Werrington Downs 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 ...

of Western Sydney. It is 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 Penrith and is part of the

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 ...

region.

History

Aboriginal culture

Prior to European settlement, what is now Werrington Downs was home to the Mulgoa people who spoke the Darug language. They lived a

hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...

lifestyle governed by traditional laws, which had their origins in the Dreamtime. Their homes were bark huts called 'gunyahs'. They hunted kangaroos and emus for meat, and gathered

yam Yam or YAM may refer to: Plants and foods *Yam (vegetable), common name for members of ''Dioscorea'' * Taro, known in Malaysia and Singapore as yam * Sweet potato, specifically its orange-fleshed cultivars, often referred to as yams in North Amer ...

s, berries and other native plants. Shortly after the arrival of the

First Fleet The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...

in Australia in 1788, an outbreak of smallpox decimated the local indigenous communities and made it easier for settlers to dispossess them of their land.

European settlement

The first land grant in the area was made in 1831 to Phillip Parker King, son of the Governor Phillip Gidley King. It became part of the Werrington estate belonging to his sister Mary Lethbridge and was run as a farm until the 1880s when subdivision began. Widespread residential development didn't begin until the 1970s when Landcom began building in the area. The suburb's name was gazetted in 1976.

Demographics

As per the 2011 Census, the most common ancestries in Werrington Downs were Australian 34.7%, English 29.2%, Irish 7.7%, Scottish 5.5% and German 2.4%. 81.6% of people were born in Australia with a median weekly household income of $1,725. The most common countries of birth were England 4.1%, New Zealand 1.7%, Scotland 0.9% and India 0.7%. The most common occupations in Werrington Downs included Clerical and Administrative Workers 18.9%, Technicians and Trades Workers 16.6%, Professionals 12.7%, Sales Workers 10.6%, and Community and Personal Service Workers 10.5%.

Transport

Werrington Downs is serviced by one bus route, provided by Busways. Route 782 provides a link between Penrith and Werrington Railway Stations, with the bus starting at St Marys Interchange travelling along Trinity Drive and Pasturegate Avenue in Werrington Downs before heading into

Werrington County Werrington County is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith and is part of the Gre ...

and eventually onto Penrith.

Facilities

The suburb has a neighbourhood centre and a preschool. The suburb is also known for its wide reserve areas which gives a lot of room for recreational activities. Werrington Downs is served by the shopping precinct at

along Dunheved Road.

Governance

At a local government level, Werrington Downs is part of the north ward of Penrith City Council, represented by Ross Fowler (Mayor of Penrith). At the state level, it is part of the

Electoral district of Londonderry Londonderry is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Prue Car of the Labor Party. It includes the suburbs of Berkshire Park, Caddens, Cambridge Park, Castlereag ...

, represented by Labor Party member

Prue Car Prudence Ann Car (née Guillaume) is an Australian politician serving as the 20th and current deputy premier of New South Wales since March 2023. She has served as the Labor member for Londonderry in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly si ...

. Federally, it is part of the Division of Lindsay, represented by Liberal Party

Melissa McIntosh Melissa Iris McIntosh (; born 24 August 1977) is an Australian politician. She is a member of the Liberal Party and was elected to the House of Representatives at the 2019 federal election, running in the New South Wales seat of Lindsay. Ear ...

References

External links

Penrith Local Suburb Profiles
{{Sydney Penrith suburbs Suburbs of Sydney City of Penrith