Holroyd, New South Wales

Holroyd is a small suburb in western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Holroyd is located 24 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Holroyd. The local government area takes its name from Arthur Holroyd, first Mayor of the area, local landowner and businessman. The administrative centre is located in nearby Merrylands.

History

Arthur Todd Holroyd (1806-1887) acquired land in this area in 1855. His property, Sherwood Scrubs, was located in Merrylands named after his former home in England. ^[1] Arthur Todd Holroyd MP (Bathurst Plains then Parramatta) was a judge for the NSW Supreme Court, had completed one year medical residency in London and was a keen businessman. He was respected and powerful and was on many and varied boards and committees. He became the first mayor of Holroyd Council (then Municipality of Prospect & Sherwood 1872-1927 with only 250 ratepayers for first 9 years) and made clay pipes for drainage at Sherwood Scrubs and introduced drainage to the local area. He also encouraged the rail line to Parramatta Junction.

The suburb of Holroyd was created when suburb boundaries had to be defined and Holroyd Council Local Government Area did not have a suburb of the same name and had to create one to satisfy the State Government requirements as carried out by the Geographical Names Board. It was gazetted in 1999 with boundaries being: Walpole Street (north), Neil Street (south) the railway line (east) and Pitt Street (west). There was a change to the boundary in 2001 with the northern boundary extended to the freeway. ^[2]

Landmarks

This historic Goodlet and Smith Brickpit sites have now been redeveloped into Holroyd Gardens Park (on the site of a clay pit that was later filled) and Holroyd Gardens Estate which is a medium density development that includes the remaining heritage brickwork kilns and associated buildings.

References