Minto Heights, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Minto Heights 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...

. Minto Heights is located 50 kilometres south-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 Campbelltown and is part of the Macarthur
Macarthur, New South Wales
Macarthur is a region in south-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region includes the local government areas of the City of Campbelltown, Camden Council and Wollondilly Shire. It covers an area of 3,067 square kilometres and has a population of close to 240,000 residents...

 region.

History

The history of Minto Heights can almost be seen by walking around the suburb. The bushland next to the Georges River
Georges River
The Georges River is a waterway in the state of New South Wales in Australia. It rises to the south-west of Sydney near the coal mining town of Appin, and then flows north past Campbelltown, roughly parallel to the Main South Railway...

 offers a memory of the days when the Tharawal people
Tharawal people
The Tharawal people were the Aboriginal inhabitants of southern Sydney and the Illawarra region in 1788, when the first European colonists arrived. The Tharawal people lived in the areas from south side of Botany Bay, around Port Hacking to north of the Shoalhaven River and inland to Campbelltown...

 were the only inhabitants. The open space of the 5 acres (20,234.3 m²) blocks hints at the farming history of the area while the larger homes being built the suburb point to a more recent change in land use.

The bushland began to be cleared in the late 19th century to be replaced by orchard
Orchard
An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...

s and other small farms. The area escaped major subdivision during Campbelltown's population boom of the 1970s when the Council zoned the suburb a "Scenic Protection Area" with minimum land sizes of 5 acres (20,234.3 m²). Until then, the area was known as East Minto and, like its neighbour, was named after the Earl of Minto
Earl of Minto
Earl of Minto, in the County of Roxburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1813 for Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Baron Minto. The family descends from the politician and judge Gilbert Elliot, who served as a Lord of Session under the judicial title of Lord...

, Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound
Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto
Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto PC , known as Sir Gilbert Elliott between 1777 and 1797 and as The Lord Minto between 1797 and 1813, was a Scottish politician diplomat....

, who was Viceroy of India from 1807-1814. In 1973, Campbelltown Council proposed changing the name to Warby, which was rejected by locals who insisted it be called East Minto. This, in turn, was rejected by the Geographical Names Board of New South Wales, which had a policy against "East" and other compass points being added to suburb names. Eastminto, Myrtlefield, Hansen and Kyngmount were also rejected by one side or the other until consensus was reached with Minto Heights in 1976.

External links

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