| St Marys Sydney, New South Wales |
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| Population: | 9,717 (2006) | ||||||||||||
| Postcode: | 2760 | ||||||||||||
| Location: | 45 km (28 mi) west of Sydney CBD | ||||||||||||
| LGA: | City of Penrith | ||||||||||||
| State District: | Electoral district of Mulgoa | ||||||||||||
| Federal Division: | Division of Lindsay | ||||||||||||
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St Marys is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales Australia. St Marys is located 45 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith.
St Marys sits between South Creek which forms the western boundary and Ropes Creek, its eastern boundary.
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The suburb of St Marys was named after the parish church of St Mary Magdalene, built between 1837 and 1840. It was consecrated by Bishop Broughton in 1840 and is one of the oldest churches in New South Wales that still has regular services. St Marys is one of the few townships in the world to be actually named after a church.
The site was believed to have been chosen by the mother of Phillip Parker King. The property had been acquired from John Oxley in 1828 by King, the original grant having been made in 1823. Other land grants in the area included those to Anna Josepha King in 1807 (Dunheved), Samuel Marsden (Mamre), and Mary Putland (Frogmore).
The area was first called South Creek because European settlement was originally centred along the banks of the creek. The land grants became working holdings because of the permanent water supply. The rich alluvial soil along the banks of the creek ensured an expanding agricultural community and its location on what was then called the Great Western Road, later renamed to the Great Western Highway, meant that it became a convenient staging post.
The name St Marys was first used when the St Marys Post Office was opened on 1 October 1840. The township formed part of a grant to Mary Putland (later married Sir Maurice O'Connell), the daughter of Governor William Bligh. Closer settlement of the area was made possible when in 1842 part of the O’Connell Estate was subdivided. [1] St Marys has a long and rich industrial and agricultural history, including tanneries and munitions formerly operated by Australian Defence Industries.
The Municipality of St Marys was proclaimed on 3 March 1890, and the election of the first council was held in May 1890. The council was amalgamated with the Municipality of Penrith on 1 January 1949. The first Mayor was William Garner, and the last mayor was J J Blair (1948). There is a branch office of the Penrith City Council in Mamre Road along with a library. The St Marys & District Historical Society is open to the public on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the Community Centre complex located on Mamre Road on the Southern side of the Great Western Highway.
The M4 Motorway sits along the southern boundary with entrance and exit ramps to Mamre Road leading to St Marys Town Centre (North) and the St Clair estate (South). The Great Western Highway is the major East/West road in the suburb. Sydney Street and Marsden Road are on the northern and southern boundaries.
St Marys is also serviced by a regular passenger rail service along the main western railway line with St Marys station forming a major local public transport hub combining rail, bus and taxi services.
Dunheved is a major industrial, and commercial centre to the North. Between March 1942 and March 1986 Dunheved was served by a branch rail line that left the main western line approximately 200 meters west of St Marys station as part of the Ropes Creek branch line that was constructed to serve the munitions works formerly operated by Australian Defence Industries. While the rail infrastructure was left in place for many years after the closure, other than Dunheved Station platform and Ropes Creek Station (within the Ropes Crossing estate), nothing remains of this branch line beyond Christie Street.