Doonside, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Doonside is a suburb
of Sydney
, in the state of New South Wales
, Australia
. Doonside is located 40 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district
, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown
and is part of the Greater Western Sydney
region. Featherdale Wildlife Park and the Nurragingy Nature Reserve are popular tourist attractions in Doonside. Doonside is now colloquially known as 'Doony'.
(8 km²) grant Hill-end but later the area became known as Crawford. By the time the railway station was built on his land in 1886 it had been changed to Doonside, after his father’s estate in Scotland
. When the railway station was being constructed, an Aboriginal name ‘Wolkara’ was used and this was also the name of the post office that opened here in 1921, but in April 1929 it was changed to Doonside.
of the City Rail network. It provides direct links to Blacktown
, Parramatta
and Sydney CBD. The Great Western Highway
runs along the southern border and the M4 motorway
is just to the south.
. There was a mix of housing tenures in the suburb with 22% of properties owned outright, 33% being purchased and 39% being rented. Of the latter, 60% were rented from the Department of Housing. The median family income of $1097 per week was slightly lower than average and while the average rent ($170 per week) was also lower than average, the average mortgage repayment of $1554 per month was higher than average. The proportion of the labour force employed full time (62%) was higher than average with the most common industry of employment being hospitals (4.2%).
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, in the state of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Doonside is located 40 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district
Sydney central business district
The Sydney central business district is the main commercial centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It extends southwards for about 3 kilometres from Sydney Cove, the point of first European settlement. Its north–south axis runs from Circular Quay in the north to Central railway station in...
, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown
City of Blacktown
The City of Blacktown is a Local Government Area in the heart of Western Sydney, situated on the Cumberland Plain, approximately 35 km from Sydney CBD. It is bounded by the Local Government Areas of Penrith, Parramatta, Fairfield, Holroyd, Hawkesbury and The Hills Shire. It occupies an area...
and is part of the Greater Western Sydney
Greater Western Sydney
Greater Western Sydney is a term used to describe the western region of the metropolitan area of Sydney, Australia. The University of Western Sydney defines Greater Western Sydney as comprising 14 local government areas...
region. Featherdale Wildlife Park and the Nurragingy Nature Reserve are popular tourist attractions in Doonside. Doonside is now colloquially known as 'Doony'.
History
Early settler Robert Crawford (1799 to 1848) named his 2,000 acreAcre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
(8 km²) grant Hill-end but later the area became known as Crawford. By the time the railway station was built on his land in 1886 it had been changed to Doonside, after his father’s estate in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. When the railway station was being constructed, an Aboriginal name ‘Wolkara’ was used and this was also the name of the post office that opened here in 1921, but in April 1929 it was changed to Doonside.
Transport
Doonside railway station is on the Western LineWestern railway line, Sydney
The Western Line is part of the CityRail metropolitan rail network in Sydney, and is the suburban section of the Main West line which connects Sydney with the west of New South Wales. It connects the Sydney CBD to the employment centre of Parramatta and the outer western suburbs, terminating at Emu...
of the City Rail network. It provides direct links to Blacktown
Blacktown, New South Wales
Blacktown is a suburb in the City of Blacktown, in Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Blacktown is located 34 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of City of Blacktown.Blacktown is the largest...
, Parramatta
Parramatta, New South Wales
Parramatta is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta River. Parramatta is the administrative seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Parramatta...
and Sydney CBD. The Great Western Highway
Great Western Highway
The Great Western Highway is a highway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs 210 km from Sydney to Bathurst.Starting as Broadway at the intersection of City Road near the fringe of the Sydney CBD, and becoming Parramatta Road to Parramatta itself, the Great Western Highway heads due west from...
runs along the southern border and the M4 motorway
M4 motorway
The M4 motorway links London with South Wales. It is part of the unsigned European route E30. Other major places directly accessible from M4 junctions are Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea...
is just to the south.
People
Doonside's population was 13,031 in the 2006 Australian censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
. There was a mix of housing tenures in the suburb with 22% of properties owned outright, 33% being purchased and 39% being rented. Of the latter, 60% were rented from the Department of Housing. The median family income of $1097 per week was slightly lower than average and while the average rent ($170 per week) was also lower than average, the average mortgage repayment of $1554 per month was higher than average. The proportion of the labour force employed full time (62%) was higher than average with the most common industry of employment being hospitals (4.2%).