1.
New South Wales
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New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south and it has a coast line with the Tasman Sea on its east side. The Australian Capital Territory is an enclave within the state, New South Wales state capital is Sydney, which is also Australias most populous city. In March 2014, the population of New South Wales was 7.5 million. Just under two-thirds of the population,4.67 million. Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as New South Welshmen, the Colony of New South Wales was founded as a penal colony in 1788. It originally comprised a more than half of the Australian mainland with its western boundary set at 129th meridian east in 1825, in addition, the colony also included the island territories of New Zealand, Van Diemens Land, Lord Howe Island, and Norfolk Island. During the 19th century, most of the area was detached to form separate British colonies that eventually became New Zealand. However, the Swan River Colony has never administered as part of New South Wales. Lord Howe Island remains part of New South Wales, while Norfolk Island has become a federal Territory, as have the now known as the Australian Capital Territory. The prior inhabitants of New South Wales were the Aboriginal tribes who arrived in Australia about 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, before European settlement there were an estimated 250,000 Aboriginal people in the region. The Wodi Wodi people are the custodians of the Illawarra region of South Sydney. The Bundjalung people are the custodians of parts of the northern coastal areas. The European discovery of New South Wales was made by Captain James Cook during his 1770 survey along the eastern coast of the Dutch-named continent of New Holland. In his original journal covering the survey, in triplicate to satisfy Admiralty Orders, Cook first named the land New Wales, however, in the copy held by the Admiralty, he revised the wording to New South Wales. After years of chaos and anarchy after the overthrow of Governor William Bligh, macquaries legacy is still evident today. During the 19th century, large areas were separated to form the British colonies of Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria. Responsible government was granted to the New South Wales colony in 1855, following the Treaty of Waitangi, William Hobson declared British sovereignty over New Zealand in 1840
2.
Sydney
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Sydney /ˈsɪdni/ is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australias east coast, the metropolis surrounds the worlds largest natural harbour, residents of Sydney are known as Sydneysiders. The Sydney area has been inhabited by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years, the first British settlers, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, arrived in 1788 to found Sydney as a penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia. Since convict transportation ended in the century, the city has transformed from a colonial outpost into a major global cultural. As at June 2016 Sydneys estimated population was 5,005,358, in the 2011 census,34 percent of the population reported having been born overseas, representing many different nationalities and making Sydney one of the most multicultural cities in the world. There are more than 250 different languages spoken in Sydney and about one-third of residents speak a language other than English at home and it is classified as an Alpha+ World City by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, indicating its influence in the region and throughout the world. Ranked eleventh in the world for economic opportunity, Sydney has a market economy with strengths in finance, manufacturing. Its gross regional product was $337 billion in 2013, the largest in Australia, there is a significant concentration of foreign banks and multinational corporations in Sydney and the city is promoted as one of Asia Pacifics leading financial hubs. Its natural features include Sydney Harbour, the Royal National Park, man-made attractions such as the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Tower and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are also well known to international visitors. The first people to inhabit the now known as Sydney were indigenous Australians having migrated from northern Australia. Radiocarbon dating suggests human activity first started to occur in the Sydney area from around 30,735 years ago, the earliest British settlers called them Eora people. Eora is the term the indigenous used to explain their origins upon first contact with the British. Its literal meaning is from this place, prior to the arrival of the British there were 4,000 to 8,000 native people in Sydney from as many as 29 different clans. Sydney Cove from Port Jackson to Petersham was inhabited by the Cadigal clan, the principal language groups were Darug, Guringai, and Dharawal. The earliest Europeans to visit the area noted that the people were conducting activities such as camping and fishing, using trees for bark and food, collecting shells. Development has destroyed much of the citys history including that of the first inhabitants, there continues to be examples of rock art and engravings located in the protected Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The first meeting between the people and the British occurred on 29 April 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay on the Kurnell Peninsula. He noted in his journal that they were confused and somewhat hostile towards the foreign visitors, Cook was on a mission of exploration and was not commissioned to start a settlement
3.
Baulkham Hills, New South Wales
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Baulkham Hills is a suburb in the north-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The land that is now called Baulkham Hills was originally home to the Bidjigal people, who are believed to be a clan of the Darug people, who occupied all the land to the immediate west of Sydney. The Bidjigal people are commemorated by Bidjigal Reserve which straddles the suburbs of Castle Hill, Baulkham Hills, North Rocks. The first European settler in the Baulkham Hills Shire was William Joyce, in 1794 he was given a grant of 30 acres in what became Baulkham Hills. The name Baulkham Hills was given to the area by Andrew McDougall, the name, which reminded McDougall of his homeland, was officially recognised in 1802. Baulkham Hills Post Office opened on 1 April 1856, according to the 2011 census of Population, there were 33,945 residents in Baulkham Hills. 65. 5% of residents were born in Australia, the most common other countries of birth were China 4. 0%, India 3. 3% and England 3. 3%. 69. 4% of residents spoke only English at home, other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 4. 2%, Cantonese 3. 8% and Korean 2. 4%. The most common responses for religious affiliation were Catholic 30. 8%, Anglican 18. 8%, Baulkham Hills is primarily accessible by road. At the intersection known as Baulkham Hills Junction several major roads including, Seven Hills Road, Old Northern Road. The fastest route from the Sydney CBD is via the M2 Hills Motorway, Baulkham Hills is serviced by the Hillsbus bus company, which provides services to the nearby commercial centres of Castle Hill, Parramatta and frequent services to the Sydney CBD. Hillsbus provides services to the City via routes 610/610X, 614X, the 610/610X service can also be caught in the westbound direction, which services Kellyville and Rouse Hill. Services are also provided to St. Leonards, Milsons Point and North Sydney, 612X, in the westbound direction, provides a service to Kellyville Ridge and Stanhope Gardens. Route M61 services Baulkham Hills, providing a high service to Castle Hill. Route M60 provides a service to the areas around Parramatta, Pennant Hills. There is no station at Baulkham Hills. In the past, there was the Rogans Hill line, connecting the suburb to Parramatta, railway Street near Baulkham Hills Junction is a reminder of this. It was closed down in 1930 due to problems on Windsor Road
4.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
5.
Hawkesbury River
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The Hawkesbury River, is a semi–mature tide dominated drowned valley estuary located to the west and north of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its main tributary, the Nepean River. The Hawkesbury River is the tributary of Broken Bay. Secondary tributaries include Brisbane Water and Pittwater, that together with the Hawkesbury River flow into the Tasman Sea at Barrenjoey Head, the total catchment area of the river is approximately 21,624 square kilometres and the area is generally administered by the Hawkesbury–Nepean Catchment Management Authority. The land adjacent to the Hawkesbury River was occupied by the Darkinjung, Darug, Eora and they used the river as a source of food and a place for trade. The headwaters of the Hawkesbury River, the Avon River, the Cataract River, and these streams start on the inland-facing slopes of the plateau which forms the escarpment behind Wollongong. Flowing north-west, away from the sea, these combine to form the Nepean River. Near Penrith, the Warragamba River emerges from its canyon through the Blue Mountains and joins the Nepean, the other principal component of the upper Hawkesbury river system, the Grose River, rises in the area of Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains. Once formed, the Hawkesbury River proper flows generally northwards, albeit with a significant number of meanders, initially the river passes the towns of Richmond and Windsor, which are the largest settlements on the river. At Windsor, the river is joined by the South Creek, as it flows north, it enters a more rural area, with only small settlements on the river. On this stretch it passes Sackville and Lower Portland, where it is joined by the Colo River, the Colo River and its tributaries drain the northern section of the Blue Mountains. From Lower Portland, the Hawkesbury River continues flowing northwards to the community of Wisemans Ferry where it is joined by the Macdonald River. Here its course turns eastwards and the landscape gradually becomes steeper. At Spencer, Mangrove Creek joins the river from the north, from here to the river mouth, road access to the river is limited to a few points. At Milsons Passage, the river is joined by Berowra Creek from the south, in the area around Brooklyn the river is crossed by the major road and rail services that follow the coast north from Sydney. The river finally reaches the ocean at Broken Bay, from the confluence of the Nepean and Grose Rivers to the sea, the Hawkesbury River has a total length of some 120 kilometres. Islands in the Hawkesbury River include, in order going downstream are Barr Island, Milson Island, Peat Island, Spectacle Island, Long Island, and Dangar Island. Despite forming the boundary of the metropolitan region of Sydney for its entire length
6.
Bella Vista, New South Wales
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Bella Vista is a suburb of north-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Bella Vista is located 33 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in 1799 Joseph Foveaux was granted 980 acres which, in addition to other purchases, he sold to John Macarthur in 1801. John Macarthur enlarged this through additional purchases until it comprised around 2,000 acres, John and Elizabeth Macarthur farmed sheep on this property in addition to their properties at Camden and Parramatta. For much of the time that the Macarthurs owned this farm John was overseas and it fell to Elizabeth to manage the various Macarthur properties, during this time reference is made by her to my Seven Hills Farm. The Seven Hills farm was isolated and stock there were always in danger from theft, two of Macarthurs stockmen were killed on the farm by natives in 1805. In fact the sheep at the Macarthurs Seven Hills farm had their genesis in the 600 sheep which were purchased from Foveaux at the time as the property. Part of this land was acquired by the Pearce family. All the buildings on the site date from this period of its history with no extant buildings from the Macarthur period. In the 1890s, Edward Henry Pearce of Bella Vista was declared the largest and most successful orange grower in the colony, Bella Vista was sold by the Pearces in 1950. Until the mid-1990s, the area was used for small-scale agriculture. Since then, significant changes have become apparent as it incorporates a residential area, however, the homestead and old farm buildings have been preserved and this portion of the former Pearce family property is now owned by The Hills Shire Council. The Friends of Bella Vista Farm Park has been formed and they are working actively to achieve the restoration of all buildings on this unique site. According to the 2011 census of Population, there were 7,317 residents in Bella Vista,56. 1% of residents were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were India 5. 7%, Sri Lanka 3. 7%. 57. 0% of residents spoke only English at home, other languages spoken at home included Cantonese 5. 1%, Mandarin 3. 6% and Hindi 3. 6%. The most common responses for religious affiliation were Catholic 31. 1%, Anglican 13. 4%, the suburb now sports several shopping complexes and a major hotel. It is rapidly becoming the business centre within the Hills District. The biggest commercial area is the Norwest Business Park on Norwest Boulevard to the east, Norwest Business Park incorporates retail, commercial, industrial and hotel developments
7.
Castle Hill, New South Wales
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Castle Hill is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 30.1 kilometres north-west of the Sydney GPO, in the Hills District. Castle Hill is the centre of the local government area of the Hills Shire. The land that is now called Castle Hill was originally home to the Bidjigal people, who are believed to be a clan of the Dharuk people, who occupied all the land to the immediate west of Sydney. The Bidjigal people are commemorated by Bidjigal Reserve which straddles the suburbs of Castle Hill, Baulkham Hills, North Rocks. The first European visitors to the district were led by Governor Phillip in April 1791 accompanied by an entourage, traveling from Parramatta reaching the hills following the Aboriginal trails, which today are overlaid by the Windsor and Old Northern Roads. As Governor he needed to find new country for settlement and farming land for crops so as to feed a struggling infant colony, Governor King began Government Farm 3 there on 8 July 1801, referring to it as Castle Hill on 1 March 1802. The majority of the convicts who worked the farm were Irish Catholics. The most notorious incident being the Battle of Vinegar Hill where around 39 were slaughtered and they were branded politicals and exiled for life, never to return. The first free settler in Castle Hill, a Frenchman Baron Verincourt de Clambe and it has been suggested that locals of the time commonly referred to de Clambes house as The Castle because of the Barons noble status. On Sunday night March 4,1804, the convicts rose up as one in what was to become known as the Castle Hill convict rebellion, leading to The Second Battle of Vinegar Hill. Overpowering their guards, they marched towards Parramatta, having torched a hut at the farm as a signal to convicts at the Hawkesbury. However, disciplined English troops, Red Coats, vastly outgunned and outnumbered them, about fifteen to twenty were killed in the first skirmish at the western gates of the Governors Domain at Parramatta, not far from Constitution Hill. The main group headed west, pursued by the Red Coats and by a citizen militia, opposite where the Rouse Hill Regional Town stands, although the exact location is lost to time, a twenty-minute skirmish happened where an unknown number were killed. Martial law was declared across the whole of the colony and was allowed to cloak the activities of the military, martial law continued in effect for seven days, throughout which muskets were heard by locals who wrote to King about the calamity. The government-controlled newspaper reported only 133 convicts were involved, but over 600 left Castle Hill in the hope of joining with another 1,100 from the Hawkesbury plains. The population of the colony at the time was around 5,000, thus the panic that beset the administration, nine were hanged, with three left hanging dead in gibbets for many months as a reminder for all. In later years the area filled with market gardens and orchards which supplied Sydney. As Sydney expanded, the disappeared and were replaced with a sprawl of suburban dwellings, retail and commercial establishments
8.
Local government in Australia
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Local government in Australia is the third tier of government in Australia administered by the states and territories, which in turn are beneath the federal tier. Local government is not mentioned in the Constitution of Australia and two referenda in the 1970s and 1980s to alter the Constitution relating to local government were unsuccessful, every state government recognises local government in their respective constitutions. Unlike Canada, or the United States there is one level of local government in each state. In August 2016 there were 547 local councils in Australia, despite the single level of local government in Australia, there are a number of extensive areas with relatively low populations which are not a part of any local government area. Despite this, they occupy a role in each state. State-based departments oversee local councils and may intervene in their affairs, the first official local government in Australia was the Perth Town Trust, established in 1838, only three years after British settlement. The Adelaide Corporation followed, created by the province of South Australia in October 1840, the City of Melbourne and the Sydney Corporation followed, both in 1842. Council representatives attended conventions before Federation, however local government was regarded as outside the Constitutional realm. In the 1970s, the Whitlam Government expanded the level of funding to local governments in Australia beyond grants for road construction, general purpose grants become available for the first time. Significant reforms took place in the 1980s and 1990s in which state governments used metrics, each state conducted an inquiry into the benefits of council amalgamations during the 1990s. In the early 1990s, Victoria saw the number of local councils reduced from 210 to 78, South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland saw some reductions in the number of local governments while Western Australia and New South Wales rejected compulsory mergers. New South Wales eventually forced the merging of some councils, the main purpose of amalgamating councils was for greater efficiency and to improve operations, but forced amalgamation of councils is sometimes seen as a dilution of representative democracy. An increase in the range of services offered by councils, the council mergers have resulted in widespread job losses and lingering resentment from some whose roles have experienced a larger workload. The growth of the Regional Organisations of Councils has also been a factor in local government reform in Australia, in 1995, there were 50 such agreements across the country. A2002 study identified 55 ROCs with the largest involving 18 councils, Local governments are subdivisions of the states and the Northern Territory. Although they are all identical in function, Australian local governments have a variety of names. The term local government area is used to refer collectively to all local governments regardless of status, whilst the local governing body itself is generally known as a council. Today, the borough, city, district, municipality, region, shire, town, community government, Aboriginal shire
9.
City of Parramatta Council
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The City occupies an area of 84 square kilometres with an estimated population of 230,167 in 2015. The City houses the Parramatta central business district, the second largest employment destination for the area after the Sydney central business district. The Administrator of the City of Parramatta Council is Amanda Chadwick and it also provides two public swimming pools at Epping and Parramatta. At the 2011 Census, there were 166,858 people in the former Parramatta local government area that comprised 61 square kilometres, aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 0. 8% of the population. The median age of people in the City of Parramatta was 33 years, children aged 0 –14 years made up 18. 9% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 11. 8% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over,52. 3% were married and 9. 9% were either divorced or separated. Population growth in the City of Parramatta between the 2001 Census and the 2006 Census was 3. 62% and in the subsequent five years to the 2011 Census, the median weekly income for residents within the City of Parramatta was on with par with the national average. The proportion of residents who stated an affiliation with Islam and Hinduism was in excess of four times. Since May 2016, the Council is managed by an Administrator, the former Parramatta City Council was composed of fifteen Councillors elected proportionally as five separate wards, each electing three Councillors. All Councillors were elected for a fixed term of office. The Lord Mayor was elected by the Councillors at the first meeting of the Council, the first proposed a merger of parts of Auburn, Holroyd and Parramatta to form a new council with an area of 72 square kilometres and support a population of approximately 219,000
10.
Census in Australia
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The census in Australia, or officially, the Census of Population and Housing, is a descriptive count of population of Australia on one night, and of their dwellings, generally held quinquennially. Participation in the census is compulsory, though answering some questions is optional, the count is taken every five years and is managed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The first Australian census was held in 1911, on the night of 2 April, in 1961 the five-year period was introduced. Censuses are held on the second Tuesday of August, the most recent was held on 9 August 2016. The cost of the 2011 census was $440 million, a separate census of Norfolk Island has been conducted by the Norfolk Island Government every five years since 1981, and occurs on the same day as the Australian census. The census examines data such as age, gender, incomes, occupations, dwelling types and occupancy, transportation modes, ancestry, languages spoken, the Census and Statistics Act 1905 led to the 1906 establishment of the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics. The Bureau was renamed the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 1975, the census is collected and published against geographic areas defined by the Australian Standard Geographical Classification. The ASGC provides a set of classifications for the dissemination of all ABS statistics. In 2007 the ABS published a set of spatial units called mesh blocks. The primary aim of mesh blocks is to provide a block for constructing alternative. Only data on persons and total dwellings is released at the mesh block level. Mesh blocks will form the basis of a new statistical geography, the traditional concept of a Collection District is that it was the area that one census collector can cover in about a ten-day period. In the 2001 census, collectors may be allocated more than one urban district because of their size. In urban areas collection districts average about 220 dwellings, in rural areas the number of dwellings per collection district reduces as population densities decrease. For the 2001 census there were 37,209 collection districts and 1,353 Statistical Local Areas defined throughout Australia, the Census and Statistics Act 1905 and Privacy Act 1988 guarantee that no personally-identifiable information is released from the ABS to other government organisations, or the public. However the ABS makes confidential census data available to researchers, who must make various legal commitments before being given access, in the 1970s there was public debate about privacy and the census. In 1979 the Law Reform Commission reported on Privacy and the Census, one of the key elements under question was the inclusion of names. It was found that excluding names reduced the accuracy of the data, individuals were likely to leave questions blank
159,391
157,243
