Toronto, New South Wales

Toronto is a town within the city of Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, Australia, approximately 28 km from Newcastle's central business district and is a commercial hub for the sprawling suburbs on the western shore of the lake.

History
Toronto was named after Toronto, Ontario, Canada in honour of Edward Hanlan, a world-champion sculler who visited Australia in 1884. The area's subdividers, the Excelsior Company, named the land in honour of Hanlan's visit, which coincided with the opening of the subdivision. The name was not publicly used until 1887. The Canadian city's name comes from the Mohawk language tkaronto, meaning where there are trees standing in the water.

Toronto was originally the site of an Aboriginal mission called Ebenezer, established in 1829 by Reverend Threlkeld. Threlkeld is reported to have begun construction of his chimney with a local black stone which he later realised was coal. Coal Point is named after this discovery. The development of several coal mines in the region, proximity to the nearby city of Newcastle, and its position by the lake led to gradual development and population increases.

Following the closure of the Ebenezer Aboriginal Mission in 1890, the population of the Toronto area remained mostly Aboriginal. As the coal companies moved into the area, the aboriginal population were helped financially and the community was sustained mainly by the coal industry. However, it was not long before a mixture of land disputes and poor treatment of the local Aboriginals led to a major rally by the locals. This rally, which began as vandalism of mining company property, soon escalated into heavy violence and led to the Toronto massacre of 1896. Five Aboriginals were killed and many people on both sides were brutally beaten.

Population
Toronto and its surrounding suburbs had a total population of just over 5,000 people at the turn of the century.

Transport
Toronto is considered to be the hub for public transport on the western side of Lake Macquarie. The area is served by a privately operated bus service; 'Toronto Bus Service', which services the areas to the west, south and north of the town.

Toronto was served by train services until March 1990, when the NSW Government closed the line because of low passenger levels. The train service was replaced by a bus service which connects Toronto with Fassifern railway station.Train services operating from Fassifern include services to Sydney and Newcastle as well as the XPT service to Brisbane. Toronto is well served by road links to Newcastle and Sydney and is approximately 8 minutes from the Sydney-Newcastle Freeway (F3).

The Toronto centre serves the local communities of Kilaben Bay, Coal Point, Carey Bay, Rathmines and Wangi Wangi to the south and Teralba, Booragul, Woodrising, Fennell Bay, Bolton Point, Fassifern and Blackalls Park to the north.

Sports
Toronto is represented by three sports teams in Newcastle competitions. The Toronto Awaba Stags FC in the Northern NSW Football competition; the Macquarie Scorpions in the Newcastle Rugby League and also the Toronto Workers Kookaburras in the Newcastle cricket competition. Nathan Green, winner of the 2009 RBC Canadian Open, was born in Toronto.