Dapto, New South Wales: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 12:53, 17 October 2005

Geography and Demographics

Dapto is a rapidly growing town in the Illawarra district of New South Wales, Australia, located on the western shore of Lake Illawarra and covering an area 715,438 square kilometres in size. It is considered the southernmost suburb of the industrial city of Wollongong. According to the 2001 ABS Census, the suburb (including Horsley) currently has a total population of 10,796.

History

The name Dapto is said to be an aboriginal word either from Dabpeto meaning "water plenty", or from tap-toe which described the way a lame aboriginal chief walked. The suburb was officially founded by in 1834, when George Brown transferred the Ship Inn from Wollongong to Mullet Creek Farm, in an area now named in his honour as Brownsville. After an unsuccessful attempt at wheat growing in the 1850s, Dapto embraced the dairy industry. In 1887 the railway opened and a butter factory was established. This began a transformation of Dapto and the town centre shifted south to where the new station was located. A large smelting works was subsequently established and employed over 500 men. By 1903 the Commissioner for Railways declared that Dapto was the most valuable station on the Illawarra line, its traffic being double that of Wollongong.

Further Information

The South Coast line electric rail service terminated in Dapto prior to electrification being extended to Kiama in 2001. The area of Dapto west of this rail line, formerly pastoral land, has undergone significant expansion over the past 20 years. This area has become the fastest growing part of the greater Wollongong region and consists of a sprawling, medium-density suburbia known as Horsley, now officially a suburb in its own right.

Perhaps the area's most famous attraction is the Dapto Greyhound Racing Club, colloquially and affectionately know as the 'Dapto Dogs'. Race meetings occur from 6pm to 11pm every Thursday evening.

The Dapto football team is known as 'The Canaries' and compete in the local Tooheys League. They last held the premiership when they won 3 titles consecutively from 2000-2002.

External Links

Wollongong City Library - Dapto Local Statistics
Wollongong City Library - Dapto History
Satellite photos from Google Maps

This New South Wales geography article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ==Geography and Demographics==
-'''Dapto ''' is a rapidly growing gay town (matty j and deniz lives there and misztal used to live there but thought the lebos in bankstown might make him feel more at home because matty j wants him to go to deniz's formal with her but she said no, she's so mean) in the [[Illawarra]] district of [[New South Wales]], [[Australia]], located on the western shore of [[Lake Illawarra]] and covering an area 715,438 square kilometres in size. It is considered the southernmost suburb of the industrial city of [[Wollongong, New South Wales|Wollongong]]. According to the 2001 ABS Census, the suburb (including [[Horsley, New South Wales|Horsley]]) currently has a total population of 10,796.
+'''Dapto''' is a rapidly growing town in the [[Illawarra]] district of [[New South Wales]], [[Australia]], located on the western shore of [[Lake Illawarra]] and covering an area 715,438 square kilometres in size. It is considered the southernmost suburb of the industrial city of [[Wollongong, New South Wales|Wollongong]]. According to the 2001 ABS Census, the suburb (including [[Horsley, New South Wales|Horsley]]) currently has a total population of 10,796.
 ==History==