The Ponds, New South Wales

The Ponds is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Ponds is located 40 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Blacktown. The Ponds is part of Greater Western Region and the Hills District.

The suburb is bounded by Schofields to the west, Rouse Hill to the north, Kellyville Ridge to the east, Stanhope Gardens to the south-east, Quakers Hill to the south-west, and Parklea to the south.

History
'The Ponds' was a name designed to reflect the geography of the area and was derived from the nearby creek called "Second Ponds Creek". The Ponds was officially designated as a separate suburb in January 2007. The Ponds had previously been part of the suburbs of Kellyville and Kellyville Ridge.

Housing
The Ponds is located in the north-west growth corridor near Rouse Hill, where the first stage of a major shopping centre and commercial space have opened. A new suburb was designed to make the estate a new community. The average land prices range from $350,000 to $520,000 and house prices from $750,000 to $950,000. The first lots of land was released on the 31st March 2007. 6

Education
John Palmer Public School is a new public school which opened in 2008. Nearby high schools include Rouse Hill High School, Rouse Hill Anglican College, St Marks Catholic College, Terra Sancta College and Glenwood High School.

Transport
Busways provides a service to Blacktown via Stanhope Gardens and North-West T-way, 5 days a week (bus no T74). Meanwhile, residents can commute to either Kellyville Ridge, Stanhope Gardens or Rouse Hill Town Centre to use Hillsbus services to Parramatta (T63, T65, T66) and the city (616/616X), or Busways services to Castle Hill (T71, 745).

Shopping
Stanhope Village is located 3km from The Ponds, with Coles, Kmart and several speciality stores. Rouse Hill Town Centre is also located about 3km away, and features over 250 stores in addition to Coles, Woolworths, Target, Big W and Reading Cinemas. Additional shopping can be found at Westpoint Blacktown or Castle Towers, both located about 12km away.

A community centre and shopping village is expected to open within the vicinity of The Ponds in the near future.