Constitution Hill 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 ...

. Constitution Hill is located on a hill 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 Parramatta The City of Parramatta, also known as Parramatta Council, is a Local government in Australia, local government area located to the west and north-west of Sydney CBD in the Greater Western Sydney region. Parramatta Council is situated between th ...

and is part of the

Western Sydney Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia * Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that ...

region. Constitution Hill overlooks the city of

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

from above and contains views of the inner Sydney city skyline.

History

The area was originally a locality within the suburb of Wentworthville. Constitution Hill was promoted from a locality to a suburb by the

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales The Geographical Names Board of New South Wales, a statutory authority A statutory body or statutory authority is a body set up by law (statute) that is authorised to implement certain legislation on behalf of the relevant country or stat ...

on 19 January 2007. There are a few houses built before the suburb's development which remain, although none are heritage listed. Examples include 17A and 53 Fraser Street, which were possibly 2 of the three brick homes built by J.C. Page for local farmer David Johnston's family members, the third house likely being 15 Fitzwilliam Road, Old Toongabbie, which sits on the boundary of Constitution Hill.

Demographics

At the , there were 4,030 residents in Constitution Hill. 57.4% of residents were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were India 4.6%, China 3.7% and Lebanon 3.3%. 53.2% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Arabic 8.3%, Mandarin 3.5% and Cantonese 2.4%. The most common responses for religion were Catholic 29.5%, No Religion 22.2% and Anglican 8.5%. The median weekly household income was $1,706 which was slightly below the national median of $1,746.

Historical significance

Constitution Hill was one of the places that was involved in the

Castle Hill convict rebellion The Castle Hill convict rebellion was a Convicts in Australia, convict rebellion in Castle Hill, New South Wales, Castle Hill, Sydney, then part of the British colony of New South Wales. Led by veterans of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the poorly ...

. The mostly Irish convicts would travel from Castle Hill down modern-day Old Windsor Road and meet at Constitution Hill. The distraction they had made at Castle Hill was supposed to stretch out the government forces by allocating some men to go to Castle Hill. The convicts would then attack Parramatta (the capital of the colony at that time) and take over control. The government officials had suspicion that the convicts were planning an attack on Parramatta and kept most of their forces at Parramatta. Thinking that the convicts were at Toongabbie, they set out west, only to be informed that they were at Constitution Hill. When the government forces arrived at the summit of Constitution Hill (Mount Dorothy), they realised that the men had not made it that far yet and were further west at Rouse Hill. Mount Dorothy is now the site of Caloola Road Reserve, which features multiple plaques commemorating the rebellion.

Commercial area

The only commercial area in the suburb is Constitution Hill Shops, which features 14 shops, a library, park and the adjacent Old Toongabbie Early Childhood Health Centre. It is located near the very centre of the suburb, on the corner of Emma Crescent and Hollis Street, with further access through Bulli Road and Greenleaf Street. One of these shops, a pizza restaurant, was used as the pizza shop in the filming of the ''Fat Pizza: Back In Business'' TV series.

Schools

Primary Schools

Toongabbie East Public School is one of the smallest schools in

, having just 53 students and 4 teachers in 2015. It is also the only school within the suburb's boundaries.

References

Suburbs of Sydney City of Parramatta {{Sydney-geo-stub