The Horsley Drive is a urban

sealed road A sealed road is a road whose surface has been permanently sealed by the use of one of several pavement treatments, often of composite construction. In some countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, this surface is generically referred to as "se ...

located in the

City of Fairfield The Fairfield City Council is a local government area in the west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The council was first incorporated as the "Municipal District of Smithfield and Fairfield" on 8 December 1888, and the coun ...

in Greater Western

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. The road's northwestern terminus is located at the entrance of

Western Sydney Parklands The Western Sydney Parklands is an urban park system and a nature reserve located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The NSW government has spent around $400 million for the park. The park is governed by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife ...

in and its southeastern terminus at its intersection with

Hume Highway Hume Highway, inclusive of the sections now known as Hume Freeway and Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in the northeast. Upgrading of the route ...

in Villawood.

History

Horsley Park, Sydney was originally part of Colonel George Johnston's property "Kings Gift". After his death it passed to his daughter Blanche who in 1829 married Major George Nicholas Weston. He built an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

colonial style homestead on the property and named it " Horsley" after his birthplace in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In 1959, The Horsley Drive (so named because it leads to Horsley Park, Sydney) opened up as a continuous route from

Lansvale Lansvale is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 28 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, the other side of Chipping Norton and its lake, in the Local government in Australia, local government ...

. Fairfield Hospital was constructed on The Horsley Drive in Fairfield on September 1956, but was then relocated in 1988.

Background

The Horsley Drive between the M7 Motorway and Cowpasture Road in Horsley Park, Sydney is an arterial road connection into the Smithfield and

Wetherill Park Wetherill Park is a suburb in Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Wetherill Park is located 34 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Fairfield. The ...

industrial area supplying an crucial motor link to and from the M7 Motorway. The road provides a prominent vehicular path between urban, commercial and industrial areas, the M7,

Sydney Orbital Network The Sydney Orbital Network is a 110 kilometre motorway standard ring road around and through Sydney, the capital of New South Wales in Australia. It runs north from Sydney Airport, underneath the CBD to the North Shore, west to the Hills Dist ...

and farther. Clustered tree planting near Cowpasture Road (South side of The Horsley Drive only), as well near the M7 Motorway indicates the natural aesthetic of the topical landscape to underline The Horsley Drive’s entry into the Western Sydney Parklands scenery.

Access

There are three main pedestrian and cycle access points to The Horsley Drive at the M7 Motorway, Ferrers Road and the

Upper Canal System The Upper Canal System, also called the Southern Railway Aqueduct and the Cataract Tunnel, is a heritage-listed operational gravity-fed aqueduct that supplies some of the potable water for Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. The aqueduct com ...

. At this point, Ferrers Road forms the gateway to the ''Horsley Park Urban Farming Precinct''. Several private driveways also have access to The Horsley Drive. Access to the

Sydney International Equestrian Centre The Sydney International Equestrian Centre (SIEC for short) is the facility which was used to host equestrian events during the 2000 Summer Olympics and 2000 Summer Paralympics. The centre is located 45 kilometres from Sydney's business distric ...

is from Saxony Road, while emergency access to the site is also provided from The Horsley Drive.

Commercial areas

Besides industry, The Horsley Drive also has several commercial and cultural establishments on its strip. ''Fairfield City Museum & Gallery'' in Smithfield lie on the road, as does the suburb's main commercial area which features a

tavern A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that h ...

, a TAB and a number of multicultural restaurants. Wetherill Park Market Town and Greenway Plaza are also located on this road, with the latter containing prominent

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

stores (such as The Good Guys,

Officeworks Officeworks is a chain of Australian office supplies stores operated under parent company Wesfarmers. The company was established in 1994 by Coles Myer, which became Coles Group before it was acquired by Wesfarmers. Its head office is located i ...

and

Supercheap Auto Supercheap Auto is an Australian automotive parts and accessories retailer. It was founded in 1972, operating as a mail-order business and opened its first store in Brisbane in 1974. It now has 300 stores across Australia and New Zealand. H ...

), various ethnic restaurants, grocery stores, Sydney's first Carl's Jr. and a

Service NSW Service NSW is a New South Wales Government executive agency within the Department of Customer Service that provides a one-stop access to government services via online, phone or in-person at its service centres. The agency is the single point ...

office.

Facilities

Minh Giac Vietnamese Buddhist Temple in Smithfield is located on The Horsley Drive. Educational facilities on the road include a

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational cours ...

and Fairfield High School. Recreational areas situated on the road include

Wetherill Park Nature Reserve Wetherill Park Nature Reserve, also called Wetherill Park Reserve, is an urban park and a nature reserve situated in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The reserve contains an open woodland and bushland which feature n ...

and several picnic spots in

such as ''Lizard Log''. The attribute of the Parklands is brought as close as possible to the road's bound, conceptualising the driver experience as The Horsley Drive crossbeams the Parklands.Roads and Traffic Authority NSW Technology & Technical Services Branch. 2003. Horsley Drive Road Widening, Horsley Park Weston Creek Tunnel Preliminary Assessment on the Impact of Tunnel Performance. Roads and Traffic Authority NSW, Sydney, Australia.

References