City of Campbelltown, New South Wales

The City of Campbelltown is a Local Government Area in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, located about 55 km south west of the Sydney central business district.

Suburbs in the local government area

Suburbs in the City of Campbelltown are:

• Airds
• Ambarvale
• Blair Athol
• Blairmount
• Bow Bowing
• Bradbury
• Campbelltown
• Claymore
• Denham Court
• Eagle Vale
• Englorie Park
• Eschol Park
• Gilead
• Glen Alpine
• Glenfield
• Ingleburn
• Kearns
• Kentlyn
• Leumeah
• Long Point
• Macquarie Fields
• Macquarie Links
• Menangle Park
• Minto
• Minto Heights
• Raby
• Rosemeadow
• Ruse
• St Andrews
• St Helens Park
• Varroville
• Wedderburn
• Woodbine

History and Growth

Campbelltown was founded in 1820, named after Elizabeth Macquarie née Campbell, wife of the then Governor of New South Wales Lachlan Macquarie. The town was one of a series of south-western settlements being established by Macquarie at that time. Others include Ingleburn and Liverpool.

Campbelltown Council was originally incorporated in 1882. The present boundaries of the City of Campbelltown were largely formed in 1949, following the amalgamation of the Municipalities of Ingleburn (incorporated in April 1896) and Campbelltown, as part of a rationalisation of local government areas across New South Wales following World War II.

Campbelltown was designated in the early 1960s in the Sydney Region Outline Plan, prepared by the Planning Commission of New South Wales as a satellite city, and a regional capital for the south west of Sydney. There was extensive building and population growth in the intervening time and the government surrounded the township with areas which were set aside for public and private housing and industry.

Campbelltown was declared a City by the Hon. P.H. Morton MLA, Minister for Local Government and Highways, on May 4, 1968. That same day saw the arrival of the first electric train to Campbelltown from Sydney.

As a City, Campbelltown honoured the 1st Signals Regiment (now the 1st Joins Support Unit) with the medieval custom of the Freedom of the City. The Mayor, Alderman Clive Tregear, wanted to recognise the contribution to the units based at the Ingleburn Army Barracks. The Regiment marched through Campbelltown until it got transferred to Queensland in the late 1980s.

Campbelltown was presented with its own coat of arms in 1969. The Arms were based those on the Arms of the Campbell Family in Scotland.

Campbelltown today acts as a significant regional centre for southwestern Sydney with a rail line, major hospital, university and several shopping centres.

Politics

Campbelltown City Council consists of 15 Councillors, elected at large by Single Transferable Vote. The council is composed of seven Labor councillors (Aaron Rule, Mollie Thomas, Brenton Banfield, Steven Chaytor, Anoulack Chanthivong, Rudi Kolkman and Meg Oates), two Liberal councillors (Jai Rowell and Paul Hawker), one Greens councillor (Julie Bourke), two independent councillors from Russell Matheson's Community First Team (Russell Matheson and Paul Lake) and three other independents: Fred Borg, Sue Dobson and Bob Thompson. At the most recent elections in March 2004, the Labor ticket increased its presence from five councillors to seven, with a swing of 15%, while the Liberals gained an extra seat on the Council and the Greens retained their single seat. The current Mayor, Aaron Rule, and the Deputy Mayor, Mollie Thomas, were elected unopposed by their fellow councillors on September 26, 2006. The mayoralty is rotated between Labor and the Matheson-Lake team.

Two federal electorates overlap the City of Campbelltown, Werriwa and Macarthur. Four state electorates overlap Campbelltown: Camden, Campbelltown, Macquarie Fields and the Wollondilly.

State Politics

Labor candidates have dominated state and federal elections in Campbelltown over recent decades, and currently hold all four state electorates in Campbelltown.

The seat of Camden predominantly covers the neighbouring Camden Council, only including small parts of Campbelltown west of the Hume Highway, and is currently held by Labor's Geoff Corrigan, the former Mayor of Camden. The seat was won off the Liberal Party at the 2003 State election.

The seat of Campbelltown covers southern parts of the City of Campbelltown, and is held by Labor's Graham West. The seat was previously held by Olympics Minister Michael Knight, prior to his resignation in 2001, which triggered a by-election, won by Labor candidate Graham West.

The seat of Macquarie Fields covers northern parts of Campbelltown and some of the newer estates of Liverpool, and is held by Labor's Dr Andrew McDonald. The seat was held for many years by senior NSW minister Craig Knowles, who retired in 2005 in conjunction with the retirement of Premier Bob Carr and Deputy Premier Andrew Refshauge. Cr Steven Chaytor, an advisor to former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and Campbelltown City councillor, gained the seat in a September by-election. On January 19, 2007, Steven Chaytor withdrew as a candidate for Macquarie Fields for the March 2007 election, following his conviction for assaulting his former girlfriend, which was overturned on appeal after the 2007 election. He was replaced by Dr McDonald as Labor candidate, who went on to win the seat.

The seat of Wollondilly covers parts of southern Campbelltown, as well as covering Wollondilly Shire. It was created in the 2006 NSW redistribution, and was first won at the 2007 election by former Wollondilly Mayor and Labor candidate Cr Phil Costa.

Federal Politics

Campbelltown is divided between two federal electorates, with the northern half of the city being taken in by the Division of Werriwa and the southern half of the city being taken in by the Division of Macarthur.

Werriwa has been held by the Australian Labor Party for over 70 years, and was held by Leader of the Opposition Mark Latham prior to his resignation in early 2005. Following this by-election in March 2005, Labor's Chris Hayes was elected to the House of Representatives.

Macarthur has been traditionally a bellwether seat, which shifted northwards into Campbelltown following the 1998 redistribution. While this redistribution made the seat, held at the time by former NSW Liberal Premier John Fahey, notionally Labor, the nomination of former ultra-marathon runner Pat Farmer for the Liberal party helped defeat the Labor Party, and the seat briefly became a safe Liberal seat. At the 2007 Australian Federal Election, however, Farmer suffered a massive swing against him and he retained the seat only narrowly.

Schools

Schools in the local government area:

• Broughton Anglican College
• St Peter's Anglican Primary School (A counterpart to Broughton)
• The Macarthur Campus of the University of Western Sydney is located at Campbelltown.
• Campbelltown High School of the Performing Arts
• Rosemeadow Public School
• St Gregory's College, Campbelltown
• Campbelltown Public School
• Campbelltown East Public School
• Campbelltown North Public School
• John Therry Catholic High School Rosemeadow
• Eagle Vale High School
• Eschol Park Primary School
• St Patrick's College
• Airds High school
• Bradbury Public School
• Blairmount Public School
• Claymore Public School
• Ruse Public School
• Ambarvale Public School
• Kentlyn Public School
• Ambarvale High School
• Mount Carmel High School
• Thomas Reddall High School
• Robert Townson Public School
• Robert Townson High School
• St Andrews Public Shcool

Campbellfield Public School== References ==

External links

• Campbelltown City Council website
• 2001 Census Information
• Tourist guide from Wikitravel