Emu Heights 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 ...

. Emu Heights is located 58 kilometres 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 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 ...

. Emu Heights sits on the land of the Dharug people, who are the

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

of the area. Sitting on the base of the Blue Mountains escarpment and on the western side of the Nepean river, the suburb is just outside the Sydney

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

. It is bounded to the north by 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 east (at Russell St) and south (at Great Western Railway) by the suburb of

Emu Plains Emu Plains is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region. Emu Plains ...

and to the west by the

City of Blue Mountains The City of Blue Mountains is a Local government in Australia, local government area of New South Wales, Australia, governed by the Blue Mountains City Council. The city is located in the Blue Mountains (New South Wales), Blue Mountains, on th ...

local government area.

History

The

Dharug The Dharug or Darug people, are a nation of Aboriginal Australian clans, who share ties of kinship, country and culture. In pre-colonial times, they lived as hunters in the region of current day Sydney. The Darug speak one of two dialects o ...

people inhabited the land now known as Emu Heights and are the traditional owners of the land. Emu Heights was established by George Innes, a free settler from

Bathurst Bathurst may refer to: People * Bathurst (surname) * Bathurst Bellers Mann (1858–1948), Irish-born rugby union player in Wales * Bathurst Peachy (1893–1953), American college head baseball coach Places and jurisdictions Australia * Bat ...

who obtained in 1831, near McCann's Island and named it Emu Heights. However, the name "Emu Heights" wasn't officially assigned to the neighbourhood until early 1976.

Schools

Emu Heights Public School was founded in 1972. The school had only eighty seven pupils and three teachers, but now has over three hundred students enrolled. The school's teaching revolves around seven Key Learning Areas,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

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Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

, ICT, Human society and its environment, the

Creative Arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive range of me ...

and Personal Health and Social Development.

Parks

Clissold Park is host to great diversity of Australia's

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

and

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

and features basketball, netball and children's playground facilities. The park does not have formal field sporting facilities but is more than large enough for such and regularly used by the close knit people of Emu Heights for community events. There is a peaceful stream that flows down from the mountain escarpment, though this stream has been recorded to flood the whole park and north along Wedmore Rd in major storms. (The stream was diverted east by housing developers in the 1980s who followed a farmers drainage channel rather that the original flow north beside Wedmore Rd to the Nepean river). A larger unnamed parkland also exists at the north end of Emu Heights, between the suburb and the Nepean River, giving wide access to the river. Sporting fields and golf facilities are being considered for this parkland. Fishing and canoeing are popular as this section of the river is not used by power boats. The section of river accessible from Emu Heights is home to a large variety of native and migratory waterbirds. In the early 1960s, the native egg laying mammal the platypus could still be found in this section of the river but has since become extinct.

Population

According to the of Population, there were 3,205 people in Emu Heights. * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 3.3% of the population. * 84.9% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was England at 4.0%. * 92.4% of people spoke only English at home. * The most common responses for religion were No Religion 36.6%, Catholic 28.8% and Anglican 17.1%. * The most common ancestries were Australian 43.8%, English 39.3%, Irish 13.6%, Scottish 11.2% and German 4.4%. * Of occupied private dwellings in Emu Heights, 97.3% were separate houses.

References

{{Sydney Penrith suburbs Suburbs of Sydney City of Penrith