Subiaco Creek is a creek
located in Sydney
, New South Wales
, Australia.
The source
of the creek is in the suburb of Ermington
. It then flows westwards though Rydalmere
before turning south for a short distance and
draining into the Parramatta River
. It is approximately 5 km long and a
significant tributary to the Parramatta River.
The Ponds
Creek is a tributary of Subiaco Creek, having its source
in Dundas
Valley
and flowing though Dundas
.
Origin of Name
Subiaco Creek is named after a convent and boarding school for
girls, which was established in the area by
Benedictine Nuns.
They named the school
'Subiaco', after the Italian
town of
Subiaco
in which
Saint Benedict established his
religious order. Ponds/Subiaco Creek Reserve, Parramatta City
Council, accessed 16/12/2008
The Ponds was the name given to a chain of
freshwater ponds which formed the headwaters of The Ponds Creek.
They were described in 1789 by Lieutenant-General Watkin Tench, who
wrote "the Ponds, a name which I suppose it derived from several
ponds of water".
History
The area around Subiaco Creek and the Ponds was one of the earliest
areas settled by European colonists in Australia, the first land
grant in the area being made in 1791.
This was the the
fourth land grant by Governor
Phillip, the governor of the newly founded colony of New
South Wales
, and it was made to Phillip Schaeffer. He created a
property called 'The Vineyard'. After a succession of owners the
property was purchased by
Hannibal
Macarthur in 1813. Macarthur went on to build a mansion, called
'The Vineyard' in 1836. This was the mansion which became the
Benedictine school, from which the name Subiaco was derived.
Geography
To date the majority of Subiaco Creek has been spared from
development, with much if its length contained within a network of
reserves and parks. The art historian
Bernard Smith recounts memories of
picking "great bunches of wildflowers" along Subiaco Creek in his
youth . Some sections of the creek near Cowells Lane Reserve have
been placed in culverts and covered over.
References
- Estuaries in NSW: Parramatta River, Department
of Water and Energy of NSW
See also
Wikis
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