Normanhurst, New South Wales

Normanhurst is an outer northwestern suburb of Sydney. Normanhurst is south of Hornsby, a large residential and retail centre. Surrounding suburbs are Thornleigh, Hornsby, Fox Valley, Wahroonga and Hornsby South.

History

Normanhurst was originally known as Hornsby, with the suburb that is now known as Hornsby called Jack's Island. However, the construction of the Northern and North Shore railway lines int he 1890s brought about a name change. The two railway lines were joined at a station called Hornsby Junction, whereas the station one stop south on the Northern line kept the name Hornsby. Due to confusion around the similarly named stops, the postmaster demanded the Hornsby station change it's name. The town was renamed Normanhurst, and the renamed Normanhurst Station was opened on the 21st of November, 1895.

The name Normanhurst was taken from a prominent resident, Norman Selfe. Ironically, Selfe protested against the name change.

Geography

Normanhust is split down the middle by Pennant Hills Road, a major north-south thoroughfare that leads into the F3 Freeway on the north, and going down south into Parramatta. However, both the east and west parts have extensive bush access. On the east side, a small section of bush lies between Normanhurst and Fox Valley. This is land owned by the SAN hospital, but not yet developed. On the west side, the suburb backs onto the southern reaches of the Berowra Valley, a continuous section of bush stretching all the way to Broken Bay. This gives Normanhurst a very "leafy" look, in comparison to its neighbours Hornsby, Pennant Hills and Thornleigh which have commercial centres and in the case of Thornleigh, an industrial area. This in turn contibutes to making native bird life abundant. The area is mainly home to Cockatoos, Rainbow Lorikeets, Kookaburras and Noisy Miners. It also has encouraged the growth of retirement residences in the suburb.

Normanhurst is home to the locally famous Normanhurst Eagles soccer team.

Normanhurst is well serviced by rail and buses; since it lies around Pennant Hills Road, car access is also easy. Normanhurst only has a small number of shops at the railway station as most of the area's shops are at Hornsby.

Politics

Normanhurst is part of the Hornsby Council Local Government Area. Following the most recent redistribution ( reapportionment ) of electoral districts for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, parts of the suburb of Normanhurst fall within three different electoral divisions, namely Hornsby, Ku-ring-gai and Epping. See New South Wales Legislative Assembly Electoral Districts

Schools

Primary Schools

• Normanhurst Public School (Public)
• Normanhurst West Public School (Public)
• Hornsby South Public School (Public)
• Clark Road School (Private)

High schools

• Normanhurst Boys' High School (Public, selective, boys only)
• Loreto Normanhurst (Private, girls only)

External links

• Loreto Normanhurst school
• Normanhurst Boys High School
• Normanhurst Public School
• Normanhurst West Public School
• Normanhurst Rover Crew is an active group of young people aged 17~25, who are into a wide range of outdoor, social and community service activities.
• Normanhurst Sports Club
• A biography of Norman Selfe