Schofields 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 ...

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 ...

, 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 ...

. Schofields is located north-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

Blacktown Blacktown is a suburb in New South Wales, Australia, west of the Sydney central business district. It is one of the most multicultural places within Sydney, Greater Sydney. History Before the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, the area of ...

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 ...

. It is part 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 ...

's North West Growth Area.

Demographics

As at the , Schofields had an estimated population of 15,213. In 2001, Schofields had an estimated population of 3,012. Over the 20-year period, Schofield's population increased by 505.1%. The suburb is on the

rural-urban fringe Peri-urbanisation relates to the processes of scattered and dispersive urban growth that create hybrid landscapes of fragmented and mixed urban and rural characteristics. Such areas may be referred to as the rural–urban fringe, the outskirts ...

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 ...

, and is expanding rapidly. It is in the NSW Government's North West Growth Area. Schofields has numerous housing developments underway, which are expected to provide over 2,950 new homes. The most common religion in Schofields is

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

(29.0%). The second largest religion is

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 ...

(18.4%). The most spoken language in Schofields is English (40.3%), with

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

being the second most spoken language at 8.1%. The majority of people from Schofields identified as Indian (27.0%), followed closely by

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

(15.6%). The third largest ancestry was English at 13.9%.

History

Early history of Schofields

John Schofield (1803–1884) was

transported ''Transported'' is an Australian convict melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It is considered a lost film. Plot In England, Jessie Grey is about to marry Leonard Lincoln but the evil Harold Hawk tries to force her to marry him and she ...

from

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

to the Colony of New South Wales for stealing when he was just 17 years old. At the time he was a silk weaver from

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. He was transported aboard in 1821 and was assigned to work for Thomas Harley, a free-settler, on his farm at . In 1828, Schofield was granted a

Ticket of Leave A ticket of leave was a document of parole issued to convicts who had shown they could now be trusted with some freedoms. Originally the ticket was issued in United Kingdom, Britain and later adapted by the United States, Canada, and Ireland. ...

, which allowed him to live freely within the district 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 ...

. In 1829, he married Bridget Harley, the daughter of his former employer. Schofield then rented ''Gillingham Farm'', located near the Eastern Creek. The Schofields delivered eight offspring; five males and three females. In 1841, Schofield bought three blocks of land along the Windsor Road. Unfortunately, due to falling wool prices and a general state of depression in the colony, Schofield became bankrupt in 1843. New government concessions introduced a few years later allowed Schofield to buy of land around the area now known as Schofields in 1845. In 1849, Schofield and two of his sons, William and Samuel, sailed to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in the hope of finding gold. He returned in 1850 with some gold, but their ship, the ''Rosetta Joseph'' struck land and became ship wrecked. Aboard life-boats and in very rough seas, the passengers were rescued at after ten days. Schofield and his sons returned to their farm with enough gold to pay off most of his debts. Just before Christmas in 1851, Bridget Schofield died. The discovery of gold in New South Wales and a rise in the economy provided Schofield with enough money to pay off his mortgage and develop his keen interest in horseracing. The

railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

from to opened in 1864 and passed through Schofield's land. In 1872, a stopping place was recognised on Schofield's land and a small platform made from railway sleepers was built after that to make boarding the train safer. This platform was known as Schofield's Siding. The name changed over the years to Schofields. In his later life, Schofield set up a sawmill beside the railway line and used the trees from his paddocks in Schofields to supply timber for housing. John Schofield died in 1884.

Modern history

The suburb boundaries of Schofields were changed in November 2020, resulting in the creation of new suburbs of Nirimba Fields and Tallawong in the south and northeast respectively.Schofields is also known for its christmas parades on the 24th, another annual thing schofields does is the hotdog contest. Fat people are found and if they say yes they go to schofields public school hall and do the contest. Winner is given a name engraved golden hotdog statue.

Parks, recreation and essential services

Schofields Park, on Station Street, is the home of the Riverstone Schofields Junior Soccer Football Club and Schofields Cricket Club. The village also has a Community Hall that can be hired out for parties and is also regularly used by the local Church Group on Sunday mornings. The village also has a

NSW Rural Fire Service The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) is a volunteer-based firefighting agency and statutory body of the Government of New South Wales. The NSW RFS is responsible for fire protection to approximately 95% of the land area of New Sou ...

brigade, known as Schofields Bush Fire Brigade. They regularly attend house fires, car accidents, bush fires and most other emergencies in the area that require fire brigade attendance. A Woolworths Supermarket opened up across the road from the new Schofields railway station. Schofields Village Shopping Centre was completed in mid 2021 also across the road from the train station will include a Coles Supermarket and speciality stores. The suburb was also home to the former Schofields Aerodrome and

HMAS Nirimba HMAS ''Nirimba'' is a former Royal Australian Navy (RAN) training base located at the former RAAF Station Schofields at Nirimba Fields, previously Schofields, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. History ''Nirimba'' is a Darug word meanin ...

and is now the suburb of Nirimba Fields.

Transport

Schofields railway station Schofields railway station is a commuter rail, suburban train station, railway station located on the Richmond railway line, Richmond line, serving the Sydney suburb of Schofields, New South Wales, Schofields. It is served by Sydney Trains' Nor ...

is on the Richmond branch. The

Westlink M7 The Westlink M7 is a tolled urban motorway in Sydney, New South Wales that is part of the Sydney Orbital Network. Owned by the NorthWestern Roads (NWR) Group, it connects three motorways: the M5 South-West Motorway at Prestons, the M4 We ...

and

M2 Hills Motorway M2 Hills Motorway is a tolled urban motorway in Sydney, New South Wales that is part of the Sydney Orbital Network and the National Highway west of Pennant Hills Road. Owned by toll road operator Transurban, it forms majority of Sydney's ...

provide easy road access from both the south and the east.

Busways Busways is an Australian bus company operating services in Sydney, and in the Central Coast, Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales and Adelaide. It is the largest privately owned bus operator in Australia. History The origins of Busw ...

provide commuter bus services to/from the suburb.

Places of worship

In 1929, a hall located on St Albans Road was bought and opened as St Peter's Anglican Church the following year. Despite initial growth, St Peter's saw a decline in church attendance in the early 1970s. This decline could not be corrected and St Peter's closed in the 1980s and has now been demolished for housing development. Schofields has a number places of worship that are currently active: * Lankarama Buddhist Vihara (Sri Lankan Buddhist Temple) is located on Oak Street. * Hope Church Sydney (Romanian Pentecostal Church) is located on Carnarvon Road. * SMVS Swaminarayan Mandir Sydney (Hindu Temple) is located on Grange Ave. * Schofields Church (Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement) is located on Grange Ave.

References

External links

Revised suburb boundary of Schofields
(November 2020) - Blacktown City Council {{Sydney Blacktown suburbs Suburbs of Sydney City of Blacktown