Bella Vista, New South Wales

History

In 1784, Harry Foveaux was granted 300 acres (1.2 km²), which he gave over 2,000 acres (8.1 km²) and later sold to John Macarthur in 1801. John and Elizabeth Macarthur farmed sheep on this property in addition to their properties at Camden and Parramatta. For much of the time that the Macarthur's owned this farm John was overseas and it fell to Elizabeth to manage the various Macarthur properties and flocks. Reference is made by her to "my Seven Hills Farm" and this refers to the property, part of which later became "Castle Hill". Although claims are made by some that the Seven Hills Farm exclusively was used by the Macarthurs for the breeding of their merino flocks, this is clearly not the case as the documentary evidence of the Macarthur papers shows that their Merino rams were paddocked at "Elizabeth Farm" at Parramatta. The Seven Hills farm was isolated and stock there were always in danger from theft and aboriginal attack. Two of Macarthur's stockmen were killed on the farm by natives in 1805. In fact the sheep at the Macarthur's Seven Hills farm had their genesis in the 600 sheep which were purchased from Foveaux at the same time as the property. What can justifiably be claimed about the site is that it was one of the first major Australian sheep breeding farms and that the results later achieved at Camden with fine merino sheep only followed Elizabeth's efforts at Seven Hills. Part of this land was later acquired by the Pearce family and became known as Bella Vista. All the buildings on the site today date from this period of its history with no extant buildings from the Macarthur period. In the 1890s, Edward Henry Pearce (1839–1912) of Bella Vista was declared the "largest and most successful orange grower in the colony." Bella Vista was sold by the Pearces in 1950.

Until the mid-1990s, the area was primarily used for small-scale agriculture. Since then, significant changes have become apparent as it incorporates a residential area and a busy business district. However, the homestead and old farm buildings have been preserved and this portion of the former Pearce family property is now owned by The Hills Shire Council. The Friends of Bella Vista Farm Park has been formed and they are working actively to achieve the continued restoration of all buildings on this unique site.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census of Population, there were 7,317 residents in Bella Vista. 56.1% of residents were born in Australia. The most common other countries of birth were India 5.7%, Sri Lanka 3.7% and England 2.7%. 57.0% of residents spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Cantonese 5.1%, Mandarin 3.6% and Hindi 3.6%. The most common responses for religious affiliation were Catholic 31.1%, Anglican 13.4% and No Religion 11.3%.

Commercial area

The suburb now sports several shopping complexes and a major hotel. It is rapidly becoming the main business centre within the Hills District. The biggest commercial area is the Norwest Business Park on Norwest Boulevard to the east. Norwest Business Park incorporates retail, commercial, industrial and hotel developments. The industrial areas in West Bella Vista are still heavily under development, with many new warehouses appearing recently.

Health services

Bella Vista has numerous established medical centres and dental surgeries. In addition a major private hospital Norwest Private Hospital is located at 11 Norbrik Drive.

Shopping centres

Norwest Marketplace is a shopping centre featuring a Coles and many specialty stores including McDonald's, Subway, Gloria Jean's, Michel's Patisserie, Joeys', small electronic and clothing stores and a day care centre. Circa Retail is a shopping centre in South Norwest Business Park (West Bella Vista) featuring a Woolworths supermarket as the anchor tenant with 25 specialty stores.

Corporate hub

In 2006, Woolworths Limited, a public Australian retail company, joined all of its sub-management offices into a $200 million complex in Norwest Business Park in Bella Vista. The move meant Bella Vista was listed in Fortune's Global 500 list as one of the suburbs (Bella Vista is a suburb of Sydney) where Global 500 companies have their headquarters, ranked above Singapore, Miami and Baltimore and alongside Bangkok and Boston.

Other large scale corporations with corporate headquarters in the Norwest Business Park include Homeart, ResMed and AAMI Insurance and the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Transport

A major factor in the recent growth of Bella Vista has been its prime location near the end of the Sydney M2 motorway. The motorway (opened in 1997) means that in very good traffic conditions takes just over half an hour to get from Bella Vista to the CBD. This also puts Bella Vista close to two major north-south transport routes through Sydney, the Cumberland Highway and the Westlink M7.

Buses are the only form of public transport available to Bella Vista residents. The suburb is serviced by private bus companies Hillsbus and Busways. Relatively frequent buses connect Bella Vista with the nearby hubs of Parramatta (bus number T62, T63, T64, T65 and T66), Castle Hill (bus number T70, T62, 715 and 745), Blacktown (bus number T70) and Seven Hills (bus number 714 and 715). There are also peak services available directly to North Sydney (602) and the CBD (bus number 607X, 613X, 614X, 617X, and 618) and Macquarie Park (bus number 628, 740). Many routes use the North-West T-way.

The closest railway station is at Seven Hills. Several proposals have been released by the New South Wales state government to develop a train line with a stop at Norwest near Hillsong Church. The proposed $360 million North West Rail Link would be the main public transport line linking residents of north-western Sydney with Epping, Chatswood, North Sydney and Sydney CBD. It would also improve access to Castle Hill Norwest Business Park and Rouse Hill.

Education

Bella Vista is close to many educational institutions including:

Churches

Nearby churches include