Penrith, New South Wales Totally Explained

Everything about Penrith New South Wales totally explained

Penrith is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales Australia. Penrith is located 50 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of Penrith.
Penrith is a commercial centre, designated a major centre under the NSW Metropolitan Plan (External Link

). It lies east of the Nepean River, at the foot of the Blue Mountains, part of the Great Dividing Range. Penrith is colloquially known as 'The Riff'.

History

Penrith was named after the town of Penrith, Cumbria, England. How it got the name is unclear. One theory is that in the early days, development in Penrith was entirely on one road, like the English Penrith, and someone familiar with both spotted the similarity and suggested the name. The earliest known written reference to the name Penrith dates back to 1819.

Indigenous Settlement

Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, the Penrith area was home to the Mulgoa tribe of the Darug people. They lived in makeshift huts called gunyahs, hunted native animals such as kangaroos, fished in the Nepean River, and gathered local fruits and vegetables such as yams. They lived under an elaborate system of Law which had its origins in the Dreamtime. Most of the Mulgoa were killed by smallpox or galgala shortly after the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. Early British explorers such as Watkin Tench described them as friendly, saying, "they bade us adieu, in unabated friendship and good humour".

European Settlement

Watkin Tench was the first British explorer to visit the area in 1789 and named the Nepean River after Lord Evan Nepean, under-secretary to the home department. Governor King began granting land in the area to settlers in 1804 with Captain Daniel Woodriff's 1000 acres on the banks of the river the first land grant in the area. In 1814, William Cox constructed a road across the Blue Mountains which passed through Woodriff's land at Penrith. Initial settlement in the area was unplanned but substantial enbough for a courthouse to be established in 1817. had been baptised by Samuel Marsden and her brother, Robert Rope, was reputed to be the first European born in Australia. In a Petition to the governor of the colony, Sir Thomas Brisbane, on October 13, 1822, Thomas Frost declares that he's a Free Man and cultivates a farm on the Nepean River where he's a herd of 125 cattle. He mentions that the previous Governor, General Macquarie, was pleased to grant him, Thomas, a further 50 acres of land at Bathurst and he now craves the Governor's consent to drive cattle across the mountains to that property for pasturage. Frost's gravestone still stands in good condition in St. Stephen's Churchyard, Penrith.
The first bridge was opened over the Nepean in 1856 and was washed away the following year in a flood. The railway line was extended to Penrith in 1863, a school was established in 1865 and in 1871 the area became a municipality. It officially became a city in 1959.

Sport and Recreation

Penrith has a number of local sporting clubs, the most well known being the Penrith Panthers rugby league club who play in the National Rugby League. The club (one of the largest in Australia) has a massive entertainment complex and resort, Panthers World of Entertainment. Penrith's Junior Rugby League competition is the largest in the world, which also incorporates teams from the Blue Mountains, Blacktown and Windsor/Richmond areas. Visit the Penrith Junior League Website

for more information.
Penrith is now also home to a soccer club, Penrith Nepean United (External Link

). The club has been quite successful, perhaps the team's most memorable result has been a 2-1 Win against Asian Champions League contenders Sydney FC in a home game friendly match in front of 5000 fans on August the 17th 2007.
The city is also home to the Penrith Lakes Scheme, a system of flooded quarries that are now recreational lakes. One of these lakes hosted the rowing events of the Sydney 2000 Olympics. This facility is rated as a Level One course which can be used for international events . The course itself is fully buoyed and can be modified to accommodate swimming and kayaking events.
There are also many other sporting associations, including cricket clubs, AFL clubs and swimming clubs. Penrith is also home to the Penrith City Outlaws, Penrith's own gridiron team (External Link

) Penrith is also home to the Penrith Panthers Triathlon club(External Link

). For a full list see the Penrith City Council's list of sporting groups

Geography

Penrith sits on the western edge of the Cumberland Plain, a fairly flat area of Western Sydney, extending to Windsor in the north, Parramatta in the east and Thirlmere in the south. The Nepean River forms the western boundary of the suburb and beyond that, dominating the western skyline, are the Blue Mountains. There is a difference of opinion between Penrith City Council and the Geographical Names Board of New South Wales as to the boundaries of Penrith the suburb. The Board includes in its official description the area of Kingswood Park, Lemongrove and North Penrith, which the Council considers separate suburbs.

Population

Demographics

According to the 2006 census conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Penrith had a population of 11,396 who could be described as battlers from English speaking backgrounds. The median household income of $755 per week was substantially lower than average ($1027). Almost half of all dwellings were rented (49%), almost double the national average (27%), and around a quarter of rented properties were rented from the NSW Department of Housing. Apart from English, no language was spoken by more than 1% of the population with Arabic (0.9%) topping the list. Of people born overseas, three of the top five countries were England, New Zealand and Scotland with India (1.0%) the leading non-English speaking country of birth.

Notable residents

The following were all born in or resident in Penrith:

Richie Benaud (b.1930) cricketer and commentator

Thomas Bent (1838-1909) Premier of Victoria 1904 to 1909, born in Penrith

Mick Fanning (b.1981) surfing world champion 2007

Jennifer Maiden (b.1949) poet

numerous rugby league players including Greg Alexander and his brother Ben (1970-1992), Mark Carroll, John Cartwright, Ken Kearney (1924-2006) and Luke Rooney.Further Information

Get more info on 'Penrith New South Wales'.

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