An alphabetical look at Sydney's suburbs, continued: Badgerys Creek, Balgowlah

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Badgerys Creek

Location:

51 kilometres (32 mi) west of the Sydney CBD in the local government area of the City of Liverpool.

Name origin:

The area is named after James Badgery, a British-born farmer and miller who was granted 840 acres 840 acres (3.4 km2) in 1806. Although he named his property Exeter Farm, the creek running through his property was generally known as Badgery’s Creek, the name by which the whole area eventually became known. 

About:

• Predominantly a rural suburb.

• The main claim to fame of Badgerys Creek is that it is the location of Sydney’s proposed second airport.

• Although in 1981 Badgerys Creek had a population of 1,560, as a result of government acquisition of properties and people moving away because of the proposed airport, by 1996 there were less than 500 residents and 455 in 2011.

• Recent reports have suggested the proposed international airport will be bigger than New York’s JFK and the most significant excavation project in the country since the Snowy Mountains scheme. Work is scheduled to begin early 2016, with costs expected to top $4 billion. The project will employ around 10,000 workers, with another 4,000 slated for the Federal Government’s surrounding road upgrades. Once built the airport is expected to traffic 10 million passengers annually by 2023 and 100 million by 2005.

Gallery:

The abandoned St John's Anglican Church within the boundary of the proposed new Western Sydney Airport at Badgerys Creek. 

The remains of almost 50 people will have to be ­removed from graves within the boundary of the new Western Sydney Airport at Badgerys Creek. Two cemeteries, each more than a 100 years old, will be covered by tonnes of asphalt and concrete by the time the airport is due to start operating in the mid-2020s.

The Wallacia Hotel, the closest hotel to the Badgerys Creek Airport.

Liverpool City Mayor Ned Mannoun

An aerial photograph of the proposed Badgerys Creek airport site

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Balgowlah

Location:

A beachside suburb located 12 kilometres north-east of the Sydney CBD in the local government area of Warringah Council.

Name origin:

Balgowlah was named in 1832 after an Aboriginal word meaning “north harbour” in reference to its position from Port Jackson. In the early days of European Settlement it had been known as Little Manly. 

About:

• According to the 2011 census, there were 7,495 residents in Balgowlah. 65.8% of residents were born in Australia. The most common other countries of birth were England 8.7%, New Zealand 3.0% and South Africa 1.9%.

• Located in the Northern Beaches region, Balgowlah shares the postcode 2093 with the adjacent suburbs of Manly Vale, Balgowlah Heights and North Balgowlah.

Gallery:

The heritage-listed home Whitehall at 37 White St in Balgowlah was built in 1877 and leased to Australia’s first Prime Minister Sir Edmund Barton. It sold prior to auction in 2015 to a local family for more than $3 million.

North Harbour, Balgowlah

Balgowlah Heights

Balgowlah Heights