Blacktown

Blacktown Sydney, New South Wales
Westpoint shopping centre, Blacktown
Coordinates	33°46′16″S 150°54′23″E / 33.7710°S 150.9063°E / -33.7710; 150.9063Coordinates: 33°46′16″S 150°54′23″E / 33.7710°S 150.9063°E / -33.7710; 150.9063
Population	43,374 (2011 census)
Postcode(s)	2148
Location	34 km (21 mi) west of Sydney CBD
LGA(s)	City of Blacktown
State electorate(s)	Blacktown Prospect Seven Hills
Federal Division(s)	Chifley Greenway McMahon Lindsay
Suburbs around Blacktown: Marayong Kings Park Kings Langley Woodcroft Doonside Blacktown Lalor Park Seven Hills Arndell Park Eastern Creek Prospect

Blacktown is a suburb in the City of Blacktown, in Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Blacktown is located 34 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district. Blacktown is the largest of any suburb or township in New South Wales and is one of the most multicultural places in Sydney.

Prior to the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, the area of today's Blacktown was inhabited by different groups of the Darug people including the Warmuli, based around what is now Prospect, and their neighbours the Gomerigal from the South Creek area and the Wawarawarry from the Eastern Creek area. It is estimated that fifty to ninety percent of the Darug died of smallpox and other introduced diseases within a few years of the British arrival. Governor Arthur Phillip began granting land in the area to white settlers in 1791. In 1819 when Governor Lachlan Macquarie granted land to two indigenous men, Colebee and Nurragingy as payment their service to The Crown, for showing the passage over the Blue Mountains and for assisting in dealing with Aboriginal issues

A few years later in 1823, the Native Institution (a school for Aboriginal children) was moved from Parramatta to the site where Richmond Road meets Rooty Hill Road North (this intersection is now in the suburbs of Oakhurst and Glendenning) which was named "The Blacks Town". The institution was then known as Black Town Native Institute and it was synonymous with the stolen generation. Although the institution closed in 1833, the road heading out to the internment camp became known as the Black Town Road. In 1860 the Railway Department gave the name of Black Town Road Station to the railway station at the junction of the railway and the Black Town Road, with the name shortening to Blacktown by 1862.