Potts Hill, 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 ...

of local government area

City of Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown Council, trading as the City of Canterbury Bankstown and stylised as CBCity, is a Local government areas of New South Wales, local government area in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Th ...

, is 21 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 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. It is a part of the

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 ...

region. Potts Hill shares its

postcode A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...

of 2143 with neighbouring suburbs

Regents Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically between Marylebone and ...

and

Birrong Birrong, a suburb of local government area City of Canterbury-Bankstown, is located 22 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, and is a part of the South-western Sydney region. ...

. Much of the area of Potts Hill is occupied by the Potts Hill Reservoir owned and operated by

Sydney Water Sydney Water, formally, Sydney Water Corporation, is a Government of New South WalesState-owned corporation, owned statutory authority, statutory corporation that provides potable drinking water, wastewater and some stormwater services to Sydney ...

History

Potts Hill is named for Joseph Hyde Potts, an accountant in the

Bank of New South Wales The Bank of New South Wales (BNSW), also known as The Wales, was the first bank in Australia. It was established in 1817 in Sydney. During the 19th century, the bank opened branches throughout Australia and New Zealand, expanding into Oceania ...

, who received a grant of in 1833. He originally called his property Hyde Park and had increased his holdings to by 1835. Two reservoirs were built here between 1888 and 1923 as part of the Sydney water supply system.

Heritage listings

Potts Hill has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Pressure Tunnel and Shafts * Cooper Road: Potts Hill Reservoirs 1 and 2

Potts Hill migrant camp

In 1946 the Metropolitan Water, Sewerage and Drainage Board (MWS&DB) (now

) started to build the City Water Tunnel – a water supply tunnel from Potts Hill to

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces * Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Australia * Waterloo, New South Wale ...

in Sydney to supplement the existing Pressure Tunnel (started 1946, finished 1961). From 1948 to 1955 workers camps were set up at Potts Hill to accommodate the European migrant workers (Poles, Czechs, Lithuanians, and Ukrainians) who were indentured from the many

displaced person Forced displacement (also forced migration or forced relocation) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of perse ...

s brought to Australia after World War II. Due to the proximity of Regents Park, the camp was also known as the Regents Park migrant camp. Conditions at the Potts Hill camp were primitive. Known as "tent city", many workers had to live in tents, some of the huts were in bad repair and there was a lack of hot water, showers and electric coppers. In early 1951 there were nearly 1,000 men living in the camp. The local businessman who sold food to the workers neglected to install refrigeration and had a poor record for hygiene. Workers' wives were only allowed in the camp between 11 am and 5 pm on Sundays. Wives, particularly in hospitals, were often on night work, and did not have week-ends off. Sometimes married couples could not see each other for several months. The workers also experienced hostility from the union members of the Water Board.

Potts Hill radio astronomy field station

In 1948 the Division of Radiophysics of the

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

obtained permission from the Water Board to operate a field station on vacant land adjacent to the Potts Hill reservoir. The southern and eastern sides of the No. 1 reservoir were used for the east–west and north–south arms of the solar grating arrays. By 1952 it had become the Division's largest field station. Equipment included a 4-element Yagi and single Yagi antennas, a 16-ft x 18-ft

paraboloid In geometry, a paraboloid is a quadric surface that has exactly one axial symmetry, axis of symmetry and no central symmetry, center of symmetry. The term "paraboloid" is derived from parabola, which refers to a conic section that has a similar p ...

, a

Mills Cross Telescope The Mills Cross Telescope was a two-dimensional radio telescope built by Bernard Mills in 1954 at the Fleurs field station of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in the area known now as Badgerys Creek, a ...

prototype, a 68-inch paraboloid, swept lobe

interferometer Interferometry is a technique which uses the '' interference'' of superimposed waves to extract information. Interferometry typically uses electromagnetic waves and is an important investigative technique in the fields of astronomy, fiber opt ...

Yagi aerials, a prototype of a Fleurs Cross aerial and 16 and 32 element solar grating arrays. Radiophysics continued operations until 1962 when the field station's operations were transferred to other field stations.

Population

In the 2021 Census, there were 1,454 people in Potts Hill. 45.8% of people were born in Australia. Other countries of birth included Vietnam 6.7%, South Korea 6.5%, China 5.4%, Lebanon 2.6% and Pakistan 2.5%. 27.5% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Arabic 16.2%, Vietnamese 9.0%, Korean 7.8%, Mandarin 6.2% and Urdu 4.6%. The most common responses for religion were Islam 35.5%, No Religion 16.7%, Catholic 13.5%, Buddhism 7.4% and Not stated 7.2%.

In popular culture

'' Mad Max: Fury Road'' (2015) was partly filmed at Potts Hill.

References

External links

{{Coord, -33.890, 151.030, format=dms, type:city_region:AU-NSW, display=title Suburbs of Sydney City of Canterbury-Bankstown Migrant hostels in Australia Astronomical observatories in New South Wales