Hawkesbury, New South Wales, Australia

🇦🇺 The City of Hawkesbury is a local government area of New South Wales, Australia, located on the northern and north-western fringe of the Greater Sydney area, about 50 km (31 mi) north-west of the Sydney central business district. Hawkesbury City is named after the Hawkesbury River. Major towns in City of Hawkesbury are Windsor, Richmond and Pitt Town.

Suburbs and localities Suburbs and localities in the City of Hawkesbury are: • Agnes Banks (shared with City of Penrith) • Berambing • Bilpin • Blaxlands Ridge • Bligh Park • Bowen Mountain • Bucketty (shared with Cessnock City Council) • Cattai (shared with The Hills Shire) • Central Colo • Central Macdonald • Clarendon • Colo • Colo Heights • Cornwallis • Cumberland Reach • East Kurrajong • Ebenezer • Fernances • Freemans Reach • Glossodia • Grose Vale • Grose Wold • Higher Macdonald • Hobartville • Kurmond • Kurrajong • Kurrajong Heights • Kurrajong Hills • Leets Vale (shared with The Hills Shire) • Lower Macdonald • Lower Portland (shared with The Hills Shire) • Maraylya (shared with The Hills Shire) • Mcgraths Hill • Mellong • Mogo Creek • Mountain Lagoon • Mulgrave • North Richmond • Oakville • Perrys Crossing • Pitt Town • Pitt Town Bottoms • Putty • Richmond • Richmond Lowlands • Sackville • Scheyville • South Windsor • St Albans • Ten Mile Hollow (shared with Central Coast Council) • Tennyson • The Devils Wilderness • The Lowlands • The Slopes • Upper Colo • Upper Macdonald • Vineyard (shared with City of Blacktown) • Webbs Creek • Wheeny Creek • Wilberforce • Windsor • Windsor Downs • Wisemans Ferry (shared with Central Coast Council, The Hills Shire and Hornsby Shire) • Womerah • Wrights Creek • Yarramundi

History The original inhabitants of the Hawkesbury district were the Darug tribe of Aboriginals, also spelt as Dharug or Daruk. The river, which they called Derrubbin, was a focal point as a source of food and transport. The Darug people used the river to farm for fish, eels, water birds, and mussels. They also used the river as a mode of transport in bark canoes.

It was first settled by Europeans in 1794 in a bid to acquire arable land to feed the increasing population of the penal colony at Sydney. In April 1794, Lieutenant Governor Francis Grose submitted plans for the first 22 farms on the Hawkesbury River in the present Pitt Town Bottoms area. In June 1795, Lieutenant Governor William Paterson deployed troops to engage with Aboriginals inhabiting land along the Hawkesbury River.[editorializing]

By 1811 Governor Lachlan Macquarie established the five Macquarie Towns in the area. They are Windsor, Richmond, Castlereagh, Wilberforce and Pitt Town. Many of the early 19th century buildings still survive today. Ebenezer has the oldest surviving church and school building in Australia. Windsor District Council was formed in 1843 and disbanded in 1846. In 1871 the Borough Council of Windsor was founded and the Richmond Borough Council followed in 1872. The two councils amalgamated in 1949 to become the Municipality of Windsor. Colo Shire Council was established in 1906 and joined Windsor Municipal Council from 1 January 1981 to become Hawkesbury Shire Council. On 1 July 1989, Hawkesbury became a City.

On its creation in 1981, Hawkesbury was largely rural, but urban expansion within Sydney has since transformed the southern part of the area into dormitory suburbs. The northern part of the local government area still contains some farmlands and national parkland.

Demographics At the 2021 Census, there were 67,207 people in the Hawkesbury local government area. Of these, 49.8% were male and 50.2% were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 4.8% of the population, which was 1.6% above the national average. The median age of people in the City of Hawkesbury was 39 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 19.1% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 16.6% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 49.3% were married and 12.4% were either divorced or separated.

Population in the City of Hawkesbury between the 2001 Census and the 2006 Census decreased by 0.54%; and in the subsequent five years to the 2011 Census, population growth was 2.96%. Between the 2011 and 2016 Census, population increased by a further 1.04%. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same periods, population growth in Hawkesbury local government area was significantly lower than the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the City of Hawkesbury has been consistently marginally higher than the national average.

At the 2021 Census, the proportion of residents in the Hawkesbury local government area who stated their ancestry as Australian or English amounted to 80.8%, representing an increase from 62% in 2011. Many people from the Hawkesbury identified as having a Catholic (26.0%) or Anglican (19.3%) religious affiliation in 2021.