Saleyards Creek (also known as Saleyard Creek) is a canalised

urban stream An urban stream is a formerly natural waterway that flows through a heavily populated area. Urban streams are often polluted by urban runoff and combined sewer outflows. Water scarcity makes flow management in the rehabilitation of urban stream ...

, acting as a

stormwater Stormwater, also spelled storm water, is water that originates from precipitation (storm), including heavy rain and meltwater from hail and snow. Stormwater can soak into the soil ( infiltrate) and become groundwater, be stored on depressed la ...

channel, 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 ...

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 ...

. Its upstream course follows approximately the boundary between the suburbs of

Homebush Homebush is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the Municipali ...

and Homebush West. North of

Parramatta Road Parramatta Road is the major historical east-west artery of metropolitan Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, connecting the Sydney CBD with Parramatta. It is the easternmost part of the Great Western Highway. Since the 1990s its role has been a ...

, both sides of the creek fall within Homebush.

Description

Saleyards Creek has its source in the

Rookwood Cemetery Rookwood Cemetery (officially named Rookwood Necropolis) is a heritage-listed cemetery in Rookwood, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest List of necropolises, necropolis in the Southern Hemisphere and is the world's largest ...

beside the suburb of

Strathfield Strathfield is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the Municipality of Strathfield. A ...

, and flows generally northward, approximately following the boundary between the suburbs of

and Homebush West.Stephen Ambrose, Vertebrate Fauna Study for the Strathfield LGA, April 2009.
/ref> Saleyards Creek flows through a man-made tunnel under

Sydney Markets The Sydney Markets are a group of wholesale and retail markets in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Sydney Markets are located in the Inner West locality of Flemington, New South Wales, 16 kilometres west of the Sydney central business dist ...

, Flemington. Emerging into daylight, it continues under

and the

M4 Western Motorway 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 ...

. When driving westbound on the M4 Western Motorway it is possible to see a sign showing where Saleyards Creek flows under the motorway, not far east of Homebush Bay Drive. North of the M4 motorway, both banks of the creek are in the suburb of Homebush, and the creek finally flowing into Powells Creek at Bressington Park, at the boundary between

and

Concord West Concord West (also known as West Concord) is a suburb on the periphery of Sydney's inner-west, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Concord West is located 16 km west of the Sydney central business district, in the local governmen ...

. Powell Creek itself flows into

Homebush Bay Homebush Bay is a bay on the south bank of the Parramatta River, in the west of Sydney, Australia. The name is also sometimes used to refer to an area to the west and south of the bay itself, which was formerly an official suburb of Sydney, a ...

a short distance to the north. Saleyards Creek is now lined with concrete banks for its entire length, although the portions of the creek flowing through Airey Park and beside Bressington Park also have trees planted alongside. Since its water is largely provided by rainfall in the Sydney area, flows are reduced to little more than a trickle during dry weather. The southern part of Saleyards Creek was used as the boundary when cadastral divisions, used for land title purposes, were set down in the 19th century. As a result, the suburb of Homebush, which mostly lie east of the creek, is in the

Parish of Concord Concord Parish is one of the 57 parishes of Cumberland County, New South Wales, a cadastral unit for use on land titles. It is located to the south of the Parramatta River between Homebush Bay and Iron Cove; and to the north of Cooks River. It i ...

, while the neighbouring suburb of Homebush West (commonly called Flemington), is in the

Parish of Liberty Plains Liberty Plains Parish is one of the 57 parishes of Cumberland County, New South Wales, a cadastral unit for use on land titles. It is bounded by Parramatta Road in the north; the boundary between Flemington and Homebush, a small part of Cooks ...

. On one definition, the creek also forms the boundary between the

Inner West The Inner West of Sydney is an area directly west of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. The suburbs that make up the Inner West are predominantly located along the southern shore of Port Jackson (Parramatta River) ...

region of Sydney and the neighbouring region of

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 ...

History

Saleyards Creek is named after the Flemington cattle saleyards, established in 1909. Once a natural stream, Saleyards Creek was canalised by the

Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board 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 ...

in the 1930s, partly as a work relief project during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. The saleyards were rebuilt as the

in the 1970s, and the part of the stream that flows through the markets was culverted.

Ecological issues

Canalisation of the stream has affected salinity and pollution levels in nearby tidal wetlands. Silt build-up from stormwater flows provides a feeding habitat for birds such as

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

s and

gull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, m ...

s, but interferes with water flow, and so is occasionally removed.New South Wales. Olympic Co-ordination Authority, ''Homebush Bay Ecological Studies, 1993-1995, Volume 2'', , pp. 46–48.

References

External links

Powells Creek Renewal ProjectBressington Park, Homebush
{{coord missing, New South Wales Creeks and canals of Sydney

Description

History

Ecological issues

See also

References

External links