St Helens Park 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 ...

56 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

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 Campbelltown. it is part of the Macarthur region.

History

St Helens Park draws its name from a Gothic mansion built in 1887 by George Charles Westgarth, a Sydney solicitor. The mansion still stands at the southern end of St Helens Park Drive but it's not the oldest building in the suburb. That honour goes to a farmhouse on Appin Road called Denfield and Curtilage which was built in the 1830s by John Farley of

Fisher's Ghost ''Fisher's Ghost'' is a 1960 Australian operetta. It is based on the legend of Fisher's ghost which had previously inspired the 1924 film from Raymond Longford. Operetta The operetta was composed by John Gordon and was originally performed at ...

fame. Both buildings are listed on the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heritag ...

. By the 1940s, the St Helens Park property had become a fly spray testing laboratory and acquired the local nickname ''Blowfly Farm''. It was later restored as a residence and grazing property. In 1975, Campbelltown Council designated the area for suburban development and in 1976, it was formally named St Helens Park. Although development was slow at first, it continued throughout the 80s, 90s and into the 21st century.

Heritage listings

St Helens Park has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Appin Road:

Denfield ''Denfield'' is a heritage-listed former farm homestead complex, residence, inn and farm and now residence located at Appin Road, St Helens Park in the City of Campbelltown local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was built ...

* St Helens Park Drive:

St Helen's Park St Helen's Park is a heritage-listed former school, experimental farm, private residence and guesthouse and now homestead located at St Helens Park Drive, St Helens Park, City of Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by G ...

Schools

There are two primary schools in the suburb. Woodland Road Public at the northern end of the suburb was opened in 1980. St Helens Park Public to the south was opened in 1995. The nearest secondary school is Ambarvale High.

Housing

St Helens Park is one of the more modern suburbs of Campbelltown, with new subdivisions taking place as of 2006. The vast majority of new development in the suburb is in the form of detached housing.

Notable people

Calgary Stampeders kicker/punter

Gerard Laws Gerard Laws (born November 16, 1989) is an Australian professional Canadian football placekicker and punter (football) who is currently a free agent. Biography Gerard Laws was born on November 16, 1989, in Australia. He is a product of Prokick ...

, son of comedian Steve Laws, grew up in St Helens Park. Coincidentally he grew up on the same street as former professional footballer

David Carney David Raymond Carney (born 30 November 1983) is an Australian former association football midfielder and who is incoming coach for 2023 season NPL NSW side Wollongong Wolves FC. Born in Sydney, he began his playing career with the New South Wa ...

. Gerard and David spent afternoons after school practising at Lynwood Park.

Demographics

At the 2021

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 ...

, St Helens Park recorded a population of 6,647. The median family income was $1988 per week, which was slightly lower than the national average. The majority of residents were Australian born (73.3%) and spoke only English (73.1%) although there were substantial minorities speaking Arabic (3.2%), Spanish (1.9%), Samoan (1.7%) and Hindi and Vietnamese (both 1.2%). St Helens Park is well connected by road to both Campbelltown and

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

via Appin Road. The suburb is also serviced by Campbelltown's local bus company, Busabout. It is serviced by two bus routes (887 and 888), one directly from St Helens Park to Campbelltown and one on the route from Campbelltown to

Appin Appin ( gd, An Apainn) is a coastal district of the Scottish West Highlands bounded to the west by Loch Linnhe, to the south by Loch Creran, to the east by the districts of Benderloch and Lorne, and to the north by Loch Leven. It lies northe ...

and Wollongong.Local Bus Map
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Helens Park, New South Wales Suburbs of Sydney Towns in the Macarthur (New South Wales)