Penrith is a suburb in Outer Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located west of the Sydney central business district on the eastern bank of the Nepean River. It is on the outskirts of the Cumberland Plain at an elevation of . Penrith is the administrative centre for the City of Penrith local government area.
History 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.. 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 exploration
The recorded history of Penrith began on 26 June 1789. Eighteen months after the landing of the First Fleet, an exploring party led by Captain Watkin Tench set out to further discoveries made by Governor Arthur Phillip earlier in the month. In the daylight hours of 27 June, Tench and his party discovered the broad expanse of the Nepean River. Tench's party became the first Europeans to see the site of what is now the City of Penrith. Tench later wrote 'we found ourselves on the banks of a river, nearly as broad as the Thames at Putney and apparently of great depth'. Phillip later named the river after Evan Nepean, the under-secretary of state in the Home Office, who had been largely responsible for the organisation of the First Fleet. From this point, European settlement began in earnest, firstly on the Hawkesbury River, and later southward up the Nepean.
European settlement Governor Phillip Gidley King began granting land in the area to settlers in 1804 with Captain Daniel Woodriff's on the banks of the river the first land grant in the area. The first government building in the district was the military depot built (at the present Penrith police station) by William Cox, in mid-1815 near the new Road (Great Western Road) on unassigned Crown land, set well back from the river. It represented the formalisation of law and order in the district. Its placement seems to have been a practical decision by Cox, placing it on flood-free Crown land on the new road to Parramatta, just east of Woodriff's Rodley Farm. Governor Lachlan Macquarie paid Cox £200 for 'erecting a Depot for Provisions, Guard House, erecting necessary Enclosures for cattle and Garden Ground, Frame for a Well ... on the new near Emu Ford'. At this time, Emu Ford was one of the few locality names that would indicate the depot's position.
In 1816, Cox mentioned the lockup at 'Penryhn', among a list of expenses. There appears little doubt that he was referring to the depot that was later referred to as Penrith. The name for the new depot, Penrhyn, may have simply been misinterpreted by others. Penrhyn was possibly named after the First Fleet ship that carried women convicts, the Lady Penrhyn. There is no historical evidence to prove Macquarie's hand in naming the depot, especially considering he often endowed and recorded benefactors with that favour. Furthermore, Macquarie would have ensured that a plan of the town would have been drawn up. No documentary evidence has shed any light on Macquarie's reasoning for the placement of this depot and its connection with his vision for a township at Castlereagh.
What is clear is that the origin of the name, Penrith is steeped in mystery. Penrith was possibly named after Penrith in Cumbria by someone who knew the old town and who noted geographical similarities. By 1819, the name Penrith was in use with its first reference in the Sydney Gazette on 8 December 1821 appointing John Proctor as keeper of the new gaol and court house.
The lockup at Penrith placed government law and order in the centre of the Evan district. This group of buildings became the point of contact for local administration for anything ranging from issuing publican's licences, holding inquests and church services. Although a magistrate had been appointed to Castlereagh in 1811, the Penrith lockup increased in importance with its promotion to a court house in 1817. A bench of magistrates was appointed: Sir John Jamison, the Reverend Henry Fulton, John McHenry and a military officer from the regiment stationed there. 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 enough for a courthouse to be established in 1817.
The post office was established in 1828, the Anglican church, St Stephens, was opened and consecrated 16 July 1839 followed by the Catholic Church, St Nicholas of Myra, in 1850. Two other prominent Penrith pioneers were Irish-born Thomas Jamison (1752/53-1811), a member of the First Fleet and surgeon-general of New South Wales (after whom Jamisontown is named), and his son, the landowner, physician and constitutional reformer Sir John Jamison (1776–1844). In 1824, Sir John erected the colony's finest Georgian mansion, Regentville House, near Penrith, on a ridge overlooking the Nepean River. Sir John established an agricultural estate at Regentville and became a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. His grave can be seen in St Stephen's graveyard. Regentville House burned down in 1868 but most of its stonework was salvaged and used for building projects in and around Penrith.
The first bridge, financed by local businessman James Tobias (Toby) Ryan was opened over the Nepean in 1856 and was washed away the following year in a flood. The railway line was extended to Penrith railway station in 1863, a school was established in 1865 and in 1871 the area became a municipality. It officially became a city in 1959.
Commercial area Penrith is one of the major commercial centres in Greater Western Sydney. The suburb contains two shopping centres. Westfield Penrith, (formerly Penrith Plaza) is the largest shopping centre in the suburb, it opened on 30 March 1971, it was acquired by Westfield in 2005, and it is located within a main commercial centre. Nepean Village (formerly Nepean Square) is a single level shopping centre located in Penrith. It has many retailers including Kmart, Coles, and The Reject Shop.
Transport
Penrith railway station is a major railway station on the Main Western railway line. It has frequent services to and from the city and is also a stop on the intercity Blue Mountains Line.
Penrith railway station is served by a bus interchange and by the Nightride Bus route 70.
Between 1940 and 1950, the Log Cabin Hotel in Penrith was served by its own station. Log Cabin railway station was accessible to the public and used by patrons of the hotel from the city. Despite requests by Penrith Council for full integration with Sydney rail services as the western terminus for the suburban network, Log Cabin station was only ever used for special services.Log Cabin Station and River Bridge Nepean Times (Penrith, NSW: 1882-1962). Trove. National Library of Australia. 17 March 1949, p.7. accessed 30 September 2024
Penrith can be accessed from St. Marys and Mount Druitt via the Great Western Highway. Access from further east is best obtained by the M4 Western Motorway using either The Northern Road or Mulgoa Road exits. If travelling east from the Blue Mountains, access is best obtained by the Great Western Highway. Access from the south can be obtained by The Northern Road and Mulgoa Road, north from Castlereagh road or Richmond road, or from north and south via Westlink M7 and the M4 Western Motorway.
The NSW Government announced funding for the construction of the M9 in the 2014 state budgetLevy, 'NSW budget: Government proposes M9 Outer Sydney Orbital roadway', Sydney Morning Herald Retrieved 11/07/2014Clennell, 'M9 Outer-western Sydney Orbital motorway part of big ticket $5.5b roads package unveiled in today's NSW Budget', The Daily Telegraph Retrieved 11/07/2014 to connect Camden, Penrith and Windsor. The proposed motorway will start from the M5 motorway and run west of the current M7 motorway.
Education Penrith Public School and Penrith High School are two public schools in High Street. Jamison High School is in South Penrith. St Nicholas of Myra is a Catholic primary school, which is part of Catholic Education, Diocese of Parramatta, is located in Higgins Street.
The Penrith campus of Nepean College of TAFE is located in the centre of town on Henry Street.TAFE NSW – Campuses & Institutes Retrieved 18 June 2009 The Penrith campus of the University of Western Sydney is located in nearby Werrington.Penrith |University of Western Sydney (UWS) Retrieved 18 June 2009 The University of Sydney has a campus near Nepean Hospital in Kingswood, for research into the basic biomedical sciences and educating medical students at the hospital.
Landmarks and tourist attractions Heritage listings Penrith has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: 34–40 Borec Road: Craithes House 26 Coombes Drive: Torin Building Great Western railway: Penrith railway station, Sydney Nepean River, Great Western Highway: Victoria Bridge (Penrith) Off Bruce Neale Dr, Steel Trusses 1.3 km past station: Emu Plains Underbridge 1 Museum Drive: Penrith Museum of Fire,Penrith Museum of Fire Retrieved 18 June 2009 including the following: Fire and Rescue NSW Heritage Fleet NSW Fire Brigades No 10 Vehicle Number Plates 1869 Shand Mason 7 inch Manual Fire Engine 1891 Shand Mason Fire Engine 1898 Shand Mason Curricle Ladders 1909 Edward Smith Headquarters Switchboard 1929 Ahrens Fox PS2 Fire Engine 1939 Dennis Big 6 Fire Engine 1942 Ford 21W Fire Brigade Mobile Canteen
Other items of interest include:
Nepean Belle, an old-world style paddlewheeler located on the Nepean River at Penrith. St Stephen's Church (1839), in High Street, and its historic graveyard, is heritage-listedThe Heritage of Australia, Macmillan Company (1981) p. 2/58 Penrith has a campus of the Western Sydney University Sydney International Regatta Centre, which was the location for the rowing competitions for the 2000 Olympic Games Panthers World of Entertainment Penrith Sake Brewery Nepean River Head of the River, which takes place at the regatta centre Red Cow Hotel, Station Street, is Penrith's oldest standing hotel Thornton Hall, Mountain View Crescent, is heritage-listed Nepean Park, Castlereagh Road, is heritage-listedThe Heritage of Australia, Macmillan Company (1981) p.2/58
Culture
Arts The Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Complex is in High Street next to the Council Chambers. Named after opera singer Joan Sutherland, the building was designed by architect Philip Cox and opened in 1990. It incorporates the Penrith Conservatorium of Music and the Q Theatre (Penrith), which had been operating in Station Street for 30 years before moving to the complex in 2006.
Sport and recreation Penrith Stadium is the home of the Penrith Panthers NRL team. 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.
Penrith Stadium was also home to the Penrith Nepean United FC soccer club. The team had a 2–1 win against Sydney FC in a home game friendly match in front of 5000 fans on 17 August 2007.
There are also many other sporting associations, including cricket clubs, AFL clubs, Penrith City Outlaws gridiron team, Panthers Triathlon club, Penrith Emus Rugby, swimming, and soccer clubs.