Quakers Hill, New South Wales

From Freepedia

Quakers Hill is a suburb in the City of Blacktown, in Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It was first mentioned in a surveyor's report in 1806. There were Quaker settlers in the area some years later, but it is doubted they were the reason for the suburb's name.

The first property holder in the area was a Parramatta surgeon, Major West, who came to Australia in 1815. He had a 700 acre (2.8 km²) property which he named Quakers Hill. A timber mill was near the site of the railway station belonging to the Douglas family. The station was for many years (1872-1905) referred to as Douglas Siding. 1900-1905 saw subdivision of the land to small holding farms and market gardens. 1905 saw the station become known as Quakers Hill. Prior to the second world war the Royal Australian Navy established a naval flying station in the area and that went on to become HMAS Nirimba (RANATE) apprentice training establishment. The base is now in public hands and is the Blacktown campus of the University of Western Sydney. Since the 1960s Quakers Hill has steadily become a residential suburb of considerable size.

Quakers Hill has become a fairly populated suburb due to experiencing major growth over the past 10 - 20 years.

For example in 1991, the population was approximately 14,630 (1991 ABS Census) and in 1996, the population had grown by more than 4000 people to 18,759 (1996 ABS Census). Currently in Quakers Hill and Acacia Gardens the population is 24,717 (2001 ABS Census).

Quakers Hill is the home to the University of Western Sydney, Blacktown Campus and Nirimba TAFE College, both located within Nirimba Education Precinct, which also contains two other schools.

Public Transport to and from Quakers Hill is provided by train and a number of bus services, which allows students easy access to these education facilities as well as enabling residents to access Blacktown, Sydney CBD and Penrith.

Quakers Hill has experienced much development over the past 5 years including the construction of a new road leading directly to the Education Precinct bypassing the town centre, the development of a new police station, a petrol station and 2 schools, the development of a new local shopping centre as well as a number of new houses. Further development is also in progress, such as the Westlink M7 linking the suburb directly to all major routes in and out of the greater Sydney region.

Quakers Hill Town Centre consists of street shops, a small arcade, a train station and The Quakers Inn Hotel. Additional shopping is provided at Quakers Court and the newly built Quakers Hill Shopping Centre, both located outside of the existing town centre, and Westpoint Shopping Centre located in Blacktown which is a regional shopping centre undergoing major expansion.

Quakers Hill also contains a variety of private, public and religious schools, a number of parks and reserves and numerous community facilities.