Casula () is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, in the state of

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 ...

. It is 34 kilometres south-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 ...

, 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 Liverpool. Casula is the first suburb immediately south of

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 ...

on the

Hume Highway The Hume Highway, including the sections now known as the Hume Freeway and the Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in the northeast. Upgrading of t ...

and the

Main Southern railway line The Main Southern Railway (or Great Southern Railway) is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs from Sydney to Albury, near the Victorian border. The line passes through the Southern Highlands, Southern Tablelands, South West ...

between Sydney 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 ...

. Casula consists of undulating, gently rolling land, with elevations across the suburb being mostly between 30 and 70 metres above sea level. The

Georges River The Georges River, also known as Tucoerah River, is an intermediate tide-dominated Ria, drowned valley estuary, that is located in Sydney, Australia. The Georges River is located south and south-west from the Sydney central business district, w ...

forms the eastern boundary of the suburb, and its western bank is paralleled by a relatively steep escarpment.

Aboriginal

The original inhabitants of the Casula area were the

Tharawal 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 ...

or "Dharawal" people of the greater

Eora The Eora (; also ''Yura'') are an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales. Eora is the name given by the earliest European settlers to a group of Aboriginal people belonging to the clans along the coastal area of what is now known as ...

nation, an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

group. "Tharawal" refers to the country and people who belong to greater southern and south-western Sydney. The Tharawal Local Aboriginal Land Council (

LALC The NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) is the peak representative body of Aboriginal Australians in New South Wales. It has the mandate, under the ''Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983'' (NSW), to develop land rights among Aboriginal people in New ...

) extends through

, Camden, Campbelltown and

Wollondilly Wollondilly Shire is a periurban local government area that is located on the far southwest fringe of the Greater Sydney area in New South Wales, Australia. The local government area is part of the Macarthur and Blue Mountains regions. The Wol ...

Local Government Areas (LGAs). The

totem A totem (from or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage (anthropology), lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system. While the word ...

animal for Tharawal country is the

superb lyrebird The superb lyrebird (''Menura novaehollandiae'') is an Australian passerine songbird, one of two species from the family Menuridae, with the other being the much rarer Albert's lyrebird. It is one of the world's largest songbirds, and is re ...

''(Menura novaehollandiae)''.

European

Casula was first settled by

agriculturalists An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.) is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the Uni ...

in the nineteenth century, among them Richard Guise, who named his farm "Casula". The area became dominated by

poultry farming Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion c ...

market gardening A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically from under to s ...

and fruit growing. Another notable farm was Glenfield Farm, which dates from circa 1817. Situated in Leacocks Lane, it originally belonged to politician

Charles Throsby Charles Throsby (1777 – 2 April 1828) was an English surgeon who, after he migrated to New South Wales in 1802, became an explorer, pioneer and parliamentarian. He opened up much new land beyond the Blue Mountains for colonial settlement ...

, a member of the Legislative Council and an explorer. The farm is the oldest continuously worked farm in Australia and is listed on the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...

.The Heritage of Australia, Macmillan Company, 1981, p.2/41 During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, a large Australian Imperial Forces recruitment and training reserve was located in Casula – a fact reflected by the name of one of its major residential streets, "Reserve Road". This camp became briefly notorious in 1916 when a large mob of soldiers rebelled against the strict training regimen, marched on nearby

, ransacked and looted several pubs, hijacked several trains to

Central station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

in Sydney and continued their drunken rioting, resulting in the Military Police shooting dead one rioter. In 1918, Walter Ingham Sr. bought of bush land in Casula as a gift to 18-year-old son, Walter. On his death in 1953, his sons

Jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, incl ...

and

Bob Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Bob (surname) * Bob (dog), a dog that received the Dickin Medal for bravery in World War II * Bob t ...

took over the small chicken breeding operation and built it into the largest producer of chickens and turkeys in Australia. Inghams is now headquartered in Liverpool. Casula Post Office opened on 1 February 1924 and closed in 1979. A ''Liverpool South'' office was renamed ''Cross Roads'' in 1964 and ''Casula Mall'' in 1990 and remains open. Being heavily farmed, the area did not become suburbanised until the late 1950s. Much of the acreage in the central and southern portions were subdivided and developed over the next few decades but even now there are pockets of undeveloped land.

Heritage listings

Casula has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * 88 Leacocks Lane: Glenfield Farm

Environment

The ecological community that once covered vast areas (125,000 Ha) of South-western Sydney, including Casula is known as the

Cumberland Plain Woodland The Cumberland Plain Woodland, also known as Cumberland Plain Bushland and Western Sydney woodland, Bush Regeneration

The National Parks & Wildlife Service Leacock Regional park is home to one of the last remaining stands of Cumberland Plain Woodland. It is also home to the critically endangered Cumberland Plain Land Snail ''( Meridolum corneovirens)''. The ridge line at the top of the park offers views to the

Holsworthy Holsworthy is a market town and civil parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England, west of Exeter. The River Deer, a tributary of the River Tamar, forms the western boundary of the parish, which includes the village of Brandis Corner. ...

bush land. The bellbird walking track takes you through the remnant stand of Cumberland Plain Woodland and can be linked to a track along the Georges River where a lookout can be found by the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre. The 'Weaving Garden'

bush regeneration Bush regeneration, a form of natural area restoration, is the term used in Australia for the ecological restoration of remnant vegetation areas, such as through the minimisation of negative disturbances, both exogenous such as exotic weeds and en ...

group are currently bush regenerating within the reserve.

Landmarks

The

Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (CPAC), commonly referred to as Casula Powerhouse, is a multi-disciplinary arts centre in Casula, New South Wales, Casula, a south-western outer suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Before being renovated a ...

(CPAC), which is situated next to

Casula railway station Casula railway station is located on the Main Southern line, serving the Sydney suburb of Casula. It is served by Sydney Trains' T2 Leppington & Inner West and T5 Cumberland line services. History Casula station opened on 1 November 1894. ...

, was a former 1950s power station. After falling into disrepair, the building was refurbished and reopened in 1994 as an arts centre. As well as hosting a wide variety of exhibitions and arts events reflecting its multicultural community, CPAC has been host to the

Blake Prize The Blake Prize, formerly the Blake Prize for Religious Art, is an List of Australian art awards, Australian art prize awarded for art that explores spirituality. Since the inaugural prize in 1951, the prize was awarded annually from 1951 to 2 ...

, an art prize focused on spirituality, since 2016.

Commercial area

Casula Mall is a

shopping centre A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

owned by

AMP Capital AMP Capital was a large global investment manager headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Its owner, AMP Limited, AMP Group, was established in 1849, and is one of Australia's largest retail and corporate pension providers. AMP Capital has a strate ...

and opened in 1986. It consists of a

Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...

discount department store, a Coles supermarket and approximately forty specialty shops. Crossroads Homemaker Centre is another shopping centre in Casula also owned by AMP Capital. It is situated at the southern end of Casula, containing

Bunnings Warehouse Bunnings Group Limited, trading as Bunnings Warehouse or Bunnings, is an Australian Hardware store, hardware and garden centre chain. The chain has been owned by Wesfarmers since 1994, and has stores in Australia and New Zealand. Bunnings was ...

hardware and

Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores. As of 2021, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the world, and as of August 2024, Cos ...

, numerous bedding and furniture stores, electrical stores such as

Bing Lee Bing Lee is an Australian retailing company, a chain of superstores specialising in consumer electronics, computer and telecommunication goods. Bing Lee is the largest privately held electrical retail business in New South Wales with 35 Bing ...

and The Good Guys.

Transport

Casula is bordered on the north and west by the

M5 Motorway The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...

, with continuous freeway-standard highway to central Sydney and the North Shore. The

cuts through the centre of Casula.

is on the

. But it is located far from the commercial area. Relatively frequent

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 ...

bus services link Casula to the major commercial and retail centre of

and Liverpool station. Glenfield station also serves Casula, being the station of choice for many Casula commuters due to easier accessibility as well as a significantly faster service into Sydney. Buses link Casula and Glenfield travelling via the Hume Highway.

Schools

Casula Primary School was opened on De Meyrick Avenue in 1959, and Casula High School opened in 1973. All Saints Catholic Senior College is the only Catholic school in the suburb being opened in 1987.

Housing

Casula is notable for its variable demographics and mixture of

socio-economic Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analys ...

levels existing side by side. The central and southern areas consist mainly of privately owned houses including the locally famous ranch-style mansion on Old Kurrajong Road owned by

Bob Ingham Robert Walter Ingham (30 September 1931 – 22 September 2020) was a leading Australian businessman in the poultry industry and was co-founder of the largest thoroughbred horse racing and breeding operation in Australia. He was a noted philant ...

Population

According to the , Casula had a population of 16,584, which was substantially families. Of occupied private dwellings in Casula, 71.1% were separate houses, 24.7% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc., 4.1% were flats or apartments and 0.0% were other dwellings. In Casula, 50.8% of people were born in Australia. The most common other countries of birth were Iraq 5.1%, Fiji 3.2%, Lebanon 3.1%, Vietnam 2.6% and India 2.4%. 38.0% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Arabic 17.6%, Vietnamese 3.7%, Hindi 3.4%, Greek 2.4% and Italian 2.0%. The most common responses for religion in Casula were Catholic 23.7%, Islam 20.4%, No Religion, so described 11.6%, Eastern Orthodox 7.6% and Not stated 6.7%. In Casula, Christianity was the largest religious group reported overall (51.4%) (this figure excludes not stated responses).

References

{{Sydney Liverpool suburbs Suburbs of Sydney Hume Highway City of Liverpool (New South Wales)