Saleyards Creek (also known as Saleyard Creek) is a canalised

urban stream An urban stream is a formerly natural River, waterway that flows through a Urban area, heavily populated area. Often times, urban streams are low-lying points in the landscape that characterize catchment urbanization. Urban streams are often Water ...

, acting as a

stormwater Stormwater, also written storm water, is water that originates from precipitation (storm), including heavy rain and meltwater from hail and snow. Stormwater can soak into the soil ( infiltrate) and become groundwater, be stored on depressed lan ...

channel, located in

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 ...

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 ...

. Its upstream course follows approximately the boundary between the suburbs of

Homebush Homebush is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Strathfield. The name o ...

and Flemington. North of

Parramatta Road Parramatta Road is the major historical east-west artery of metropolitan Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, connecting the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD with Parramatta. It is the easternmost part of the Great Western Highway. S ...

, both sides of the creek fall within Homebush.

Description

Saleyards Creek has its source in the

Rookwood Cemetery Rookwood Cemetery (officially named Rookwood Necropolis) is a heritage-listed cemetery in Rookwood, Sydney, Australia. It is the largest necropolis in the Southern Hemisphere and is the world's largest remaining operating cemetery from the ...

beside the suburb of

Strathfield Strathfield is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the Municipality of Strathfield. A sma ...

, and flows generally northward, approximately following the boundary between the suburbs of

and Flemington.Stephen Ambrose, Vertebrate Fauna Study for the Strathfield LGA, April 2009.
/ref> Saleyards Creek flows through a man-made tunnel under Sydney Markets, Flemington. Emerging into daylight, it continues under

and the

M4 Western Motorway The M4 motorway is a series of partially Road pricing, tolled dual carriageway motorways in Sydney designated as route M4. The M4 designation is part of the wider A4/M4 (Sydney), A4 and M4 route designation, the M4 runs parallel and/or below ...

. When driving westbound on the M4 Western Motorway it is possible to see a sign showing where Saleyards Creek flows under the motorway, not far east of Homebush Bay Drive. North of the M4 motorway, both banks of the creek are in the suburb of Homebush, and the creek finally flowing into Powells Creek at Bressington Park, at the boundary between

and Concord West. Powell Creek itself flows into

Homebush Bay Homebush Bay is a bay on the south bank of the Parramatta River, in the west of Sydney, Australia. The name is also sometimes used to refer to an area to the west and south of the bay itself, which was formerly an official suburb of Sydney, a ...

a short distance to the north. Saleyards Creek is now lined with concrete banks for its entire length, although the portions of the creek flowing through Airey Park and beside Bressington Park also have trees planted alongside. Since its water is largely provided by rainfall in the Sydney area, flows are reduced to little more than a trickle during dry weather. The southern part of Saleyards Creek was used as the boundary when cadastral divisions, used for land title purposes, were set down in the 19th century. As a result, the suburb of Homebush, which mostly lie east of the creek, is in the

Parish of Concord Concord Parish is one of the 57 civil Parish, parishes of Cumberland County, New South Wales, a Cadastral divisions of New South Wales, cadastral unit for use on land titles. It is located to the south of the Parramatta River between Homebush Bay ...

, while the neighbouring suburb of Flemington (officially Homebush West since 1992), is in the

Parish of Liberty Plains Liberty Plains Parish is one of the 57 parishes of Cumberland County, New South Wales, a cadastral unit for use on land titles. It is bounded by Parramatta Road in the north; the boundary between Flemington and Homebush, a small part of Cooks ...

. On one definition, the creek also forms the boundary between the

Inner West The Inner West of Sydney is an area directly west of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. The suburbs that make up the Inner West are predominantly located along the southern shore of Port Jackson (Parramatta River) ...

region of Sydney and the neighbouring region of

Greater Western Sydney Greater Western Sydney (GWS) is a large region of the metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia that generally embraces the north-west, south-west, central-west, far western and the Blue Mountains sub-regions with ...

History

Saleyards Creek is named after the Flemington cattle saleyards, established in 1909. Once a natural stream, Saleyards Creek was canalised by the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board in the 1930s, partly as a work relief project during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. The saleyards were rebuilt as the Sydney Markets in the 1970s, and the part of the stream that flows through the markets was culverted.

Ecological issues

Canalisation of the stream has affected salinity and pollution levels in nearby tidal wetlands. Silt build-up from stormwater flows provides a feeding habitat for birds such as

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

s and

gull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed ...

s, but interferes with water flow, and so is occasionally removed.New South Wales. Olympic Co-ordination Authority, ''Homebush Bay Ecological Studies, 1993-1995, Volume 2'', , pp. 46–48.

References

External links

Powells Creek Renewal ProjectBressington Park, Homebush
{{coord missing, New South Wales Creeks and canals of Sydney

Description

History

Ecological issues

See also

References

External links