Cranebrook is a suburb of

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, far western and the Blue Mountains sub-regions with ...

, 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, and is located 50 km radially (65 km by road) WNW 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 Penrith A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

. Cranebrook is part of the

region. Cranebrook is surrounded by the rural suburbs of Castlereagh, Llandilo and Londonderry and has come to incorporate the Mount Pleasant housing estate, long regarded as a separate suburb.

History

Cranebrook takes its name from a pioneer farmer, James McCarthy, who was granted 100

acres The acre ( ) is a unit of land area used in the British imperial and the United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, ...

(400,000 m²) of land in 1804 and named it "Crane Brook farm", after the abundance of cranes in the area. James McCarthy started a cemetery in 1804. After his four-year-old daughter died, he set aside some land to bury her in what became one of the first

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

cemeteries in

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 ...

. Cranebrook Post Office opened on 1 August 1886, closed in 1929, re-opened in 1934 and closed in 1957.

Geography

Cranebrook's geography is hilly and many residents on the western side enjoy views across the

Nepean River The Nepean River (Darug language, Darug: Yandhai), is a Perennial stream, major perennial river, located in the south-west and west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Nepean River, and, continuing by its downstream name, the Hawkesbury ...

to the Blue Mountains. Residents on the eastern side enjoy views across the ADI Site, an area rich in Cumberland Woodland and populated with many

kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

s. The Northern Road separates Cranebrook (to the west) from the ADI Site (to the east), an area of land around 15 square kilometres in size. Aspects relating to the sale and development of this land have been a strong local political issue. The southern boundary of Cranebrook is Andrews Road, and the northern boundary is Smeeton Road. Nearby is McCarthys Lane Cemetery, considered the oldest

cemetery in

. The western boundary is Castlereagh Road and Church Street.

Penrith Lakes

West of Castlereagh Rd are the Penrith Lakes, a series of flooded quarries. The quarries were formed by a quarrying conglomerate in 1979. The site supplies around 75% of Sydney's sand and crushed aggregate requirements, including about 85% of the materials for ready mixed concrete. One of these lakes is the

Sydney International Regatta Centre The Sydney International Regatta Centre (SIRC), located in Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, is a Rowing at the 2000 Summer Olympics, rowing and Canoeing at the 2000 Summer Olympics, canoe sprint venue built fo ...

which hosted the

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

events of the Sydney 2000 Olympics. There is also the popular

Penrith Whitewater Stadium The Penrith Whitewater Stadium is located near Sydney, Australia. It is an artificial whitewater sporting facility which hosted the canoe/kayak slalom events at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. The facility is part of the Penrith Lakes Sche ...

which hosted

whitewater slalom Canoe slalom (previously known as whitewater slalom) is a competitive sport with the aim to navigate a Spraydeck, decked canoe or kayak through a course of hanging downstream or upstream gates on Whitewater, river rapids in the fastest time pos ...

events for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. The Penrith Lakes Development Corporation (PLDC) oversees implementation of the Penrith Lakes Scheme. It is a popular misconception that these lakes are filled via the

but they are actually filled via rain water and

ground water Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidat ...

. When the

floods, the lakes system can act as a

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

. A Penrith Lakes Scheme Concept Plan is currently under review to ensure the site delivers a wide range of environmental, social, cultural and economic values. PLDC has established a community advisory committee (CAC) which will meet regularly and provide advice on the ongoing planning and development of the lakes scheme. The lakes were also a film location for the film '' Mad Max: Fury Road'' (2015).

Demographics

According to the of Population, there were 15,779 people in Cranebrook. * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 7.0% of the population. * The median age of people in Cranebrook was 33, younger than the national median of 38. * 80.4% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 3.1%, New Zealand 1.6%, India 1.0%, Philippines 0.9% and China 0.6%. * 85.5% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Arabic 0.7%, Mandarin 0.6%, Spanish 0.6%, Maltese 0.5% and Tagalog 0.5%. * The most common responses for religion were No Religion 35.5%, Catholic 28.6% and Anglican 15.0%.

Commercial area

The main commercial area of Cranebrook is on Borrowdale Way, and features a shopping centre and some parkland.

Transport

Residents of Cranebrook can access Penrith by travelling south on The Northern Road or Castlereagh Road. The trip by car is about 10 minutes. Residents can also travel to Windsor and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

to the north, which are about 10–15 minutes by car. The distance to the Sydney CBD is 65 km and this is best travelled by either driving down The Northern Road to the

M4 Motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is the third longest motorway in the United Kingdom, running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh ele ...

or taking a train from Penrith Railway Station. Cranebrook itself has no train station (the nearest station is Penrith); however, the area is serviced by buses which can take residents into Penrith.

Schools

The three public primary schools are Braddock Public School, Henry Fulton Public School and Samuel Terry Public School. The local public high school is Cranebrook High School. At one point Xavier College was based in Cranebrook, while construction of its permanent site in Llandilo was developed. The Catholic primary school is Corpus Christi, located in northern Cranebrook. A non-denominational Christian private school, St Paul's Grammar School, offers the

IB Diploma Programme The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry int ...

Churches

There are two churches in Cranebrook: Corpus Christi Catholic Church on Andromeda Drive and St Thomas's Anglican Church on Callisto Drive.

Housing

Cranebrook is a largely residential area. It contains mostly medium-density housing and some low-density semi-rural housing towards the north. Whilst some of the semi-rural areas would date to when Cranebrook was first founded, much of the medium-density development has occurred within just the last 15 years. Even today there is a regular new home construction. As such, the population is typically local families, many of whom are home-owners or aspiring home-owners. There are some units and semi-detached houses in the Mount Pleasant area, though the majority are detached with good size house blocks, well kept gardens and abundant mature native trees. In 2010, the swamplands in the south-western corner of Cranebrook were developed into a 53.3ha housing community named Waterside. The development includes 694 high-density dwellings, lakes and parklands. Shortly after the Waterside development completed, a new development east of Cranebrook was established. Jordan Springs is located in 229ha of former Australian Defence Industry land and shares a boundary with Cranebrook via The Northern Road.

Politics

The state government

electorate Electorate may refer to: * The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate'' * The dominion of a prince-elector in the Holy Roman Empire until 1806 * An electoral district ...

s are Londonderry and Penrith. It is in the North Ward of the

of the

. The Aboriginal district is the Deerubbin Local Aboriginal Land Council Area.

References

External links

Penrith Lakes Development Corporation

Penrith WhiteWater Stadium

Sydney International Regatta Centre

St Paul's Grammar School

Penrith City Council – Local Suburb Profiles – Cranebrook
{{Sydney Penrith suburbs Suburbs of Sydney 1804 establishments in Australia City of Penrith