Casula

Casula is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.

Casula is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 34 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Liverpool.

Casula is the first suburb immediately south of Liverpool on the Hume Highway and the Main Southern railway line between Sydney and Melbourne. Casula consists of undulating, gently rolling land, with elevations across the suburb being mostly between 30 and 70 metres above sea level. The Georges River forms the eastern boundary of the suburb, and its western bank is paralleled by a relatively steep escarpment.

The original inhabitants of the Casula area were the Tharawal or "Dharawal" people of the greater Eora nation, an Aboriginal Australian group. "Tharawal" refers to the country and people who belong to greater southern and south-western Sydney. The Tharawal Local Aboriginal Land Council (LALC) extends through Liverpool, Camden, Campbelltown and Wollondilly Local Government Areas (LGAs). The totem animal for Tharawal country is the superb lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae).

Casula was first settled by agriculturalists in the nineteenth century, among them Richard Guise, who named his farm "Casula". The area became dominated by poultry farming, market gardening and fruit growing. Another notable farm was Glenfield Farm, which dates from circa 1817. Situated in Leacocks Lane, it originally belonged to Charles Throsby, a member of the Legislative Council and an explorer. The farm is the oldest continuously worked farm in Australia and is listed on the Register of the National Estate.During World War I, a large Australian Imperial Forces recruitment and training reserve was located in Casula - a fact reflected by the name of one of its major residential streets, "Reserve Road". This camp became briefly notorious in 1916 when a large mob of soldiers rebelled against the strict training regimen, marched on nearby Liverpool, ransacked and looted several pubs, hijacked several trains to Central station in Sydney and continued their drunken rioting, resulting in the Military Police shooting dead one rioter.

In 1918, Walter Ingham Sr. bought 42 acres (170,000 m2) of bush land in Casula as a gift to 18-year-old son, Walter. On his death in 1953, his sons Jack and Bob took over the small chicken breeding operation and built it into the largest producer of chickens and turkeys in Australia. Inghams Enterprises is now headquartered in Liverpool.

Casula Post Office opened on 1 February 1924 and closed in 1979. A Liverpool South office was renamed Cross Roads in 1964 and Casula Mall in 1990 and remains open.Being heavily farmed, the area did not become suburbanised until the late 1950s. Much of the acreage in the central and southern portions were subdivided and developed over the next few decades but even now there are pockets of undeveloped land.

The Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (CPAC), which is situated next to Casula railway station, was a former 1950s power station. After falling into disrepair, the building was refurbished and reopened in 1994 as an arts centre. As well as hosting a wide variety of exhibitions and arts events reflecting its multicultural community, CPAC has been host to the Blake Prize, an art prize focused on spirituality, since 2016.