The City of Penrith is a

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 ...

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 country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. The seat of the city is located in Penrith, located about west 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 Mounta ...

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

. It occupies part of the traditional lands of the

Darug 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 ...

people. First incorporated as a municipality on 12 May 1871, on 1 January 1949, the municipalities of Penrith, St Marys and Castlereagh and part of the Nepean Shire amalgamated to form a new Municipality of Penrith. Penrith was declared a City on 21 October 1959, and expanded westwards to include Emu Plains and Emu Heights, formerly part of the

City of Blue Mountains The City of Blue Mountains is a local government area of New South Wales, Australia, governed by the Blue Mountains City Council. The city is located in the Blue Mountains range west of Sydney. The Mayor of Blue Mountains City Council is coun ...

, on 25 October 1963. As at the the City of Penrith had an estimated population of 196,066. The

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of the City of Penrith is Cr. Karen McKeown, a member of the Labor Party.

Suburbs and localities in the local government area

The following suburbs and localities are located within the City of Penrith:

Council history

The Municipality of Penrith was incorporated on 12 May 1871 under the . On 3 March 1890, St Marys was separately incorporated, and on 26 July 1893 and 9 September 1895, Mulgoa and Castlereagh followed respectively. In 1913, Mulgoa became the "A" Riding of the neighbouring Nepean Shire. On 1 January 1949, under the ''

Local Government (Areas) Act 1948 Local Government (Areas) Act 1948 was a landmark New South Wales statute that was notable for its wide-ranging reforms for and amalgamations of the Local Government Areas of New South Wales within the County of Cumberland. Largely informed by t ...

'', the Municipalities of Penrith, St Marys and Castlereagh and A Riding of the Nepean Shire amalgamated to form a new Municipality of Penrith. It was declared a City on 21 October 1959, and expanded westwards to include Emu Plains and Emu Heights, formerly part of the

, on 25 October 1963.

Demographics

At the 2016 census, there were 196,066 people in the Penrith local government area, of these 49.4% were male and 50.6% were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 3.9% of the population; notably above the national average of 2.8%. The

median In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic f ...

age of people in the City of Penrith was 34 years; notably below the national median of 38 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 21.06% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 11.69% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 47.3% were married and 12.3% were either divorced or separated. Population growth in the City of Penrith between the 2001 Census and the was 0.15% and in the subsequent five years to the , population growth was 3.68%. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same periods, being 5.78% and 8.32% respectively, population growth in the Penrith local government area was significantly lower than the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the City of Penrith was on with par with the national average. At the , the proportion of residents in the Penrith local government area who stated their

ancestry An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from w ...

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

exceeded 62.5% of all residents (national average was 59.6%). In excess of 52.8% of all residents in the City of Penrith area nominated a

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

affiliation with

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

at the , which was significantly higher than the national average of 38.5%. Meanwhile, as at the Census date, compared to the national average, households in the Penrith local government area had a marginally lower than average proportion (20.7%) where two or more languages are spoken (national average was 22.2%); and a higher proportion (77.2%) where

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

only was spoken at home (national average was 72.7%).

Council

Composition and election methods

Current composition and election method

Penrith City Council is composed of fifteen

Councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s elected proportionally as three separate wards, each electing five Councillors. All Councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The

is elected by the Councillors at the first meeting of the council for a two-year term, while the Deputy Mayor is elected for a single-year term only. The most recent election was held on 10 September 2016, with a by-election held on 12 May 2018 to replace two Councillors who resigned during the Council term. The current Council is as follows: Australia Penrith Council 2016

The current Council, elected in 2016, in order of election by ward, is:

Mayors

Media

The City of Penrith is served by a weekly newspaper, The Western Weekender, which was founded in 1991. It produces a print edition each Friday as well as a digital news service. The newspaper is independently owned.

Sister cities

Since it signed its first agreement with Fujieda, Japan in 1984, Penrith City has gradually expanded its sister cities and international links programme. Presently Penrith has links with: *

Penrith, Cumbria Penrith (, , ) is a market town and civil parish in the county of Cumbria, England, about south of Carlisle. It is less than outside the Lake District National Park, in between the Rivers Petteril and Eamont and just north of the River ...

, England - Sister City * Fujieda City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan - Sister City * Hakusan City (incorporating Matto City), Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan - Friendship City *

Kunshan Kunshan is a county-level city in southeastern Jiangsu province with Shanghai bordering its eastern border and Suzhou on its western boundary. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Suzhou. Name There is a stron ...

, Jiangsu Province, China - Friendship City * Xicheng District of Beijing City, China - Mutual Co-operation Agreement * Gangseo-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea - Mutual Co-operation Agreement

Heritage listings

The City of Penrith has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Agnes Banks, Rickards Avenue: Agnes Bank Natural Area * Castlereagh, Castlereagh Road:

Upper Castlereagh Public School The Upper Castlereagh Public School is a heritage-listed former closed school building located at 312 Old Castlereagh Road in the western Sydney suburb of Castlereagh in the City of Penrith local government area of New South Wales, Australia. ...

* Emu Plains, Main Western railway:

Emu Plains railway station Emu Plains railway station is a heritage-listed railway station located on the Main Western line in the western Sydney suburb of Emu Plains in the City of Penrith local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by the New ...

* Londonderry, 947-953 Londonderry Road: Fossil and Petrology collections, New South Wales * Mulgoa, Fairlight Road:

Fairlight Homestead Fairlight Homestead is a heritage-listed homestead complex located at 377-429 Fairlight Road in the western Sydney suburb of Mulgoa in the City of Penrith local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1821 to 1890. It i ...

* Mulgoa, Mulgoa Road:

Fernhill, Mulgoa ''Fernhill'' is a heritage register, heritage-listed former chicken hatchery, plant nursery, guest house, farm, residence, stone mason's yard and piggery and now residence and horse stud located at 1041 Mulgoa Road, in the Greater Western Sydney, ...

* Mulgoa, 754-760 Mulgoa Road:

Glenmore, Mulgoa ''Glenmore'' is a heritage-listed former farm, vineyard, rural residence and private school and now golf club and function centre located at 754-760 Mulgoa Road in the western Sydney suburb of Mulgoa in the City of Penrith local government ar ...

* Mulgoa, St Thomas Road: St Thomas' Anglican Church, Mulgoa * Mulgoa, 2 St Thomas Road: Cox's Cottage * Penrith, 34-40 Borec Road: Craithes House * Penrith, 26 Coombes Drive: Torin Building * Penrith, Great Western railway:

Penrith railway station, Sydney Penrith railway station is a heritage-listed railway station located on the Main Western line in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith in the City of Penrith local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by New South Wal ...

* Penrith, Nepean River, Great Western Highway:

Victoria Bridge (Penrith) The Victoria Bridge (Penrith), also known as the Victoria Bridge over Nepean River and officially known as The Nepean Bridge, is a heritage-listed former railway bridge and now wrought iron box plate girder road bridge across the Nepean River on ...

* Penrith, Off Bruce Neale Dr, Steel Trusses 1.3 km past station: Emu Plains Underbridge * Penrith, 1 Museum Drive: Penrith Museum of Fire,Penrith Museum of Fire
Retrieved 18 June 2009 including the following: ** Fire and Rescue NSW Heritage Fleet ** NSW Fire Brigades No 10 Vehicle Number Plates ** 1869 Shand Mason 7 inch Manual Fire Engine ** 1891 Shand Mason Fire Engine ** 1898 Shand Mason Curricle Ladders ** 1909 Edward Smith Headquarters Switchboard ** 1929 Ahrens Fox PS2 Fire Engine ** 1939 Dennis Big 6 Fire Engine ** 1942 Ford 21W Fire Brigade Mobile Canteen * Regentville, 427 Mulgoa Road: Glenleigh Estate * St Marys, Great Western Railway: St Marys railway station, Sydney * St Marys, Mamre Road: Mamre, St Marys * Werrington, Water Street:

Rose Cottage and Early Slab Hut Rose Cottage and Early Slab Hut is a heritage-listed former residence and farm house and now vacant building, at the corner of Water Street and Tennant Road, in the western Sydney suburb of Werrington in the City of Penrith local government a ...

References

External links

Penrith City Council website
{{NSW Local Government Act 1948 1871 establishments in Australia Penrith