Waitara, New South Wales



Waitara is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 23 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Hornsby Shire.

History
Waitara is a word in the New Zealand Maori language that means hail, pure water or hail, wide steps. Waitara is a town in New Zealand.

European settlement
Miles McCrae once owned land in Southern Sydney, near Hurstville. When he sold that land to a development company, the manager used the name Waitara for the subdivision project. McCrae later bought land near Hornsby and when the railway station opened in 1895 he suggested the name Waitara, which was formally adopted.

Waitara Post Office opened on 1 October 1913 and closed in 1986. Waitara East Post Office opened on 1 June 1966 and closed in 1994.

Transport
Waitara railway station is on the North Shore line of the City Rail network. It was originally known as Sandy Bank.

Commercial areas
Waitara is a centre for all things automotive, car dealerships both new and used, car maintenance and smash repairers.

Waitara has just one hotel, the Blue Gum Hotel which was one of the first buildings in this suburb.

Waitara also has a Rugby League Club, called Asquith Leagues, and a gym, called Millennium Health Club.

Schools
The only public school is Waitara Public School that has two O.C (opportunity class) classes. Waitara Public school is partly located in Wahroonga.

The Catholic school is Our Lady of the Rosary Primary School. It was established in approximately 1918 and located on the Pacific Highway opposite the railway station. It has since been relocated to Yardley Ave.

Churches

 * The Catholic church (Our Lady of the Rosary) was originally situated on the Pacific Highway opposite the railway station. It was later relocated to 27 Yardley Ave. It has since become the cathedral church of the Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay and is known as Our Lady of the Rosary Cathedral, Waitara.


 * Waitara is home to the second largest Korean Catholic Community Church, which has produced the youth activity group WCKYS. WKCYS can be divided into three subgroups: Kerygma, J.O.Y. and Youth Legion of Mary. While Kerygma group organises the youth mass, J.O.Y. (Jesus Others and You) consists of teachers of Waitara Korean Sunday School.


 * The Anglican Church of Waitara (All Saints) is located near Hornsby Hospital on the corner of Burdett and Palmerston Roads. In addition to church services, there are a number of other events on during the week including ESL classes, kids groups, youth groups and Bible studies.


 * The Seventh-day Adventist Church, located at the corner of Park Avenue and Alexandria Parade, was established in 1903.

Population
The 2011 census community profile for Waitara revealed roughly equal proportions of men (48.1%) and women (51.9%) in a total population of 5,370.