Eagle Vale, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Eagle Vale is a suburb
of Sydney
, in the state of New South Wales
, Australia
. Eagle Vale is located 56 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district
, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown
and is part of the Macarthur
region.
Eagle Vale is often incorrectly spelt as one word, 'Eaglevale'. It is bordered by the suburb
s of Eschol Park
, Kearns
, Raby
, Blairmount
, Woodbine
, St Andrews
and Claymore
.
settlement, many new settlement
s were established to the south west of Sydney, to cater for the growing agricultural
demands of the growing colony
. The land surrounding these settlements were subsequently divided up and given away as land grants to settlers in order to establish farms. One such grant, 100 acre
s (0.4 km²) worth, was that given to Thomas Clarkson on the western hills of Campbelltown
, at the base of what is now called the 'Scenic Hills'. Clarkson, an ex-convict turned businessman and baker, established the property of 'Woodland Grove,' which not only covered modern day Eagle Vale, but most of its surrounding suburbs. After his death in 1826, his property was sold to Jemima Jenkins, a wealthly widow of the founder of the Bank of New South Wales (now Westpac
). She renamed the property 'Eagle Farm' and used the address 'Eagle Farm, Eagle Vale.' The name Eagle Vale originated from two creeks
that ran through the property, Eagle Creek and Valebrook, the later now being located in the suburb of Eschol Park. (The two creeks were later converted into flood retention basins' and stormwater channels) She later sold a large part of the western side of the property to the Kearns family, who used it to expand the adjacent property of 'Epping Forest.' Once Jenkins died, the land eventually ended up in the ownership of William Fowler, a Campbelltown
business man, who again renamed the property, this time to 'Eschol Park,' and the name Eagle Vale eventually fell into a period of disuse.
It was not until 1976, when the property of Highlands was being subdivided for suburban residential use that the name of Eagle Vale surfaced once again, to be applied to the new subdivision between the newly developed suburb of Eschol Park and the public housing estate of Claymore. In 1978, the first housing lots were released, and several land releases continued into the 1980s, with some smaller releases continuing into the early 1990s. The relatively low price of the land meant that it quickly attracted first home buyers, often young families. Eagle Vale, much like the rest of Campbelltown
area, has often attracted an unfortunate reputation for being a somewhat undesirable suburb, an attitude that is compounded by its proximity to the public housing suburb of Claymore which itself is often negatively perceived. This negative image of Claymore even prompted residents of privately owned houses in the suburb to lobby for the suburb borders to be altered in order to place them into Eagle Vale, which was eventually achieved in 1986. This explains why some of the streets on the eastern side of the suburb have names following Claymore's street naming theme, Great Australian Artists, such as Albert Namatjira
, rather than Eagle Vale's theme of mineral
s and gemstone
s, such as Emerald
, Cameo and Aquamarine.
The suburb features several parks and reserves, including Thomas Clarkson Reserve, located on the former route of Eagle Creek, which features the original ornamental pond from the Jenkins estate. Adjacent suburbs also feature parks named after Jemima Jenkins (in Kearns) and William Fowler (in Eschol Park); and Valebrook Reserve, located on the former location of Valebrook Creek.
Ivan Milat, the famous "Backpacker Murders" Serial Killer & Rapist now in jail, resided at 22 Cinnebar Street, Eagle Vale. (http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/milat/13.html)
Over recent years the suburb and surrounding areas have had a large influx of overseas born residents with an increasing number of Pacific Islanders settling into the area.
that opened in 1995, featuring a Woolworths
supermarket
and specialty shops. A police
station was added in 2000. Eagle Vale Leisure Centre was opened in 1993 as a multipurpose gym and aquatic centre. In 2003, a Eagle Vale Branch Library opened as an addition to the south wing of the now rebranded Eagle Vale Central.
, Eagle Vale High School opened in 1984 and a private Catholic
primary school, Mary Immaculate (formerly St Marys, part of the Mary Immaculate parish) opened in 1986.
, Eagle Vale had a population of 5,590 people, which could be categorised as younger families with mortgages. The average age in the suburb was 30, compared to a national average of 37. The number of houses owned outright (19%) was lower than average (33%) while the number being paid off (56%) was much higher than average (32%). The average mortgage repayment ($1391 per month) was slightly higher than average ($1300) but the median family income was also slightly higher at $1235 per week compared to a national figure of $1171.
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, in the state of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Eagle Vale is located 56 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district
Sydney central business district
The Sydney central business district is the main commercial centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It extends southwards for about 3 kilometres from Sydney Cove, the point of first European settlement. Its north–south axis runs from Circular Quay in the north to Central railway station in...
, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown
City of Campbelltown, New South Wales
The City of Campbelltown is a Local Government Area in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, located about 55 km south west of the Sydney central business district. Australia...
and is part of the Macarthur
Macarthur, New South Wales
Macarthur is a region in south-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region includes the local government areas of the City of Campbelltown, Camden Council and Wollondilly Shire. It covers an area of 3,067 square kilometres and has a population of close to 240,000 residents...
region.
Eagle Vale is often incorrectly spelt as one word, 'Eaglevale'. It is bordered by the suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
s of Eschol Park
Eschol Park, New South Wales
Eschol Park is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Eschol Park is located 60 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown and is part of the Macarthur region.-History:The area now known as Eschol...
, Kearns
Kearns, New South Wales
Kearns is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Kearns is located 57 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown and is part of the Macarthur region....
, Raby
Raby, New South Wales
Raby is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Raby is located 55 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown and is part of the Macarthur region.-History:...
, Blairmount
Blairmount, New South Wales
Blairmount is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Blairmount is located 58 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown and is part of the Macarthur region...
, Woodbine
Woodbine, New South Wales
Woodbine is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woodbine is located 55 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown and is part of the Macarthur region...
, St Andrews
St Andrews, New South Wales
St Andrews is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. St Andrews is located 55 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown and is part of the Macarthur region....
and Claymore
Claymore, New South Wales
Claymore is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Claymore is located 54 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown and is part of the Macarthur region. The majority of housing in Claymore is...
.
History
Following EuropeanEuropean ethnic groups
The ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
settlement, many new settlement
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
s were established to the south west of Sydney, to cater for the growing agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
demands of the growing colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
. The land surrounding these settlements were subsequently divided up and given away as land grants to settlers in order to establish farms. One such grant, 100 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s (0.4 km²) worth, was that given to Thomas Clarkson on the western hills of Campbelltown
Campbelltown, New South Wales
Campbelltown is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Campbelltown is located 51 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of Campbelltown.- History :Campbelltown...
, at the base of what is now called the 'Scenic Hills'. Clarkson, an ex-convict turned businessman and baker, established the property of 'Woodland Grove,' which not only covered modern day Eagle Vale, but most of its surrounding suburbs. After his death in 1826, his property was sold to Jemima Jenkins, a wealthly widow of the founder of the Bank of New South Wales (now Westpac
Westpac
Westpac , is a multinational financial services, one of the Australian "big four" banks and the second-largest bank in New Zealand....
). She renamed the property 'Eagle Farm' and used the address 'Eagle Farm, Eagle Vale.' The name Eagle Vale originated from two creeks
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
that ran through the property, Eagle Creek and Valebrook, the later now being located in the suburb of Eschol Park. (The two creeks were later converted into flood retention basins' and stormwater channels) She later sold a large part of the western side of the property to the Kearns family, who used it to expand the adjacent property of 'Epping Forest.' Once Jenkins died, the land eventually ended up in the ownership of William Fowler, a Campbelltown
Campbelltown, New South Wales
Campbelltown is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Campbelltown is located 51 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of Campbelltown.- History :Campbelltown...
business man, who again renamed the property, this time to 'Eschol Park,' and the name Eagle Vale eventually fell into a period of disuse.
It was not until 1976, when the property of Highlands was being subdivided for suburban residential use that the name of Eagle Vale surfaced once again, to be applied to the new subdivision between the newly developed suburb of Eschol Park and the public housing estate of Claymore. In 1978, the first housing lots were released, and several land releases continued into the 1980s, with some smaller releases continuing into the early 1990s. The relatively low price of the land meant that it quickly attracted first home buyers, often young families. Eagle Vale, much like the rest of Campbelltown
Campbelltown, New South Wales
Campbelltown is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Campbelltown is located 51 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of Campbelltown.- History :Campbelltown...
area, has often attracted an unfortunate reputation for being a somewhat undesirable suburb, an attitude that is compounded by its proximity to the public housing suburb of Claymore which itself is often negatively perceived. This negative image of Claymore even prompted residents of privately owned houses in the suburb to lobby for the suburb borders to be altered in order to place them into Eagle Vale, which was eventually achieved in 1986. This explains why some of the streets on the eastern side of the suburb have names following Claymore's street naming theme, Great Australian Artists, such as Albert Namatjira
Albert Namatjira
Albert Namatjira , born Elea Namatjira, was an Australian artist. He was a Western Arrernte man, an Indigenous Australian of the Western MacDonnell Ranges area...
, rather than Eagle Vale's theme of mineral
Mineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
s and gemstone
Gemstone
A gemstone or gem is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments...
s, such as Emerald
Emerald
Emerald is a variety of the mineral beryl colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the 10 point Mohs scale of mineral hardness...
, Cameo and Aquamarine.
The suburb features several parks and reserves, including Thomas Clarkson Reserve, located on the former route of Eagle Creek, which features the original ornamental pond from the Jenkins estate. Adjacent suburbs also feature parks named after Jemima Jenkins (in Kearns) and William Fowler (in Eschol Park); and Valebrook Reserve, located on the former location of Valebrook Creek.
Ivan Milat, the famous "Backpacker Murders" Serial Killer & Rapist now in jail, resided at 22 Cinnebar Street, Eagle Vale. (http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/milat/13.html)
Over recent years the suburb and surrounding areas have had a large influx of overseas born residents with an increasing number of Pacific Islanders settling into the area.
Commercial areas
Eagle Vale Marketplace is a shopping centreShopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
that opened in 1995, featuring a Woolworths
Woolworths Limited
Woolworths Limited is a major Australian company with extensive retail interest throughout Australia and New Zealand. It is the:* largest retail company in Australia and New Zealand by market capitalisation and sales...
supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
and specialty shops. A police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
station was added in 2000. Eagle Vale Leisure Centre was opened in 1993 as a multipurpose gym and aquatic centre. In 2003, a Eagle Vale Branch Library opened as an addition to the south wing of the now rebranded Eagle Vale Central.
Schools
The public high schoolHigh school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
, Eagle Vale High School opened in 1984 and a private Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
primary school, Mary Immaculate (formerly St Marys, part of the Mary Immaculate parish) opened in 1986.
Population
According to the 2006 censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
, Eagle Vale had a population of 5,590 people, which could be categorised as younger families with mortgages. The average age in the suburb was 30, compared to a national average of 37. The number of houses owned outright (19%) was lower than average (33%) while the number being paid off (56%) was much higher than average (32%). The average mortgage repayment ($1391 per month) was slightly higher than average ($1300) but the median family income was also slightly higher at $1235 per week compared to a national figure of $1171.