Woronora Heights is a suburb in southern

Southern Sydney

This article refers to an area the same as a combination of St George and SutherlandSouthern Sydney is a general term which is used to describe the southern metropolitan area of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia....

 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...

. Woronora Heights is located 29 kilometres south 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 Sutherland Shire

Sutherland Shire

The Sutherland Shire is a Local Government Area in the Southern Sydney region of Sydney, Australia. Geographically, it is the area to the south of Botany Bay and the Georges River...

. Woronora

Woronora, New South Wales

Woronora is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woronora is located 27 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire. Woronora Heights is a separate suburb, to the south-west.-Placename...

 is a separate suburb, to the north. Most streets in Woronora Heights are named after birds.

History

Woronora is derived from an Aboriginal word wooloonora, meaning 'black rock'. It is believed to have been named by Surveyor Dixon in 1828.

Landmarks

Woronora Heights is bounded by the Woronora River

Woronora River

The Woronora River flows north from near Helensburgh into the Georges River between Como and Illawong.- Crossings :The river is crossed by high level and low level road bridges and a footbridge in Woronora, New South Wales...

 in the west, the top of the escarpment in the north and the Metropolitan Water Sewerage and Drainage Board pipeline in the east and south. The Woronora Reservoir is one of the sources of Sydney's water supply.

The Woronora Plateau, is a geographical region adjacent to the Sydney Plain. Slightly higher in altitude, it is capped with Hawkesbury Sandstone. It is often hotter in summer and colder in winter than Sydney. The Woronora River flows through the deeply dissected plateau 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...

 from near the sources of the Port Hacking

Port Hacking

Port Hacking is an Australian estuary, located in Southern Sydney, New South Wales and fed by the Hacking River and several smaller creeks, including Bundeena Creek and The Basin. It is a ria, a river basin which has become submerged by the sea...

, within the Sutherland Shire.

Issues

There have been various protests organised relating to proposals to open the fire trail linking Woronora Heights to the Woronora valley to the north to through traffic. While some residents want the trail to be opened to general traffic, the majority of residents in Woronora Heights and the Woronora valley want to preserve the fire trail for emergency access and to protect the wildlife that use the bushland corridor the fire trail runs through. In 2006 a proposal to open the fire trail for bus access was reviewed by an Independent Hearing and Assessment Panel organised by Sutherland Shire Council. After reviewing submissions from resident groups supporting and opposing the proposal, the Panel agreed unanimously that opening the fire trail to buses is not in the public interest. In the same week, the State Government declared the fire trail area "environmentally protected", making opening the fire trail to buses or other through traffic a prohibited development.

External links