Homebush

Homebush is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia.

Homebush is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Strathfield.

The Homebush area was initially called Liberty Plains, and came to be called "Homebush" after the estate owned by colonial surgeon D'Arcy Wentworth.The historic railway station named after the estate was briefly the early terminus of the Great Western Line in 1855. The historic Village of Homebush estate, south of the railway, was developed in 1878 and survives largely intact. It became part of Strathfield Municipality along with the suburbs of Redmyre and Druitt Town in 1885. North Homebush, north of the railway, experienced industrial and residential development in the early 20th century and was a separate municipality. The modern suburb was formed when a small part of Strathfield, immediately south of Homebush railway station, was combined with the eastern part of former Homebush municipality in 1947. In the early 21st century, North Homebush has experienced significant population growth due to high density residential developments.

The village and later suburb of "Homebush" was named after the railway station built in 1855, which in turn was named after the separate "Home Bush Estate" further north. Also taking its name from the Home Bush Estate is Homebush Bay (early known as The Flats), a major inlet on the southern side of the Parramatta River to the north west of the Home Bush Estate. Most of the former "Home Bush Estate" was later a separate suburb of former Auburn Council named "Homebush Bay", most of which became in 2009 the suburb of Olympic Park in the City of Parramatta, and a smaller part became the suburb of Wentworth Point. Homebush West is another separate suburb to the west, also known as "Flemington".

The first name of settlement in the Concord Plains area was "Liberty Plains". This was a group of grants given to the Colony's first free settlers, who came on the ship "Bellona", in 1793. Most of the original settlers soon departed for agriculturally more attractive places, like the Hawkesbury. One of them, Edward Powell, later returned and established there the Half Way House Inn, on Parramatta Road just west of the creek that now bears his name. The Parish of Liberty Plains remains one of the 57 parishes of Cumberland County, New South Wales (the parish is a cadastral unit for use on land titles). That parish covers the suburb of Homebush West (Flemington), but not the suburb of Homebush, which is instead in the Parish of Concord.

When the Great Western Railway line came through there, with a station just behind Powell's Inn, the station borrowed the name "Homebush" from the nearest large estate, that of the "Home Bush Estate", owned by the Colony's then-assistant surgeon, D'Arcy Wentworth. It is commonly thought that this property and house with the name of "Home Bush" was established and named by D'Arcy Wentworth. Historian Michael Jones who had been commissioned by Stathfield Council to write the history of that municipality wrote: "Wentworth is popularly credited with having called the area after his 'home in the bush', although Homebush is also a place in Kent". However, according to local historian David Patrickit was not D'Arcy Wentworth who named "Home Bush" but an earlier grantee on the land – that being the military figure Thomas Laycock. It would appear that after Laycock became mentally ill, following his direct involvement in suppressing the Castle Hill convict rebellion, D'Arcy Wentworth became his doctor. It has been reputed that D'Arcy Wentworth either bought the Laycock Home Bush Farm from Laycock or, more fancifully, won the property in an unfair game of cards from the ailing Laycock. Wentworth retained Thomas Laycock's name of the property and added to its extent. Laycock had been granted 40 hectares in 1794 and increased this to 318 hectares (790 acres) by 1803 and named it "Home Bush". A notice that Laycock placed in the newspapers about his property "Home Bush" is from before when Wentworth acquired the land from him. Later on, Wentworth acquired more land there himself and the estate had grown to 400 hectares (990 acres) by 1811. However, the "Home Bush Estate" had only minor overlaps with the present suburb: most of Wentworth's Home Bush Estate (later a race course and paddocks) is located in present-day Olympic Park and Homebush West (Flemington), while the village and later suburb of Homebush was subdivided from Powell's estate, a separate grant to the south.

Powell's grant, enlarged in his lifetime, passed eventually to his son-in-law James Underwood in 1823.It was from the "Underwood Estate" that the "Village of Homebush", located south of the railway and west of Powell's Creek, was subdivided in 1878 for residential development, with a small village "high street" forming on Rochester Street adjacent to the railway station. An extended area to the south followed the oblique street pattern of Coventry Road (part of which was renamed Mackenzie Street in 1918) and Beresford Road, such as Albert Road and Oxford Road. The suburb of "Homebush" thus included the northern and central part of today's suburb of Strathfield, bounded by Homebush Road in the east. Near its southern extremity, Bushy Hill Street Estate, Homebush was subdivided in 1880. This estate included the south side of Redmyre Road, Florence Street and Bushy Hill Street (now Albyn Road), to the west of Homebush Road.The then-suburb of Homebush (consisting of the part of today's Homebush and Strathfield south of railway and west of Homebush Road), together with the northern part of Druitt Town (which lay to its south), and the western part of Redmyre (east of Homebush Road) became part of Strathfield Municipality in 1885, after which directories listed houses in all three areas as being in "Strathfield".After 1885, "Homebush" usually referred to the unincorporated part of the Underwood and Wentworth estates located north of the railway. This area remained underdeveloped for many years, and when "Homebush Municipality" was established over this area (Homebush North) in 1906, there were only 90 houses and 548 residents in the municipality. The incorporation of Homebush North and the development of primary and secondary industry nearby led to rapid development in that area. In 1925, the opening of the Homebush Theatre (later a cinema, now disused) on Parramatta Road spurred development of a commercial area along that road, but this area fell into decline in the late 20th century.

Homebush Municipality merged into Strathfield Municipality in 1947. The northern part of Homebush South was merged with part of the area covered by Homebush Municipality to create the modern suburb of Homebush.