SUBURBS IN BLACKTOWN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

ACACIA GARDENS
Formerly a part of Quakers Hill, the name was chosen to reflect the rural quality of the suburb. It was formally recognised as a suburb in 1996.

ARNDELL PARK
Named after Thomas Arndell who was appointed Assistant Surgeon to the settlement in N.S.W. and arrived with the First Fleet. He later joined Captain Tench in 1789 in the journey of exploration from Prospect Hill to the Nepean River.

BIDWILL
Named after John Carne Bidwill (1815-1853) appointed as botanist in charge at the Botanic Gardens in 1847.

BLACKETT
Named after George Forster Blackett, Superintendent of the Government Cattle Station at Rooty Hill, 1820-1830.

BLACKTOWN
A school for Aborigines was moved in 1823 from Parramatta to the site where Richmond Road meets Rooty Hill Road North. The road from Prospect to Richmond became known as the Black Town Road. In 1860 the Railway Department gave the name of Black Town Road Station to the railway station at the junction of the railway and the Black Town Road, with the name shortening to Blacktown by 1862.

COLEBEE
Named after Colebee who in 1816 was granted 30 acres (12.2 ha) in the Parish of Gidley. Colebee is said to have been the first Aborigine to be granted land in this area.

DEAN PARK
Named after the Dean family. William Dean (1776 or 1778/79-1847) was granted 200 acres (81 ha) beside Eastern Creek and the family owned the Bush Inn on the Western Highway.

DHARRUK
Named for the indigenous tribe associated with the area west of Sydney.

DOONSIDE
Early settler Robert Crawford (1799–1848) named his 2,000-acre (approx. 810 ha) grant after his home town in Scotland.

EASTERN CREEK
The eastern branch of South Creek became known as Eastern Creek. The village that grew where the road crossed the creek became known as Eastern Creek.

EMERTON
Named after William Frederick Emert, a native of Siglingen, Germany, who arrived in Australia in 1853. In 1861 he became a storekeeper and postmaster in Mount Druitt.

GLENDENNING
Named after William Glendenning a butcher who, in the early 1900s, had a shop in Jersey Road, Plumpton and who slaughtered stock in Lamb Street, near Owen Street.

GLENWOOD
Named for an historic property in the area, named Glenwood Park in the 1940s, but previously known as Norfolk Vale (1846 – 1882), and Sorrento (1882 – 1941). It was formally recognised as a suburb in 1996.

HASSALL GROVE
Named for Rowland Hassall (1768–1820), who was associated with the area as a Church of England Minister. He also acted as agent for the estates of Phillip Parker King and managed Samuel Marsden's properties in his absence.

HEBERSHAM
In 1829 the Trustees of the Clergy and Schools Lands in New South Wales planned to establish a village named Hebersham on the Western Highway, west of Eastern Creek. This never happened, but the named was used for this present day suburb. Hebersham was coined to honour Bishop Heber of Calcutta whose diocese included New South Wales.

HUNTINGWOOD
This composite name was chosen because the first English-style hunting is said to have taken place here and the 'Woods Estate', owned by the Woods family for nearly a century, is located within the suburb.

KELLYVILLE RIDGE
Kellyville Ridge, which is the only geographical feature of any vertical significance in the northern part of the area, runs through the suburb.

KINGS LANGLEY
Early settler Matthew Pearce (1762–1831) called his 130-acre (53 ha) grant after King's Langley Manor House in Hertfordshire, England, where he was born. Pearce's grant was situated on the opposite side of the Windsor Road to the present day suburb of Kings Langley, which was officially named a 'neighbourhood' in 1976.

KINGS PARK
Originally this suburb formed part of Marayong, but with increased residential development residents wanted a separate identity and the developer's estate name was adopted in 1987.

LALOR PARK
Named after the Lalor family, who owned property in the area. Two members of the family (George and Robert) were Councillors on Blacktown Shire Council, George serving as Shire President on two occasions, 1921-1923 and 1928.

LETHBRIDGE PARK
Named after the Lethbridge family. Robert Copeland Lethbridge settled at Werrington on a land grant made on January 1 1806.

MARAYONG
Name adopted by the Railway Department in 1922, the word is Aboriginal for "emu".

MARSDEN PARK
Named for Samuel Marsden (1764–1838), Church of England Minister and landowner in the area.

MINCHINBURY
This suburb is part of the property once known as Minchinbury, so named by Captain William Minchin who was granted 1000 acres (405 ha) here in 1819.

MOUNT DRUITT
Major George Druitt (1775–1842) was granted 2,000 acres (810 ha) in the area by Governor Macquarie. He named his grant Mount Druitt.

OAKHURST
This suburb was developed by Landcom in 1981 when zoning changed from rural to residential. Prior to the name change, it was a part of Plumpton. Landcom named the development the Oakhurst Estate, and the estate name was adopted as the suburb name.

NEWBURY
One of the newest of Blacktown's suburbs, opened by the Minister for Planning, Dr Andrew Refshauge in May 2002.

PARKLEA
Named by the subdividers in the early 1900s.

PLUMPTON
The area was initially known as Woodstock, but when a Post Office was established in 1889, there was confusion over this Woodstock and a railway station on the Blayney-Harden line, also called Woodstock. Walter Lamb (1825–1906) established a fruit preserving works and a coursing (type of greyhound race) track on his property Woodstock. Coursing in England was conducted at Plumpton, so that name replaced Woodstock.

PROSPECT
Captain Arthur Phillip called the area "Bellevue" but later changed the name to Prospect.

QUAKERS HILL
The railway siding in this area was known as Douglas' Siding. When subdivision of large properties was undertaken in the early 1900s, the developers named the suburb Quakers Hill, a name that had been associated with the hill since 1806.

RIVERSTONE
Lieutenant-Colonel Maurice Charles O'Connell was granted 2,500 acres (1010 ha) by Governor Macquarie in this area. He named his grant "Riverston" after his birthplace in Ireland. When the Railway Station was established, an "e" was added to the name.

ROOTY HILL
The hill was the centre of the Government administration for the area, and has been known as Rooty Hill since at least 1810.

SCHOFIELDS
Named for early settler John Schofield, who had a square mile (259 ha) of land. Schofield's Siding was built on this land in 1870.

SEVEN HILLS
Long attributed to Matthew Pearce being able to see seven hills from his property, recent research indicates it could refer to the number of hills climbed to this point from Old Government House, Parramatta. The name dates from the 1790s.

SHALVEY
Named after the main road in the area which was originally a crown subdivisional road.

SHANES PARK
John Harris (1754 -1838) came to Australia on the Second Fleet in 1790 and was appointed Chief Surgeon of the colony. By the turn of the century, he owned 315 acres of land, and had built Experiment Farm Cottage. The suburb of Harris Park is named for him. Among his many landholdings included a property on South Creek known as Shane's Park Estate. The suburb takes its name from his property.

STANHOPE GARDENS
John Hillas (1768-1837) arrived in Australia in 1801 and received two land grants on the Windsor Road. One of these he named 'Stanhope Farm', and established an inn, the "Stanhope Arms". Part of the name remained, with the Peel family calling their dairy farm "Stanhope Park". The suburb name reflects these early properties. It was formally recognised as a suburb in 1996.

THE PONDS
The newest suburb in the City of Blacktown, The Ponds was gazetted on 19 January 2007. The suburb is in the area known as Second Ponds Creek.

TREGEAR
Named after a village in Devon, England, the home of the Lethbridge family.

VINEYARD
Was originally part of Windsor's winegrowing district.

WHALAN
Named for James Whalan, who was granted 300 acres (122 ha) at Mount Druitt in 1831.

WILLMOT
Named after Thomas Willmot (1851–1938) who was elected the first President of the Blacktown Shire Council. He was President on a number of occasions, 1906–1910 and 1912 – 1913.

WOODCROFT
This suburb is based on the development by L J Hooker of the former State Brickworks. L J Hooker purchased the property in 1989, and after rezoning, residential construction commenced in 1992. It was formally recognised as a suburb in 1996.

MAPS OF BLACKTOWN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

Council has provided access to maps online from its website:
http://www.blacktown.nsw.gov.au/our-city/maps/maps_home.cfm

Aerial photographs taken in 1977 and 2008 are also available through this link.