Westmead, New South Wales

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


caption = Westmead Shopping Village
lga = City of Parramatta
postcode = 2145
est =
pop =
area =
propval =
stategov = Parramatta
fedgov = Parramatta
near-nw = Old Toongabbie
near-n = Northmead
near-ne = North Parramatta
near-w = Wentworthville
near-e = Parramatta
near-sw = North Parramatta
near-s = Merrylands West
near-se = Mays Hill
dist1 = 26
dir1 = west
location1= Sydney CBD

Westmead is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Westmead is located 26 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Parramatta and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region.

Geography

Westmead is bounded by the Parramatta River, Toongabbie Creek and Finlayson Creek in the north. On the east it is bounded by Parramatta Park, the Parramatta Golf Club, Amos Street and Good Street. The southern boundary is the Great Western Highway. The western boundary is Bridge Road and Darcy Road.

History

With the British settlement of Parramatta, Westmead was originally part of the domain of Government House. What is left of this domain, including Government House, form Parramatta Park. The name Westmead came into use when the governor's domain was first subdivided in 1859. The subdivision of the domain was completed in 1889. The Northern Meadow and Western Meadow of the domain were split off and called Northmead and Westmead. From this time orchards were established by many new settlers, including some whose names were well-known in the Parramatta area - George Oakes, Nat Payten and William Fullagar among them.

Parramatta Marist School was established by Fr. John Therry in Hunter Street Parramatta in 1820, under the direction of Mr. George Morley. The school was transferred to the site of the present junior school in 1837 and entrusted to the care of the Marist Brothers in 1875. This makes Parramatta Marist the oldest Catholic school in Australia.

Health

*Westmead Hospital, a major teaching hospital, which was constructed in the 1970s [ [http://www.swahs.health.nsw.gov.au/westmead/ Westmead Hospital] ] .
*Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children [ [http://www.chw.edu.au Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children] ] .
*Cumberland Hospital, a psychiatric hospital
*Westmead College of Dental Therapy
*NETS, the moving intensive care service for kids [ [http://www.nets.org.au NETS] ]
*NRMA CareFlight, the adult medical retrieval service [ [http://www.careflight.org NRMA CareFlight] ]
*Telstra Child Flight [ [http://www.telstrachildflight.org.au Telstra Child Flight] ]

Education

* Westmead Public School [ [http://www.westmead-p.schools.nsw.edu.au Westmead Public School] ] was established in 1917, when an Infants' School opened in a rented Church of England hall in April of that year. By 1919 the present site was acquired, and the first purpose-built school building was opened in May 1920. In 1923 the building was extended to provide accommodation for Primary students. Within two years the growing local population created demand for additional accommodation for Primary students.
* The Catherine McAuley Catholic High School [ [http://www.mcauley.nsw.edu.au Catherine McAuley Catholic High School] ] is an all Girls school located on the same campus as Parramatta Marist High School [ [http://www.parramarist.nsw.edu.au/index.html Parramatta Marist High School, Westmead] ] , which is the oldest Catholic school in Australia.Fact|date=October 2007
* Sacred Heart Primary School
* University of Western Sydney
* NSW Police College, Westmead Campus

Transport

Westmead railway station is on the yellow Western railway line of the City Rail network.

The Western railway line from Parramatta to Blacktown was built through the suburb in 1861. A railway station at Westmead was opened in April of 1893 after a successful petition by local residents.

References

External links