Eastwood is a suburb of Sydney, Australia.
Eastwood is a suburb of Sydney, Australia. Eastwood is located 17 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of the City of Ryde and the City of Parramatta. Eastwood is in the Northern Sydney region.
Originally thought to have been inhabited by the Wallumedegal Aboriginal tribe, who lived in the area between the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, the area was first settled by Europeans shortly after the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, from land grants to Royal Marines and NSW Corps, and was named "Eastwood" by an early Irish free settler, William Rutledge. Today it is a large suburban centre in the north of Sydney of over 14,000 people, with a large shopping area. Eastwood has a large population of Asian descent with immigrants from China and South Korea transforming the commercial precinct in the past decade.
Eastwood is famous for the Granny Smith apple, accidentally first grown in the suburb by Maria Ann Smith. Every October, the oval and cordoned-off streets become the grounds for the annual Granny Smith Festival, a celebration of the icon with fairground rides, market stalls, street theatres, parades, an apple-baking competition and a fireworks spectacular at the Upper Eastwood Oval. In recent years the festival has been influenced by the substantial Asian immigrant communities, with Chinese dragon dancers in the Grand Parade and Chinese stallholders. During the same period, Eastwood's annual Chinese New Year Celebrations have broadened their appeal by incorporating concurrent Korean New Year traditions, and have accordingly been renamed the Lunar New Year Festivities.
History
The Wallumedegal aboriginal tribe lived in the area between the Lane Cove River and Parramatta River, which was known as Walumetta. The area was originally heavily timbered.The area was first settled by Europeans shortly after the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 and was part of the Field of Mars. The area of Eastwood was originally granted between the years of 1790 and 1803 to marines and the NSW Corps. John Love, a private was granted 90 acres (36 ha) here in 1794, described as North Brush, in the Field of Mars Common. The land was then acquired by William Kent who already held land in what is now Epping. The land was purchased by William Rutledge for 288 pounds in 1835, who built 'Eastwood House' in 1840. This house is now part of Marist College Eastwood. Scottish born John Ross, who was part of the "squattocracy", owned Eastwood from 1860 until 1863. He reputedly paid £60 000 for it. In 1863 Edward Terry purchased the estate and upon his death in 1905, the estate was sub-divided.
In 1886, the Main Northern railway line from Strathfield to Hornsby was opened, with a station here originally called Dundas. This was changed a year later to Eastwood, named after the Eastwood Estate.
The commercial centre underwent a major upgrade in the early 1980s. Rowe Street, which originally ran across the railway line through a level crossing was turned into a mall between The Avenue and West Parade, and the 1940s bridge built in First Avenue for crossing traffic was replaced with a six-lane bridge. This bridge was to service the planned County of Cumberland Scheme, Eastwood County Road (linking Eastwood with Macquarie Park), a road project in the local area which has been controversial among locals.
Weather
Things to do
Brush Farm House – former home of Gregory Blaxland, one of the explorers of the Blue Mountains. It is included on the NSW State Heritage Register and the National Trust of Australia register.
Eastwood House – the former home of Edward Terry, the original landowner of the estate on which Eastwood is now built, and now part of the administration offices of the local Marist Brothers Secondary College.It is Heritage Listed.
Eastwood Park Grandstand and Pavilion - these date from 1933 and 1935 respectively.The croquet pavilion is still in use for its original purpose, associated with the Eastwood Croquet Club, and available for hire by the local community.Both are Heritage listed.
Ripley (14 Auld Avenue) was built in 1907, on the 1897 Bush Farm Estate subdivision. The house, designed by architect George W Durrell, is an example of the Federation Arts and Crafts style, rare in the Eastwood area.It is Heritage listed.
Ryde Hospital on Denistone Road is a public hospital with between 100 and 199 beds and an emergency department.
Eastwood Library on the Corner Hillview Road and West Parade.
Corrective Services Academy, a training centre for prison officers, is on the site of what was previously Brush Farm Public School.
Eastwood once featured a lake which gave the names Lakeside Road and The Lakeside Road Uniting Church. This lake was later converted to an oval which is used for soccer matches and by local schools. Unfortunately, the oval does still occasionally flood after very heavy rainfall.