboloid, swept lobe

interferometer Interferometry is a technique which uses the ''interference'' of superimposed waves to extract information. Interferometry typically uses electromagnetic waves and is an important investigative technique in the fields of astronomy, fiber op ...

Yagi aerials, a prototype of a Fleurs Cross aerial and 16 and 32 element solar grating arrays. Radiophysics continued operations until 1962 when the field station's operations were transferred to other field stations.

Population

In the 2016 Census, there were 893 people in Potts Hill. 39.6% of people were born in Australia. 20.0% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Korean at 13.7%. The most common responses for religion were Islam 19.7%, No Religion 18.5% and Catholic 16.4%.

In popular culture

'' Mad Max: Fury Road'' (2015) was partly filmed at Potts Hill.

References

External links

{{Coord, -33.890, 151.030, format=dms, type:city_region:AU-NSW, display=title Suburbs of Sydney City of Canterbury-Bankstown Migrant hostels in Australia Astronomical observatories in New South Wales