Penrith

Location: Where is Penrith?

Penrith (suburb), New South Wales Australia, is located on the eastern side of the Nepean River, bounded on the south by Jamison Road, west by Parker Street and north by Andrews Road. The boundaries of this suburb have been defined according to the Geographical Names Board. Therefore, it includes North Penrith, Kingswood Park and Lemongrove. Penrith City Council recognise North Penrith as a separate suburb, however, most residents do not. For the confines of this profile Penrith suburb has its widest boundaries. This suburb is the centre of the City of Penrith, socially, commercially and economically. The Civic Centre and Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, amidst the Central Business District, draw the city’s residents to its active heart.

33 45’01″S 150 41’39″E

Schools

Origin of the place name – Penrith

Possibly named after Penrith in the County of Cumberland (now Cumbria), England. It is not known who first introduced the name to the area. The earliest reference to Penrith can be found in the 1819 journal of three Frenchmen – MM. Jean Rene Constant Quoy, Charles Gaudichaud and Alphonse Peilion. In their journal entitled “Excursion to the Town of Bathurst, 1819” they refer to the “military depot” at Penrith. To date, this is the earliest reference found using the name of Penrith. The name may have been in use as early as 1817; however, as records show that a Court-House was operating at Penrith from April, 1817. Whether the name was in use at this earlier date is as yet unknown.

Unlike nearby Castlereagh, Penrith was never a planned town but instead grew up around the early Court House and along the Great Western Highway. In attempting to explain why Penrith was named, the “Australian Encyclopedia” (Vol. VII 1965 edition, P. 52) relates that the English Penrith was also built on one long street, and that “circumstances may have suggested the adopting of the name for the New South Wales town, where the pattern of development, on either side of the Great Western Road, was similar”.

Historical Timeline

Historic buildings & places

Combewood: Combewood was built for Francis Henry Woodriff in 1890, on land granted to Captain Daniel Woodriff in 1804. Built to plans prepared in 1880-1881, the house is a restrained and elegant English Queen Anne Villa. It retains much of its original detailing both internally and externally.

Craithes: Craithes, also known as Cassola, was built in 1870 for Joseph Single. This gentlemen’s Victorian villa is set within a garden at the end of a peppercorn avenue. A tall palm, adjacent to the house, acts as a local landmark.

Cram Place: This two storey building was erected in 1879 as the CBC (Commercial) Bank. It was purchased in 1939 by solicitor John Cram and then by Penrith City Council in 1980. It stands as a well built and maintained example of late Victorian commercial premises. Much of the original detailing to the facade is still present. It would later become known as Morris House.

Kentucky: Noah Hollier purchased the land from the Woodriff estate in 1886 and the house was built sometime between 1886 and 1890. It remained in the Hollier family until 1928 when Noah’s wife died. It was then purchased by Percy Plunkett who lived there until 1965, when it was purchased by the Welch family. They sold it to GRID Developments Pty Ltd in 1987. A fire in November 1991 destroyed part of the house, however it was restored and became a restaurant.

                               photo by Percy Plunkett

Nepean Cottage Hospital: Penrith’s third hospital, was officially opened on 3 July 1895 by Samuel Lees. In 1926 the name of the hospital changed to Nepean District Hospital. The hospital closed in 1956 when a new hospital opened in Derby Street, Kingswood. The old hospital was remodelled and opened as Governor PhillipSpecial Hospital in 1962.

Kelvin Brae: Kelvin Brae was built around 1910 by Walter Judges, a pharmacist in Penrith. The clay bricks, used for the house, were made on the property.

Red Cow Inn: In 1865 Thomas Smith purchased two acres of land in Penrith and built The Red Cow Inn, transferring his licence from his original Red Cow Inn at Ropes Creek. In the early 1880s Smith opened the two storey Red Cow Inn.

St Aubyns Terrace: This row of terrace houses is located opposite St Stephen the Martyr Anglican Church in High Street Penrith. They were built in 1886 by businessman John Brown who also built Carlton Terrace, once located to the west of St Aubyn’s Terrace.

Thornton Hall: Thornton Hall was built in the 1870’s by Thomas Smith who built the Red Cow Hotel. On his death the property was left to his son, Sydney Smith. Around 1910 it was leased to Henry Lack and became a dairy. By 1941 the whole house and site had been taken over by the Royal Army Engineers Depot. It was later subdivided into four acres and was sold by the Smith family to Read who then sold it to Strong. The Commonwealth Department of Defence compulsorily acquired it from Strong in 1951.

Penrith Speedway: The Western Suburbs Motor Cycle Club approached Sydney Smith for a loan of his paddocks, known as Belmore Park, situated to the west of Smith’s home, Thornton Hall.  Six thousand people attended its first meet. The last meeting of the Speedway was held in May 1941.

The area underwent major redevelopment in the 2010s, with a whole new suburb, Thornton, emerging.

photo by Maverick Drafting

photo by Maverick Drafting

Torin Building: The Torin Corporation factory building on Coombes Drive is of historical significance for its association with American renowned architect Marcel Breuer who was commissioned to design all nine Torin factories throughout the world, including the one at Penrith. Breuer died in New York in 1981, making the Torin Corporation factory in Penrith his last major piece of architectural work. It was built by Harry Seidler. It was used at one time as the Panthers Rugby League team complex. The building is Breuer’s only Australian project.

Victoria Bridge: The Victoria Bridge was completed in 1869 with the northern lane carrying rail traffic and the southern lane used for road traffic. This iron box girder bridge has been used exclusively as a road bridge since 1907 when the adjacent railway bridge was completed.

Yandhai Nepean Crossing Pedestrian Bridge: The footbridge opened in 2018. The name Yandhai means walking in the path of past and present and reflects the use of the river by the Darug people. Nepean identifies the location of the bridge and Crossing signifies the purpose of the bridge.

photo by RMS

Bibliography

Historical

• Murray, Robert and White, Kate Dharug & Dungaree: The History of Penrith and St Marys to 1860. Penrith City Council, Penrith, 1988.
• Nepean District Historical Society, From Castlereagh to Claremont Meadows: Historical Places of Penrith City Council, Penrith, 1997.
• Parr, Lorna, A History of the Nepean and District Street Names, Nepean District Historical Society, Penrith, 1990.
• Parr, Lorna, Penrith Calendar, Nepean District Historical Society, 1987.
• Stacker, Lorraine, Pictorial History: Penrith & St Marys, Kingsclear Books, Alexandria, 2002.
• Stevenson, Colin R., Place Names and their Origins within the City of Penrith, Penrith City Council, Penrith, 1985.
• Stickley, Christine, The Old Charm of Penrith, 2nd ed., the author, St. Marys, 1984.