North Parramatta

History

The Darug people had lived in the area for many generations, and regarded the area as a food bowl, rich in food from the river and forests. They called the area Baramada or Burramatta ('Parramatta') which means "the place where the eels lie down".

Schools and recreation

North Parramatta is dominated by Lake Parramatta and The King's School, which together comprise almost 50% of the land area. Lake Parramatta is a 10-hectare reserve, based around a former reservoir. The catchment area for the lake is bounded by North Rocks Road, Pennant Hills Road and Hunts Creek. The entrance is from Lackey Street, North Parramatta. Lake Parramatta served as a recreational spot for locals who enjoyed swimming. It had been closed due to pollution, but was reopened in January 2015.

Schools in the suburb include:

Burnside Public School

Parramatta North Public School

Redeemer Baptist School – situated on a heritage-listed area – former site of Burnside Orphanage

RIDBC Garfield Barwick School

Tara Anglican School for Girls

The King's School, Parramatta, the oldest independent school in Australia

St. Monica's Primary School

Transport

The nearest train station to North Parramatta is Parramatta railway station. The 609 bus route, run by Hillsbus, is the local access to bus transport. It circles around from Prince Street, to Gloucester Avenue, past Lake Parramatta, onto Iron Street and then to the Parramatta Bus Interchange.

At the 2011 census, 21.9% of employed people travelled to work on public transport and 57.3% by car (either as driver or as passenger).

Demographics

At the 2011 census, North Parramatta recorded a population of 12,594. Of these:

Age distribution 

North Parramatta has a slight over-representation of young adults when compared to the country as a whole. This is most apparent in the range 25–34 years of age, who make up 23.1% of the suburb's population, nearly double the national average of 13.8%. North Parramatta residents' median age was 33 years, compared to the national median of 37. Children aged 0–14 years made up 16.6% of the population (national average is 19.3%) and people aged 65 years and over made up 10.1% of the population (national average is 14.0%).

Ethnic diversity 

About half (49.3%) of North Parramatta residents were born in Australia; the next most common countries of birth were China 5.6%, India 5.0%, Iran 2.5%, Lebanon 2.3% and New Zealand 2.3%. However, only 15.3% identify their ancestry as Australian, which is the largest group; the next most common self-identified ancestries were English 14.2%, Chinese 8.8%, Lebanese 5.8% and Indian 5.0%. Just under half (46.4%) of people only spoke English at home; other languages spoken at home included Arabic 6.1%, Mandarin 5.0%, Cantonese 3.8%, Korean 2.7% and Persian 2.5%.

Income 

The average weekly household income was $1,277, compared to the national average of $1,234.

Housing 

Most private dwellings (59.5%) were flats, units or apartments. Another 24.4% were separate houses, while 16.0% were semi-detached (mainly townhouses). The average household size was 2.4 people.