Wetherill Park, New South Wales
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Wetherill Park 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 ...
in
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 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 ...
. Wetherill Park is located 34 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 Fairfield The Fairfield City Council is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Greater Western Sydney, west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The council was first incorporated as the "Municipal District of Smit ...
. The recorded that Wetherill Park as having a resident population of 6,127. Just under half (47.5%) of these residents were born in Australia. The area is 11.2 km2. Most residents live in the south-east corner, the larger portion of the suburb being an industrial area. Wetherill Park sits on the southern border of Prospect Reservoir. Located partially in the suburb, the ''Smithfield-Wetherill Park Industrial Estate'' is the largest
industrial estate An industrial park, also known as industrial estate or trading estate, is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more heavyweight version of a business park or office par ...
in the southern hemisphere and is the centre of manufacturing and distribution in Greater Western Sydney. Despite its large industry area, Wetherill Park is listed as one of the five most leafiest suburbs in Sydney by the '' Domain Group'' (the only suburb in Western Sydney to be listed).


History


Aboriginal culture

Aboriginal people from the Cabrogal clan of the Gandangara tribe, have lived in the area for more than 30,000 years.


European settlement

Wetherill Park was named after a businessman who offered of his property to the State government as a park. The offer was accepted and the park was named after the donor. The first settlers in set up their homes north of the present school site at Wetherill Park. One hundred years ago, there were not enough homes in this suburb to need a school. With the commencement of the Prospect Reservoir Waterworks, a local storekeeper, Samuel Booth, made available a section of his land for a school, free of charge. The school, called 'Macquarie Park', was located on the corner of Victoria and Daniel Streets being 365 Victoria Street, Wetheril Park. It opened in May 1882 with 8 children but it was changed in June 1882 to 'Boothtown' for Samuel Booth's involvement in the establishment of the school. In 1884 it became Reservoir Public School and in 1896, it became the Wetherill Park Public School. In 1986 the school made way for the Phuoc Hue Temple, and was relocated down the road to Lily Street and renamed William Stimson Public School, in honour of the first mayor of the
City of Fairfield The Fairfield City Council is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Greater Western Sydney, west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The council was first incorporated as the "Municipal District of Smit ...
.


Street names

A characteristic of Wetherill Park is that all the streets are named after famous writers. Some examples include: Vidal Street (for
Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal ( ; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the Social norm, social and sexual ...
), Shakespeare Street (for
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
), Stevenson Street (for
Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...
), Locke Street (for
John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) – 28 October 1704 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.)) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thi ...
), Gogol Place (for
Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), ...
), Swinburne Crescent (for
Richard Swinburne Richard Granville Swinburne (; born 26 December 1934) is an English philosopher. He is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford. Over the last 50 years, Swinburne has been a proponent of philosophical arguments for the e ...
), Homer Place (for
Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...
), Emerson Street (for
Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...
), Wordsworth Street (for
William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...
), Dickens Road (for
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
), Longfellow Street (for
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to comp ...
), Chaucer Street (for
Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...
), Ainsworth Crescent (for
William Harrison Ainsworth William Harrison Ainsworth (4 February 18053 January 1882) was an English historical novelist born at King Street in Manchester. He trained as a lawyer, but the legal profession held no attraction for him. While completing his legal studies in ...
), Coleridge Road (for
Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...
), Frost Close (for
Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American Colloquialism, colloquial speech, Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New E ...
), Gissing Street (for
George Gissing George Robert Gissing ( ; 22 November 1857 – 28 December 1903) was an English novelist, who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. In the 1890s he was considered one of the three greatest novelists in England, and by the 1940s he had been ...
), Maugham Crescent (for
Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...
) and Langland Street (for
William Langland William Langland (; ; ) is the presumed author of a work of Middle English alliterative verse generally known as ''Piers Plowman'', an allegory with a complex variety of religious themes. The poem translated the language and concepts of the cl ...
).


Commercial areas

* Stockland Wetherill Park is a major
shopping centre A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...
in the area and features one of Australia's largest cinema complexes owned by
Hoyts The HOYTS Group of companies in Australia and New Zealand includes HOYTS Cinemas, a cinema chain, and Val Morgan, which sells advertising on cinema screens and digital billboards. The company was established by dentist Arthur Russell in Melbo ...
. The shopping centre opened in 1983, the first major expansion took place in 2003. In 2013 a second expansion saw the building complex expand to fill the entire lot, with parking moved underground and multi-story rooftop parking. The 2013 expansion cost over $200 million AUD and was complete in 2016. A large stand alone Chinese restaurant existed on the lot until the early 2000's. It hosted Chinese diplomats & VIPs as well as lavish Chinese New Year functions until the location was purchased by the Local Government and turned into the Wetherill Park Library. *Wetherill Park Shopping Centre (now known as Market Town) opened in the early 1980s on the corner of The Horsley Drive and Rossetti Street, adjacent to Emerson Street Reserve tennis courts. It originally featured approximately 25 specialty shops. In recent years, the shopping centre underwent renovations which saw the shopping complex completely reformed, and the rear parking lot expanded. Today, the complex also features a bowling centre and supermarkets. *Greenway Plaza is a larger, outdoor shopping complex with many stores. There are also a few restaurants, cafes, a TAB, an employment service provider and
Service NSW Service NSW is a New South Wales Government executive agency within the Department of Customer Service that provides a one-stop access to government services via online, phone or in-person at its service centres. The agency is the single point ...
office within the complex.


Industrial area

Wetherill Park is home to the largest industrial estate in the Southern Hemisphere, with companies such as Jaguar,
BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...
,
Subaru is the automaker, automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate (company), conglomerate Subaru Corporation (formerly known as Fuji Heavy Industries), the Automotive industry#By manufacturer, twenty-first largest aut ...
and
Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...
situated in the area. Despite the heavy industrial presence, the suburb maintains a coppice environment dominated by eucalyptus trees. Within the industrial estate there are furniture stores, home depot stores, car mechanic services and clothing factories, among others. The headquarters of the Australian paper manufacturer ''ABC Tissue Products'' (which operates
tissue paper Tissue paper, or simply tissue, is a lightweight paper or light crêpe paper. Tissue can be made from recycled pulp (paper), paper pulp on a paper machine. Tissue paper is very versatile, and different kinds are made to best serve these purposes ...
brands such as,
Quilton Quilton is an Australian brand of toilet roll produced by ''ABC Tissue Products''. In 2023, Quilton was named the top-scoring toilet paper brand in a review that featured more than 30 toilet paper roll brands, where it received an 85% score. The ...
, Naturale and Symphony, among others) is situated in Redfern Street.


Transport

Transitway bus route T80 operated by
Transit Systems Sydney Transit Systems NSW, previously known as Transit Systems Sydney, is a bus operator in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a subsidiary of Transit Systems. History In November 2012, Transit Systems was awarded a contract by Transport fo ...
, opened in 2003 and runs partly through Wetherill Park. It is also located close to the Westlink M7 Sydney Orbital motorway. The Horsley Drive is the major road which runs through Wetherill Park. Other major roads include Polding Street and Victoria Street.


Climate

Wetherill Park has a
humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...
(''Cfa'') with warm to hot summers and cool, drier winters. Frost is not unheard of in winter. Afternoon thunderstorms can occur in the warm months.


Demographics

According to the 2021 Census, the most common ancestries in Wetherill Park were Australian 11.0%, Assyrian 10.7%, Italian 9.4%, English 8.7%, and Iraqi 7.4%. 43.2% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
18.0%,
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
3.2%,
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
3.0%,
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
2.4% and
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
1.6%. The most common responses for religion were
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 ...
46.4%, No Religion 10.1%, Not stated 6.2%,
Assyrian Church of the East The Assyrian Church of the East (ACOE), sometimes called the Church of the East and officially known as the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East, is an Eastern Christianity, Eastern Syriac Christianity, Syriac Christian denomin ...
6.1%,
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
7.0% and
Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...
6.1%. Overall, Christianity was the largest religious group reported (74.0%). 32.8% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Arabic 12.4%,
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic Suret ( Help:IPA for Aramaic, suːrɪtʰor Help:IPA for Aramaic, suːrɪθ, also known as Assyrian, refers to the varieties of Northeastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) spoken by Christians, namely Assyrian people, Assyrians.Nordhoff, Sebast ...
9.5%,
Chaldean Neo-Aramaic Suret ( suːrɪtʰor suːrɪθ, also known as Assyrian, refers to the varieties of Northeastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) spoken by Christians, namely Assyrians.Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, e ...
6.3%, Spanish 5.0% and Vietnamese 3.9%. Combining the
varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
of Assyrian and Chaldean,
Neo-Aramaic The Neo-Aramaic or Modern Aramaic languages are varieties of Aramaic that evolved during the late medieval and early modern periods, and continue to the present day as vernacular (spoken) languages of modern Aramaic-speaking communities. Within ...
will be the most common language at 15.8%.


Schools

* William Stimson Public School


Parks and recreation

The suburb features a large recreational park and an urban forest, Wetherill Park Nature Reserve. Adjacent to that Reserve is the ''Emerson Street Reserve'', which is a 6-hectare, rectangular-shaped
sports ground A pitch or a sports ground is an outdoor playing area for various sports. The term ''pitch'' is most commonly used in British English, while the comparable term in Australian English, Australian, American English, American and Canadian English is ...
which features a walking track, a tennis facility, a
skate park A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, scootering, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairsets, quarter pipe ...
, a basketball court, cricket practice nets and a soccer field. Although not in the suburb, Rosford Street Reserve is adjacent to the eastern outskirts of Wetherill Park. As part of Fairfield City Council's Parks Improvement Program, Shakespeare Park was upgraded in 2006.


Places of worship

Wetherill Park is home to a large Vietnamese
Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
temple, Phuoc Hue Temple, which was visited by
Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...
in 1994.


Notable residents

Wetherill Park was once home to famous Italian footballer,
Christian Vieri Christian Vieri (; born 12 July 1973), commonly known as Bobo Vieri, is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Having been born in Italy, Vieri moved with his family to Australia as a child, before returning ...
.


References

{{Sydney Fairfield suburbs Suburbs of Sydney City of Fairfield