Regentville, New South Wales

Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb
name = Regentville
city = Sydney
state = NSW


caption =
lga = Penrith City Council
postcode = 2745
est =
pop = 714 (2006)
area = 1.22
propval =
stategov = Mulgoa
fedgov = Lindsay
near-nw = Emu Plains
near-n = Jamisontown
near-ne = Jamisontown
near-w = Leonay
near-e = Glenmore Park
near-sw = "Megalong Valley"
near-s = Mulgoa
near-se = Mulgoa
dist1 = 59
dir1 = west
location1= Sydney CBD

Regentville is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Regentville is located 56 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region. It is located on the eastern bank of the Nepean River just south of Jamisontown.

History

Aboriginal culture

Prior to European settlement, what is now Regentville was home to the Mulgoa people who spoke the Darug language. They lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle governed by traditional laws, which had their origins in the Dreamtime. Their homes were bark huts called 'gunyahs'. They hunted kangaroos and emus for meat, and gathered yams, berries and other native plants. [cite web | url= http://www.mananura.com/aboriginal-history-dharugtx.html | title=Dharug Aboriginal History | publisher=Christopher Tobin | accessdate=2007-07-26 ]

European settlement

Following the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney, the indigenous people were forced off their land which was then granted to British settlers by the colonial administration. The first land grant in this area was to the Irish-born Surgeon-General of New South Wales, Thomas Jamison, who had arrived in 1788 aboard the Sirius. After Thomas' death in London in 1811, the land (at what is now Jamisontown was taken up by his son, John, also a surgeon, who had served under Admiral Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar, and was knighted for his medical services to the navy by the Prince Regent, later King George IV, in 1813.

Sir John Jamison arrived in Sydney in 1814 and established himself during the ensuing two decades as one of the colony's biggest and wealthiest land owners. In 1823-24, he built a magnificent stone mansion on a rise overlooking the Nepean River. He named the mansion Regentville House in honour of the Prince Regent. Sir John held so many lavish balls, banquets and other social activities at the mansion that he became known as the "hospitable knight of Regentville". He later erected a tweed mill on his estate and established a dairy, a thoroughbred horse stud and a school for the children of his work force. Other parts of the estate were given over to an orchard, a terraced vineyard, and grazing paddocks for sheep and cattle. Sir John died at Regentville House in 1844, aged 68, having lost much of his fortune in an economic downturn then afflicting the colony. The estate passed to his children and was eventually sold off in various chunks. Regentville House was later turned into a hotel but, sadly, it burned down in 1868. Today, only its cellars, drains and some meagre sections of the house's masonry walls survive. Sir John's tweed mill has disappeared, too. The area around the site of Regentville House has remained largely rural, however, if hemmed in somewhat by the modern residential suburbs of Jamisontown and Glenmore Park. [cite web | url= http://www.penrithcity.nsw.gov.au/index.asp?id=431 | title=Penrith Local Suburb Profiles - Regentville | publisher=Penrith City Council | accessdate=2007-07-31 ]

Transport

The northern boundary of Regentville is the M4 Western Motorway which connects with greater Sydney and the Blue Mountains. Westbus provides three bus services which connect Regentville with Penrith (via Jamisontown), Mulgoa and Glenmore Park - by the 794, 795 & 797 ( see 700 series bus routes, Sydney). [cite web | url= http://www.westbus.com.au/uploads/docs/penrith-stmarysregionguide15oct04.pdf | title=Penrith Network map | publisher=Westbus | accessdate=2007-07-31 ]

Education

The only school in the suburb is Regentville Public School. The nearest high school is in Glenmore Park.

Population

Demographics

The recorded population of Regentville in the 2006 census was just 714. The majority of residents are Australian born (81%) with small minorities born in England (4%) and Malta (2%). The most common religious affiliation is Anglican (34%), almost double the national average, followed by Catholic (32%), those with no religion (9.2%), Presbyterian (3.8%) and Jehovah's Witnesses (2.2%). The median income ($535 per week) was slightly higher than the national average ($466). [Census 2006 AUS | id = SSC11843 | name = Regentville (State Suburb) | quick=on | accessdate=2007-07-31 ]

Governance

At a local government level, Regentville is part of the south ward of Penrith City Council, represented by Jim Aitken, Mark Davies, Karen McKeown, Susan Page and Gary Rumble. The current mayor is Pat Sheehy. At the state level, it is part of the Electoral district of Mulgoa, represented by Labor's Diane Beamer. Federally, it is part of the Division of Lindsay, represented by Liberal Jackie Kelly.

References

External links

* [http://www.penrithcity.nsw.gov.au/index.asp?id=969 Penrith Local Suburb Profiles]