Macquarie Fields is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Macquarie Fields is located 38 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown and is part of the Macarthur region.

Macquarie Fields is surrounded by bushland. Nearby Macquarie Links, is a high-security housing estate beside an international standard golf course. The suburb has multiple high schools including Macquarie Fields High School and James Meehan High School.

History

The original inhabitants of the Macquarie Fields area were the Darug people of western Sydney. The rich soil of the area was home to an abundance of plants which in turn attracted animals such as kangaroos and emus, both of which along with this part with yams and other native vegetables and fruit were part of the diet of the Darug. They lived in small huts called gunyahs, made spears, tomahawks and boomerangs for hunting and had an elaborate system of tribal law and rituals with its origins in the Dreamtime. However, following the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, they were pushed off their land by the British settlers.

Macquarie Fields was named by early landholder James Meehan in honour of the Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie. The area was surveyed by Meehan in the early 19th century. Although transported to Australia as a convict for his role in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, Meehan had trained as a surveyor in Ireland and in 1803 was appointed an assistant to NSW Surveyor-General Charles Grimes. In 1806 he was granted a full pardon and in 1810 became Surveyor-General. For his work, he was granted a number of parcels of land including in what is now Macquarie Fields and neighbouring suburbs. He used the rich soil to grow cereal crops, fruit trees and to graze livestock. In 1883, then owner William Phillips subdivided the land to create a new town he called Glenwood Estate with grand boulevards and fine buildings. A railway station was added to the line in 1888 but the depression of the 1890s meant the grand town failed to materialize with only a few small houses built on the lots. In the next Great Depression of the 1930s, the area became popular with the homeless who made makeshift huts, not unlike those of the earlier Darug people.

Demographics

According to the , there were about people in Macquarie Fields.

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 4.9% of the population.
  • 52.5% of people were born in Australia; the next most common countries of birth were Bangladesh 7.0%, India 5.3%, New Zealand 2.6%, the Philippines 2.6%, and Fiji 2.5%.
  • 48.3% of people only spoke English at home; other languages spoken at home included Bengali 9.3%, Arabic 4.0%, Nepali 2.7%, Samoan 2.7% and Hindi 2.6%.
  • The most common responses for religion included No Religion 20.1%, Catholic 16.6%, Islam 16.4%, Hinduism 10.4%, and Anglican 8.7%.

Transport

right|thumb|Macquarie Fields Station

Macquarie Fields railway station is on the Main Southern railway line. Transit Systems NSW currently operate a bus depot in Macquarie Fields.

Macquarie Fields was serviced by four Interline Bus Services bus routes. In September 2023 these were taken over by Transit Systems who was awarded the Sydney Metropolitan Bus Service Contracts Region 2 until 2031.

:870 Campbelltown Hospital to Liverpool Station

:871 Campbelltown Hospital to Liverpool Station

:872 Campbelltown Hospital to Liverpool Station

:876 Eucalyptus Drive to Macquarie Fields Station

Sport and recreation

The town is home to Macquarie Fields Leisure Centre, which contains an indoor aquatic centre and an outdoor Olympic sized swimming pool. It also encompasses a gymnasium and indoor sports facilities.

There is also a number of sporting fields in the town. Sporting fields include Bensley Road, Hazlet Oval, Monarch Oval and Third Avenue.

Services

Macquarie Fields contains the WorkVentures Connect Centre at Macquarie Fields.

Notable residents

  • Simon Dwyer - rugby league player
  • Brett Emerton - Australian footballer with 95 appearances and 20 goals for Australia whilst representing Feyenoord in the Eredivisie, Blackburn Rovers in the English Premier League and Sydney FC in the A-League. Emerton grew up in Macquarie Fields, playing for local club Gunners FC
  • George McGowan - rugby league player
  • Sean Turnell - economist

References

  • History of Macquarie Fields, from the City of Campbelltown Council.
  • <nowiki>[</nowiki>CC-By-SA<nowiki>]</nowiki>