Kenthurst is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, in the state of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

39 kilometres north-west of the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or ...

in the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

The Hills Shire The Hills Shire (known until 2008 as Baulkham Hills Shire) is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Greater Western Sydney, Greater Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The area is north-west of the Sydney ...

. It is part of the Hills District region. Kenthurst is a semi-rural suburb with blocks of land on an average of . Features of the suburb include a large park (Kenthurst Park), a shopping village and park complex, numerous schools, two petrol stations, a function centre, a rural fire service station and a public swimming pool. Home of the Kenthurst “Bush Boys” Soccer Club.

History

The original inhabitants of the Dural area were the

Darug people The Dharug or Darug people, are a nation of Aboriginal Australian clans, who share ties of kinship, country and culture. In pre-colonial times, they lived as hunters in the region of current day Sydney. The Darug speak one of two dialects o ...

. Kenthurst is derived from the English County of

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

and ''hurst'' meaning a woody hillock or clearing. The area was originally known as Little Dooral and later Little Dural. In 1886 a public meeting was held to discuss a change of name. Charles Gibb was the main agitator who declared that the settlement needed a more elegant title. "Kent Forest" was suggested as an appropriate name for the area where settlers from

County that had settled in the area, but it wasn't popular and eventually Kenthurst was chosen. The meeting applied to the government ministry for permission to change the name, which was successful and was in general use from 1887. In the 1890s, Dural and the Hills district was the chief supplier of citrus fruit for most of Australia. Poultry and vegetable farms also flourished. Kenthurst Post Office opened on 1 August 1887.

Shopping complex

The Kenthurst shopping complex features a post office, supermarket, butcher, bottle shop, hairdresser and other shops. Outside the village centre there are several preschools and a second real estate agent. There are numerous local businesses in the area such as timber yards, florist, wholesalers, earthmovers and other similar businesses.

Village green

The village green is situated across Nelson St from the shopping village. It features a public swimming pool, a basketball/netball court, barbecue facilities, a playground, park benches and a large grassed area. The village green is maintained b
Kenthurst Rotary

Schools

Schools within Kenthurst include: * Kenthurst Public School (public, primary) * St Madeleine's (Catholic Systemic, primary) * Marian College (Catholic Systemic, secondary) *

The Hills Grammar School The Hills Grammar School (commonly referred to as Hills Grammar) is an independent nonsectarian co-educational early learning, primary and secondary day school, located in Kenthurst, a suburb in the Hills district of Sydney, New South Wales, ...

(private, K-12) * Kenthurst Preschool (community-based, not-for-profit)

Sport and recreation

Kenthurst has its own cricket club
soccer club
netball club and village green maintained b
Kenthurst Rotary

Demographics

At the , the suburb of Kenthurst recorded a population of 5,313 residents. Of these: ; Age distribution: The distribution of ages in Kenthurst was fairly similar to the country as a whole. Kenthurst residents' median age was 44 years, compared to the national median of 38. Children aged under 15 years made up 18.2% of the population (national average was 18.2%) and people aged 65 years and over made up 19.8% of the population (national average was 17.2%). ; Ethnic diversity: 77.5% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was England at 3.2%. 51.5% of people had both parents born in Australia. 82.2% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Arabic at 2.2%. ; Religion: The most common responses for religion were Catholic 35.7%, No Religion 24.3% and Anglican 15.5%. ; Finances: The median weekly household income was $3,061, compared to the national median of $1,746. Real estate values were correspondingly high: the median mortgage repayments were $3,280 compared to the national median of $1,863. ; Housing: Most (88.2%) private dwellings were family households and 11.5% were single-person households. Stand-alone houses accounted for 95.6% of dwellings. The average household size was 3.3 people.

Agriculture

The suburb is home to a large number of whole-sale nurseries.

Notable residents

Don Burke Donald William Burke (born 16 July 1947) is an Australian television presenter, television producer, author and horticulturist. He is best known as the longtime host of ''Burke's Backyard'', a lifestyle program produced by his wife's company ...

(born 1947), television personality * Andrew Leeds (born 1965), Australian rugby player *

James Millar James Millar may refer to: *James Millar (artist) (c. 1735–1805), English portrait painter *James Millar (educationalist) (1893–1989), Scottish educationalist *James Millar (physician) (1762–1827), Scottish physician and editor of the Encyclo ...

(born 1980), theatre actor and writer * Greg Page (born 1972), singer, musician and actor

References

{{Sydney The Hills Shire suburbs Suburbs of Sydney The Hills Shire