Bella Vista is located 33 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district and is part of

The Hills Shire The Hills Shire (from 1906–2008 as Baulkham Hills Shire) is a local government area in the Greater Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The suburb is north-west of the Sydney central business district, and encompasses stre ...

. It is a suburb in the Hills District of Greater Western Sydney and is in the state of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. Bella Vista’s Norwest Business Park is home to several Fortune 500 companies, a number of shopping centres, high-rise buildings, and industrial and recreational spaces.

History

In 1799

Joseph Foveaux Joseph Foveaux (1767 – 20 March 1846) was a soldier and convict settlement administrator in colonial New South Wales, Australia. Early life Foveaux was baptised on 6 April 1767 at Ampthill, Bedfordshire, England, the sixth child of Joseph Fove ...

was granted which, in addition to other purchases, he sold to John Macarthur in 1801. John Macarthur enlarged this through additional purchases until it comprised around . John and

Elizabeth Macarthur Elizabeth Macarthur (14 August 1766 – 9 February 1850) was an Anglo-Australian pastoralist and merchant, and wife of John Macarthur. Early life Elizabeth Macarthur was born in Bridgerule, Devon, England, the daughter of provincial farmers, ...

farmed sheep on this property in addition to their properties at Camden and

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

. For much of the time that the Macarthurs owned this farm John was overseas and it fell to Elizabeth to manage the various Macarthur properties and flocks. During this time reference is made by her to "my Seven Hills Farm". Although claims are made by some that the Seven Hills Farm was used exclusively by the Macarthurs for the breeding of their merino flocks, this is clearly not the case as the documentary evidence of the Macarthur papers shows that their Merino rams were paddocked at ''

Elizabeth Farm Elizabeth Farm is an historic estate located at 70 Alice Street, Rosehill, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Elizabeth Farm was the family home of wool pioneer, John and his wife Elizabeth Macarthur. The estate was commenced in ...

'' at Parramatta. The Seven Hills farm was isolated and stock there were always in danger from theft and aboriginal attack. Two of Macarthur's stockmen were killed on the farm by natives in 1805. In fact the sheep at the Macarthur's Seven Hills farm had their genesis in the 600 sheep which were purchased from Foveaux at the same time as the property. What can justifiably be claimed about the site is that it was one of the first major Australian sheep breeding farms and that the results later achieved at Camden with fine merino sheep only followed Elizabeth's efforts at Seven Hills. Part of this land was later acquired by the Pearce family and became known as ''Bella Vista''. All the buildings on the site today date from this period of its history with no extant buildings from the Macarthur period. In the 1890s, Edward Henry Pearce (1839–1912) of ''Bella Vista'' was declared the "largest and most successful orange grower in the colony." ''Bella Vista'' was sold by the Pearce family in 1950. Until the mid-1990s, the area was primarily used for

small-scale agriculture A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology ...

. Since then, significant changes have become apparent as it incorporates a residential area and a busy business district. However, the homestead and old farm buildings have been preserved and this portion of the former Pearce family property is now owned by

Council. The Friends of ''Bella Vista'' Farm Park has been formed and they are working actively to achieve the continued restoration of all buildings on this unique site.

Heritage listings

Bella Vista has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Elizabeth Macarthur Drive: ''Bella Vista'' (homestead) *Seven Hills Road:

Pearce Family Cemetery The Pearce Family Cemetery is a heritage-listed former farming land and now cemetery located at 257 Seven Hills Road, Bella Vista in The Hills Shire local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It is also known as the Pearce Cemetery. ...

Demographics

According to the , there were 7,837 residents in Bella Vista. 51.2% of residents were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth who weren’t born in Australia were, India 7.6%, China 5.9%, Sri Lanka 4.3%, England 2.3% and the Philippines 2.1%. 49.0% of residents spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 8.6%, Hindi 4.5%, Tamil 4.5%, Cantonese 4.4% and Punjabi 2.6%. The most common responses for religious affiliation were

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

24.8%, No Religion 18.0%,

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

12.6%, Anglican 9.1% and Pentecostal 5.8%.

Commercial area

The suburb has shopping complexes and a major hotel. It is rapidly becoming the main business centre within the Hills District. The biggest commercial area is the

Norwest Business Park The Norwest Business Park is a business park in the suburbs of Norwest and Bella Vista in the local government area of The Hills Shire in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Norwest Business Park is bordered by Windsor Road to the east, and ...

on Norwest Boulevard to the east. Norwest Business Park incorporates retail, commercial, industrial and hotel developments. The industrial areas in West Bella Vista are still heavily under development, with many new warehouses appearing recently.

Health services

Bella Vista has numerous established medical centres and dental surgeries, including Norwest Private Hospital on Norbrik Drive, and Hospital for Specialist Surgery located on Solent Circuit.

Shopping centres

Circa Retail is a shopping centre located near Old Windsor Road, featuring a Woolworths supermarket as the anchor tenant with 25 specialty stores.

Corporate hub

In 2006, Woolworths, a public Australian retail company, joined all of its sub-management offices into a $200 million complex in Norwest Business Park in Bella Vista. The move meant Bella Vista was listed in Fortune's Global 500 list as one of the suburbs (Bella Vista is a suburb of Sydney) where Global 500 companies have their headquarters, ranked above Singapore, Miami and Baltimore and alongside Bangkok and Boston. Other large scale corporations with their headquarters in the Norwest Business Park include

Homeart Homeart was a national chain of retail stores with outlets in every state in Australia selling mostly homewares, giftware and electrical products. History The company's origins can be traced back to Melbourne's eastern suburbs and the iconic Cr ...

, ResMed and

AAMI Australian Associated Motor Insurers Limited (commonly referred to as AAMI) is an Australian general insurance provider offering car, home, CTP and business insurance. AAMI has vehicle assessment centres in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland ...

and the

Reserve Bank of Australia The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is Australia's central bank and banknote issuing authority. It has had this role since 14 January 1960, when the ''Reserve Bank Act 1959'' removed the central banking functions from the Commonwealth Bank. Th ...

. File:Driving westbound on Norwest Boulevard.jpg, Norwest Boulevard

Transport

A major factor in the recent growth of Bella Vista has been its prime location near the end of the Sydney

M2 motorway This is a list of roads designated M2: Europe * M2 motorway (Great Britain), a motorway in England * M2 expressway (Hungary), a motorway in Hungary * N2 road (Ireland)#M2 motorway, a motorway in the Republic of Ireland * M-2 highway (Monteneg ...

. The motorway (opened in 1997) means that in very good traffic conditions it takes just over half an hour to get from Bella Vista to the CBD. This also puts Bella Vista close to two major north–south transport routes through Sydney, the

Cumberland Highway The Cumberland Highway is a long urban highway located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The highway links the Pacific Highway (A1/B83) and Pacific Motorway ( M1) at Pearces Corner, Wahroonga in the northeast with the Hume Highway (A22/ ...

and the

Westlink M7 The Westlink M7 or M7 Motorway, formerly Western Sydney Orbital, is a tolled urban motorway in Sydney and is a part of the Sydney Orbital Network. Owned by the NorthWestern Roads (NWR) Group, it connects three motorways: M5 South-West Motorw ...

. Until the completion of the

Sydney Metro Northwest Sydney Metro Northwest was a rapid transit project involving the construction of a rail line through the north-western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The line included the conversion of the existing Epping to Chatswood Ra ...

buses were the only form of public transport available to Bella Vista residents. The suburb is serviced by private bus companies

Hillsbus Hillsbus is an Australian bus company that operates services in the Hills District, New South Wales, Hills District of Sydney. Founded in 2004 when National Express merged its Glenorie Bus Company and Westbus (Hills District operations only) sub ...

and

Busways Busways is an Australian bus company operating services in Sydney, and in the Central Coast, Great Lakes, Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales and Adelaide. It is the largest privately owned bus operator in Australia. History The ...

. Relatively frequent buses connect Bella Vista with the nearby hubs of

(bus numbers 662, 663, 664 and 665), Castle Hill (bus numbers 730, 660 and 662),

Blacktown Blacktown is a suburb in the City of Blacktown, in Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Blacktown is located west of the Sydney central business district. It is one of the most multicultural places within Great ...

(bus number 730) and Seven Hills (bus numbers 714 and 715). There are also peak services available directly to North Sydney (602X) and the CBD (bus numbers 607X, 613X, and 614X). Many routes use the

North-West T-way The North-West T-way is a continuous series of bus-only lanes and bus roadways between Parramatta, Blacktown and Rouse Hill in Western Sydney. Opened in stages between March and November 2007, the T-way was the second bus rapid transit route to ...

. Two railway stations now service the area. Bella Vista railway station is located on the corner of Lexington Drive and Old Windsor Road, whilst Norwest railway station is located in the suburb of Norwest near Hillsong Church across the road from the Norwest Market town shopping centre. The Sydney Metro Northwest is now the main public transport line linking residents of north-western Sydney with

Epping Epping may refer to: Places Australia * Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Epping railway station, Sydney * Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...

, Chatswood, North Sydney and the Sydney CBD. It has also improved access to Castle Hill,

and

Rouse Hill Rouse Hill is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Rouse Hill is located in the Hills District, 43 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district and 19 kilometres north-west of the Parramatta cent ...

Education

Bella Vista is close to many educational institutions including: * Bella Vista Public School *

Baulkham Hills High School Baulkham Hills High School (colloquially known as Baulko) is a government-funded academically selective co-educational secondary day school, located in Baulkham Hills in the Hills District of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The princi ...

* Crestwood High School * Crestwood Public School * Gilroy Catholic College * Glenwood High School * Hillsong Church operates the Hillsong International Leadership College * Matthew Pearce Public School *

Model Farms High School Model Farms High School is a public high school in Baulkham Hills, a suburb in northwest Sydney, New South Wales. The school is named so because the area was set up to demonstrate farming practices to convicts and others who wished to start ...

* St Michael's Primary School

Churches

Nearby churches include: * Hillsong Church, located in

* Norwest Anglican ChurchSydney Anglicans
/ref> * St Michael's Catholic Church in Baulkham Hills

References

External links

{{Coord, -33.742, 150.955, format=dms, display=title, type:city_region:AU-NSW Suburbs of Sydney The Hills Shire