Badgerys Creek, New South Wales

Badgerys Creek, also known as Badgery's Creek, is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, located approximately 51 km west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of the City of Liverpool. It is part of the Greater Western Sydney region and is adjacent to the suburbs of Kemps Creek and Austral.

The suburb is best known as a proposed site for a Second Sydney Airport, proposed for many years, but never developed. After decades of delays and indecision, the federal government still owns the land it had acquired to build the airport.

Commercial area
North of Elizabeth Drive, a substantial amount of land is taken up by the CSIRO Research Station, University of Sydney MacGarvie Smith Veterinary Farm, and a landfill depot. Much of the research establishment is dotted with reservoirs. The southeast includes a brickworks, and land owned by Telstra, also featuring a number of reservoirs. The suburb is also home to the Hubertus Liverpool Rifle Club.

History
James Badgery was a British-born farmer and miller who was granted 840 acre in 1806 in the suburb that bears his name today. His original land grant was on the north side of Elizabeth Drive, land which today is used for farming research by the CSIRO and University of Sydney. He named his property Exeter Farm but the creek running through his property became known as Badgery's Creek and this was the name that stuck to the local area.

Badgery bought other land to the south of his grant and after he died, the area was subdivided in the 1880s, vastly increasing the local population. Badgerys Creek Post Office opened on 10 July 1894 and closed in 1989. A school was established in 1895 and the area gradually developed as a rural suburb which by 1981 had a population of 1,560. In 1986, the Federal Government announced it was building the Second Sydney Airport at Badgerys Creek. It bought out properties and most of the population moved away so that by 1996 there were fewer than 500 residents. Construction never started on the airport. But the A$8 million 2012 report into Sydney's aviation needs has found Badgery's Creek to still be the best site.

Demographics
According to the 2011 census of Population, there were 455 residents in Badgerys Creek. 64.0% of residents were born in Australia. The most common other countries of birth were China 4.2%, Malta 2.9% and Italy 2.0%. 63.9% of residents spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Cantonese 8.8%, Maltese 3.7% and Italian 2.9%. The most common responses for religious affiliation were Catholic 32.7%, Anglican 21.3% and No Religion 15.2%.

Geography
Badgerys Creek flows north into a reservoir in the suburb's north, as does South Creek, the suburb's eastern boundary. West of the reservoir, is Mills Hill, and southwest of this by just over a kilometre is Raymond Hill, 125 m. The western boundary is Oaky Creek, which becomes Cosgrove Creek after accepting this tributary 500 m north of Elizabeth Drive, and to the southwest the hill known as Anchau (118 m ).

Schools
The suburb has one primary school, Badgerys Creek Public School.

Parks
It is home to Badgerys Creek Park; the toilet block has been demolished.