SYDNEY SUBURBS: DOONSIDE

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DOONSIDE

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INTRODUCTION:

This suburb has a special significance for me: my high school days were spent at Doonside High School.

For the first 6 months we had to share classrooms at the primary school in tjat the high school was not finished yet.

The name has been changed to Doonside Technology High School but the school motto remains the same:

The High School was opened in 1964 as Doonside High School. The School became a Technology High School in 1989.

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LOCATION:

Doonside is located 40 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region.

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NAME ORIGIN:

Western residential suburb bordering on Eastern Creek. It was named by early settler Robert Crawford (1799-1848) after his home town in Scotland.

In 1802, Governor Philip Gidley King reserved a large proportion of land for a Government Stock Reserve. For the next twenty years the land was used as grazing land for cattle and sheep by convict herdsmen. In 1822 part of the Government stock run was granted by Governor Thomas Brisbane to Scottish immigrant, Robert Crawford. Robert first named his 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) Milton before renaming it "Hill End". In 1826 John Crawford purchased land adjacent Hill End fronting Richmond Road which he named Doonside. The region had various names, before officially becoming Doonside.

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ABOUT:

The western railway arrived with a single line to Rooty Hill opening on 23 December 1861, there was no station official but the rail siding was known as Crawford siding. Doonside Railway Station was official opened on 27 September 1880. Electric trains arrived to Doonside station in 1955. Edith Crawford from the founding family, also being the oldest inhabitant, was given the privilege of 'cutting the ribbon'. Her death was in 1956.

The present station was upgraded in 1955, replacing the original buildings. The design of the station buildings applied the railway Stripped Functionalist style, as was done at other stations between Lidcombe and St. Mary's. The station was one part of a much larger scheme to increase the tracks to four main lines between Lidcombe and St. Mary's during World War II in order to provide maximum track capacity to the American ammunition and general store built at Ropes Creek. Quadruplication was completed in 1981.

The Doonside name was changed briefly in 1921 to an Aboriginal name ‘Wolkara’ When the new railway station was being constructed, At Crawford rail siding. Wolkara was also the name of the post office that opened here in 1921, but in April 1929 it was changed back to Doonside, after local residents protested at the name change.

There was no electricity until 1929 and water was drawn from wells. Horse-drawn carts would deliver bread and meat. Blacktown was accessed by train as there were not any buses or schools. Parramatta and Penrith, were the nearest high schools.

A store and post office were opened unofficially in 1926 by Bill Francis on the corner of Hillend Road and Cross Street. For some years his nephew Jack Francis operated the post office on the other side of the railway line but once it was made official it returned to its original site until 1987.

Doonside has a number of heritage-listed sites, including Bungarribee Homestead Site..

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CRIME:

From Wikipedia;

Crime is a major problem in Doonside.[ Safety is a large concern for residents of Doonside; statistics from the Blacktown City Council show that only 28% of residents in Doonside feel safe walking down their own street, with crime and community safety being ranked as the biggest challenges faced by locals.

Doonside is a hub for many street gangs.

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RECREATION:

On the western edge of Doonside lies the Nurragingy Reserve, which is situated in the Western Sydney Regional Parklands. The Reserve is a 90ha park featuring picnic grounds and original bushland. It was established a nature reserve in 1981 and named after Nurragingy, a Darug man given a land grant in the Blacktown area in 1819.[14][15][16] Just south of the railway line is the Featherdale Wildlife Park, a private zoo established in 1953 and specialising in Australian native animals and birds.

Featherdale Wildlife Park is a wildlife and zoo facility located in Doonside. It covers 3.29 hectares and has over 260 species on display and for interactive experiences.

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GALLERY:

Knox Road, Doomside, 1960s – site of my high school

William Francis General Store Doonside c1926.

It was located opposite Doonside Station, corner of Cross Street and Hill End Road.

The homestead Bungarribee was built in New South Wales, Australia for Scottish-born settler John Campbell (1770-1827). Now demolished, it was situated on Doonside Road, about 10 miles beyond Parramatta. The house was recently completed before Campbell's death in October 1827, with the tower and round room added by Thomas Icely in 1829-30, following his purchase of the estate in late 1828.

The house was built in the early 1800s and was demolished in 1957. The property was used by the Overseas Telecommunications Commission (OTC) after World War II. Much of the property was subsumed by the Western Sydney Parklands, although part was zoned residential. The house site was retained as Bungarribee Homestead Park. Bungarribee House at time of demolition in this photograph.

And below: Nurragingy Reserve

And below. Featherdae Wildlife Park