Bass Hill, New South Wales

Bass Hill, a suburb of local government area City of Bankstown, is located 23 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, and is a part of the South-western Sydney region.

History
Bass Hill is named after George Bass, a surgeon and explorer who was granted land here in 1798. He had arrived in the colony in 1795 on HMS Reliance and became friendly with midshipman Matthew Flinders and on arrival they decided to explore parts of the colony. In 1796 on a small boat called the Tom Thumb accompanied by a boy servant William Martin, they sailed into Botany Bay and explored the Georges River, twenty miles (32 km) beyond previous expeditions. They sailed as far as present day Georges Hall. For their exploration efforts Bass and Flinders were rewarded with 100 acre land grants in this area by Governor Hunter.

The area developed rapidly after the completion of Liverpool Road in 1814. Originally known as Irish Town because of the Irish settlements, it later became known as Upper Bankstown. It became officially known as Bass Hill in October 1924.

During World War II, Bass Hill was the location for a small transmitting station that was owned and operated by the RAAF. It was located on the corner of Manuka Crescent & Johnston Road. This facility worked in conjunction with the Bankstown Bunker on Black Charlies Hill in Condell Park, which also worked in conjunction with a remote receiving station that was located in Picnic Point.

Commercial area
Bass Hill Plaza is a 20000 m2, district size shopping centre at 753 Hume Highway, Bass Hill NSW. The shopping centre includes a Woolworths Supermarket, Target Discount Department Store, Medical Centre, Post Office and approximately 60 specialty stores.

Adjacent to the centre a new residential housing estate, Viewpoint, is being developed on the former Bass Hill drive-in cinema.

Education
Bass Hill has two schools, Bass Hill Public School for years K-6 and Bass High School for years 7-12.

Sport
Bass Hill is home to many sporting fields and facilities which cater for sports such as athletics, cricket, cycling, hockey, rugby league and soccer.

The Crest sporting complex contains the Dunc Gray Velodrome which was home of the track cycling events for the 2000 Summer Olympics and the Cycling World Cup, a state of the art athletics complex, soccer fields, hockey fields and cricket fields. The Crest is home to the Sydney Bulls Jim Beam Cup Rugby League Team, South West Strikers Soccer Club, Bankstown District Sports Club Hockey Club, Banksports Athletics, Bankstown Sports Cycling Club and Bankstown Sports Gymnastics.

Population
According to the 2011 Census of Population, there were 8,175 residents in Bass Hill. 60.3% of residents were born in Australia. The most common other countries of birth were Lebanon 7.4%, Vietnam 6.2% and Italy 1.9%. 42.5% of residents spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Arabic 23.0%, Vietnamese 8.3% and Greek 3.2%. The most common responses for religious affiliation were Catholic 30.9%, Islam 20.0% and Anglican 9.8%.