Wattle Hill is a north-western suburb of
Leeton,
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 ...
. Wattle Hill was developed in the 1970s and 80's as a joint venture between
Leeton Shire Council
Leeton Shire is a local government area in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located adjacent to the Murrumbidgee River and falls within the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area.
The Shire includes the town of Leeton and ...
and the
New South Wales Department of Housing. Wattle Hill has a large concentration of housing department homes particularly on Gossamer, Wirilda and Blackwood Streets. The rest of the suburb has private residences, a small shopping precinct and three parks, one of which has a large water tower that supplies water to Wattle Hill and
Wamoon
Wamoon is a village in Leeton Shire in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Wamoon is located from Leeton along the Irrigation Way to the Leeton CBD and Henry Lawson Drive to the Leeton suburb of Wattle Hill. Wamoon provides a vil ...
.
The
Geographical Names Board of New South Wales
The Geographical Names Board of New South Wales, a statutory authority of the Department of Customer Service in the Government of New South Wales, is the official body for naming and recording details of places and geographical names in the sta ...
formerly recognised Wattle Hill as a suburb, from 1970 to 1993.
History
During the development of Wattle Hill, it was proposed that a state primary school was to be built in the suburb with land set aside to the west of the suburb, however, the school was built in the nearby suburb of
Parkview. Prior to redevelopment, Wattle Hill was an unofficial low-income housing area for many local families. There were many homes there without floors, constructed from poles, flattened 4-gallon drums and hessian.
A number of young people from the settlement served and died in WW2. During this time, Mrs Gordon, a nearby farm resident and wife of Leeton poet, Jim Gordon ("Jim Grahame") had the only phone in the area, and would often convey messages to the Wattle Hill families of losses of these young people serving.
At the top of the hill was the former site for an open waste metal dump from the Leeton Cannery. This was a play area for local kids, with old "tin lids" from large cans serving as "frisbees". Local farmers would gather the shiny offcuts from the cannery to drape on fruit trees to repel birds. The nearby WCIC channel and branch canal served as the local swimming places for kids from "The Hill" and nearby farms.
References
Suburbs of Leeton, New South Wales
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