Toongabbie Creek, an urban

watercourse A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long large streams are ...

that is part of the

Parramatta River The Parramatta River is an intermediate tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With an average depth of , the Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson. Seco ...

catchment, is located in

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 ...

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 ...

Course and features

Toongabbie Creek rises in the north-western suburbs of

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 ...

, west of the Old Northern Road, within the suburb of ; with its headwaters forming the watershed boundary between the

Hornsby Plateau The Hornsby Plateau is a dissected sandstone plateau lying to the north of Sydney Harbour that rises 200 metres. The plateau is a part of the larger Sydney Basin structure. Geography The North Shore and the Berowra Valley National Park are locat ...

and the

Cumberland Plain The Cumberland Plain, an IBRA biogeographic region, is a relatively flat region lying to the west of Sydney CBD in New South Wales, Australia. Cumberland Basin is the preferred physiographic and geological term for the low-lying plain of the ...

. The creek flows generally south-west, then south by east, then south by west, then east before reaching its

confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...

with the Darling Mills Creek to form the

, in the suburb of , in land adjoining the northern boundary of the

Cumberland Hospital Cumberland Hospital is a public psychiatric hospital located in Westmead, in Sydney's west. Along with Bungarribee House, Blacktown Hospital it serves the mental health needs of Western Sydney. As a public hospital it is part of the Western S ...

. The course of the creek is approximately . Although only a small portion of Toongabbie Creek is contained within the

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 ...

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 ...

, much of its sub-catchment, including the Blacktown and Lalor creeks and their associated tributaries are within the City of Blacktown. In 2005, the Toongabbie Creek catchment area was rated as the highest polluting catchment out of the twenty-two catchments in Blacktown. Much of the creek is channeled in a concrete drain; and domestic garbage is often scattered along the creek's banks. Prior to April 2015, the creek was dammed at many places by fallen trees, and the rapids at Mons Road were not visible. The stagnant water in the dams was bubbly. After the rain in April 2015, which caused a flood that damaged infrastructure at Parramatta, most of the dead trees were cleaned away and the rocks at Mons Road are now exposed. Toongabbie Creek is transversed by the

Cumberland Highway The Cumberland Highway is a long urban highway located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The highway links the Pacific Highway (A1/B83) and Pacific Motorway ( M1) at Pearces Corner, Wahroonga in the northeast with the Hume Highway (A22/ ...

; the

Westlink M7 The Westlink M7 or M7 Motorway, formerly Western Sydney Orbital, is a tolled urban motorway in Sydney and is a part of the Sydney Orbital Network. Owned by the NorthWestern Roads (NWR) Group, it connects three motorways: M5 South-West Motorwa ...

and

M2 Hills Motorway The Hills Motorway (also known as the Hills M2 Motorway, M2 Motorway or simply M2) is a tollway in north-western Sydney, Australia, owned by toll road operator Transurban. It forms majority of Sydney's M2 route and part of the 110 km Sydn ...

at their interchange; and the

Old Windsor Road Old Windsor Road is a notable road in Sydney, Australia. It starts from Kellyville, New South Wales and ends at Northmead, New South Wales, just north of Parramatta. The northern end links with Windsor Road while the southern end links with ...

. The land adjacent to the Parramatta River and its tributaries, including the Toongabbie Creek, was occupied for many thousands of years by the

Burramattagal 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 ...

, Toongagal, Wallumattagal,

Wangal The Wangal people ( Wanegal or Won-gal,) are a clan of the Dharug ( ?) Aboriginal people whose heirs are custodians of the lands and waters of what is now the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, centred around the Municipality of Strathfie ...

, and Wategora Aboriginal peoples. They used the river as an important source of food and a place for trade. Toongabbie Creek in Flood.jpg, Toongabbie Creek in Flood, Oakes Road, Winston Hills Cacatua sanguinea -Toongabbie Creek, Sydney, Australia -three in tree-8.jpg, Little Corellas (''Cacatua sanguinea''), photographed beside Toongabbie Creek, suburban Sydney.

References

External links

Upper Parramatta River Catchment Trust
webpage ** * * Creeks and canals of Sydney Parramatta River {{Sydney-geo-stub

Course and features

See also

References

External links