Jamisontown Sydney, New South Wales |
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Population | 5,242 (2011 census) | ||||||||||||
• Density | 644.0/km2 (1,667.9/sq mi) | ||||||||||||
Postcode(s) | 2750 | ||||||||||||
Area | 8.14 km2 (3.1 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
Location | 56 km (35 mi) W of Sydney | ||||||||||||
LGA(s) | City of Penrith | ||||||||||||
State electorate(s) | Penrith | ||||||||||||
Federal Division(s) | Lindsay | ||||||||||||
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Jamisontown, New South Wales is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 56 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith, and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region. It is on the eastern side of the Nepean River, just south of Penrith and bears the name of Thomas Jamison, a pioneer landowner and First Fleet surgeon.
Prior to European settlement, what is now Jamisontown was home to the Mulgoa people who spoke the Darug language. They lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle governed by traditional laws, which had their origins in the Dreamtime. Their homes were bark huts called 'gunyahs'. They hunted kangaroos and emus for meat, and gathered sweet potatoes, berries and other native plants.
In 1805, the then Surgeon-General (Principal Surgeon) of the Colony of New South Wales, Thomas Jamison (1752/53-1811), was granted 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) on the banks of the Nepean River, to the south of what is now Jamison Road. Later, the property passed to his son, Sir John Jamison (1776–1844), Kt, MD, MLC - a celebrated physician, land owner and political reformer, who erected a splendid mansion (since destroyed by fire) on the nearby Regentville estate during the 1820s.
The land at Jamisontown stayed rural for the next 150 years or so. In 1911, it was the departure point for the first cross-country flight in Australia, made by William Ewart Hart. In the 1960s the area began to be subdivided and developed and in 1976, Jamisontown was officially gazetted as a neighbourhood.