Ambarvale is a suburb of

south-western Sydney South Western Sydney is a region of the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is situated in the south-west of the larger Sydney metropolitan area, and is part of the predominantly working class area of Greater Western Sydney. Geograph ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Ambarvale is located 55 kilometres southwest 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 ...

, 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 federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

of the City of Campbelltown, and is part of the Macarthur region. The suburb is predominantly residential and contains a mix of public and private housing.

History

Aboriginal culture

The region's history began over 40,000 years ago and is contained in the continuing culture of the

Tharawal people The Tharawal people and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people, identified by the Yuin language. Traditionally, they lived as hunter–fisher–gatherers in family groups or clans with ties of kinship, scattered along the coasta ...

.The surrounding land still contains reminders of their past lives in rock engravings,

cave painting In archaeology, cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric art, prehistoric origin. These paintings were often c ...

s, axe-grinding grooves, and shell

midden A midden is an old dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bones, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human oc ...

European settlement

The suburb draws its name from a property established in 1816 by former convict Samuel Larkin. The property was actually where modern-day St Helens Park is located. One of the earliest properties in what is now known as Ambarvale was a dairy farm called ''Glen Lora''. In 1972, the farms were sold for housing, and the new suburb was officially opened in 1976.

Demographics

According to the of population, there were 7,254 people in Ambarvale. * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 6.9% of the population. * 67.0% of people were born in Australia. The most next most common countries of birth were Philippines 2.7%, New Zealand 2.4% and England 2.1%. * 69.2% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Arabic 3.5%, Spanish 2.1% and Samoan 1.6%. * The most common responses for religion were No Religion 29.3%, Catholic 23.2% and Anglican 12.3%.

Commercial area

Ambarvale has an

ALDI Aldi (German pronunciation: ), stylised as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and ...

shopping centre on Woodhouse Drive. This was completed early in 2010, with the old shopping centre being demolished. Beside ALDI is the Ambarvale Tavern, which has a bistro and gambling facilities. Just north of the suburb is Macarthur Square shopping centre, one of the largest shopping centres in southwestern Sydney.

Transport

Macarthur railway station Macarthur railway station is located on the Main Southern line, serving the Sydney suburb of Campbelltown. It is served by Sydney Trains' T8 Airport & South and NSW TrainLink's Southern Highlands Line services. It is the southern extremity ...

is located just north of Ambarvale, providing connection to Campbelltown

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and the

via the

Airport & South Line The Airport & South Line (numbered T8, coloured green; commonly called the East Hills Line) is a commuter rail service operated by Sydney Trains, connecting the Sydney central business district with the southwestern suburbs via Sydney Airport. ...

of the

Sydney Trains Sydney Trains is the brand name and operator of Railways in Sydney, suburban and intercity train services in and around Greater Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The metropolitan part of the network is a hybrid urban rail, urban-suburban r ...

network.

NSW TrainLink NSW TrainLink is a regional train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and into Australian Capital Territory, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria (state), Victoria, Queensland and South Australia ...

also services Macarthur providing connections to the Southern Highlands,

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

Griffith Griffith may refer to: People * Griffith (name) * Griffith (surname) * Griffith (given name) Places Antarctica * Mount Griffith, Ross Dependency * Griffith Peak (Antarctica), Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Glacier, Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Ridge, ...

and

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. Bus services are provided by

Transit Systems Transit Systems Group is an Australian-based public transport company, which also operates overseas through its subsidiary Tower Transit Group. Transit Systems Group is a subsidiary of the Kelsian Group, formerly SeaLink Travel Group. History ...

, leaving from Kellicar Road (under the bridge). The routes are 870–4, 886–89, 890–98 to and from Campbelltown.

Schools

The suburb contains two public primary schools, Ambarvale Public and Thomas Acres Public, plus one public high school, Thomas Reddall High School. The high school named Ambarvale High School is actually located in Rosemeadow.

Housing

The majority of housing in Ambarvale is in the form of detached houses although attached houses and walk-up flats also exist. The majority of dwellings in Ambarvale were constructed in the 1970s and 1980s. Streets in Ambarvale are named after characters from the novels of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

, examples include: * Quilp Place * Copperfield Drive * Havisham Way * Boythorn Avenue * Nickleby Way * Gargery Street

References

{{Sydney Campbelltown suburbs Suburbs of Sydney Towns in the Macarthur (New South Wales) City of Campbelltown (New South Wales)