Greater Western Sydney

Greater Western Sydney, Western Sydney and the Western Suburbs are general terms which are used to describe the western region of the metropolitan area of Sydney, Australia. By some of its larger definitions, Western Sydney includes the 14 local government areas covered by the New South Wales government's Office of the Minister for Western Sydney and the Greater Western Sydney Economic Development Board. [ [http://www.premiers.nsw.gov.au/AboutUs/OurStructure/OfficeOfMinisterForWesternSydney/ Office of the Minister for Western Sydney] .] These are Auburn, Bankstown, Baulkham Hills, Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Camden, Campbelltown, Fairfield, Hawkesbury, Holroyd, Liverpool, Parramatta, Penrith and Wollondilly. [ [http://www.gws.org.au/cgi-bin/local_government.pl?form_type=mainmenu# Local Government Areas] , Greater Western Sydney Economic Development Board site.] The term "Western Sydney" has also been applied to much smaller areas, such as that covered by the former Western Sydney Area Health Service.

Geography

Greater Western Sydney stretches over nearly 9,000 square kilometres of residential, industrial and rural land. At its easternmost point, the region is only 30 minutes away from Sydney's central business district (CBD) by car and is within easy reach of international freight and transport terminals.

The annual temperatures in Greater Western Sydney average a maximum of 23 degrees Celsius and a minimum of 12 degrees.

Landmarks

Major tourist attractions in Western Sydney include the Blue Mountains and Sydney Olympic Park. Western Sydney Parklands, a major urban parkland stretching through many local government areas in Western Sydney, also contains many attractions such as, Wonderland Sydney (1985-2004), Eastern Creek Raceway, Blacktown Olympic Park and Fairfield City Farm. Parramatta has also become a major centre in Sydney, often being referred to as the second CBD of Sydney.

Government

The 14 local government areas which comprise the Greater West together generate more than $54 billion in economic output a year, making its economy the third largest in Australia behind the Sydney CBD and Melbourne. The following economic development organisations are invloved in this region:
* NSW Department of State and Regional Development
* The Office of the Minister for Western Sydney
* Western Sydney IT Cluster

Major education facilities

* University of Sydney Cumberland Campus
* University of Western Sydney
* Western Sydney Institute of TAFE

ee also

* Darug people
* Inner West (Sydney)
* Westie (person)
* Cumberland Plain

External links

* [http://www.gws.org.au Greater Western Sydney Economic Development Board website]

References