Minto, New South Wales

Minto Sydney, New South Wales
Minto railway station
Population:	11,000 (2006)
Established:	1882
Postcode:	2566
Location:	48 km (30 mi) SW of Sydney
LGA:	City of Campbelltown
State District:	Campbelltown
Federal Division:	Werriwa
Suburbs around Minto: Ingleburn Ingleburn Ingleburn Bow Bowing Minto Minto Heights Woodbine Leumeah Kentlyn

Minto is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Minto is located 48 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown and is part of the Macarthur region.

History

Minto was named to honour the Earl of Minto, Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, who was Viceroy of India from 1807-1814. The name was originally given to the entire district stretching from just north of Appin up to what is now Denham Court.^[1]

The area that constitutes the current suburb of Minto was originally home to the Tharawal people until the arrival of British settlers from the First Fleet^[2][3]. In 1811, Governor Lachlan Macquarie granted 800 acres (3.2 km²) in the area to William Redfern, the colony's first surgeon. He in turn named it Campbellfield after Macquarie's wife Elizabeth whose maiden name was Campbell. Redfern used the property as a vineyard and sheep station.

In 1810, Dr Robert Towson built his sandstock home, Varroville, in St Andrews Road, on land granted by Governor Macquarie. The house was subsequently owned by Charles Sturt and James Raymond, the first Postmaster General. In the 1820s, Colonel Parker built a Georgian bungalow called Epping Forest in Raby Road. A farm called Robin Hood Farm was built in Campbelltown Road circa 1830. These three properties are now listed on the Register of the National Estate.^[4]

In 1874, a railway station was built in the area and named Campbellfield after the property but this led to confusion with nearby Campbelltown so in 1882, it was renamed Minto. Development of the area followed shortly after and by the 1950s it was a village of around 500 people.

A large slice of land on the east side of Minto was sold to Housing Commission in 1969 to provide cheap housing. Shortly after a large industrial estate was also established in the area and Minto's transition from village to Sydney suburb was complete.

Transport

Minto railway station is serviced by the South, Cumberland and East Hills lines of the City Rail network. Minto also has a small inland port connected by rail to Port Botany. The inland port consists of a single rail siding with an adjacent hard stand surface for the containers, and the siding is operated by top and tail trains with engines at both ends.

Schools

Minto is home to one high school, Sarah Redfern High; four primary schools, Campbellfield Public, Minto Public, Sarah Redfern Public and The Grange Public; and a special school, Passfield Park, which services disabled students from pre-school through to high school.^[5] Past/Present NRL Rugby League players, Michael Lett, Gray Vaine, Justin Brooker, John Skandalis, Ken McGuinness, Kevin McGuinness,Israel Folau, Mickey, Lopini and Lalea Paea, Tim Lafai, Byron Fruean and Dominique Peyroux all attended Sarah Redfern High School,a notable rugby league school.

Housing

Public housing belonging to Housing NSW has recently been demolished in the suburb to make way for a new housing estate called One Minto. The new estate will consist of both public and private housing.

People

Demographics

With a population of almost 11,000, Minto is one of the larger suburbs in the Campbelltown area. The residents tend to be young families on slightly lower incomes than the rest of Australia. The four most common areas of work are: clerical and administrative (17%), machinery operators and drivers (15% - more than double the national average), labourers (14%) and technicians and tradespeople (14%). There are a few substantial ethnic minorities with 5% speaking Bengali at home, 4% speaking Samoan and 3% speaking Hindi.^[6]

Notable residents

• Rugby league players Israel Folau, Jarryd Hayne and Krisnan Inu all grew up within a few blocks of each other in Minto and played park football together. Mickey Paea and Tim Lafai also known in minto as good helpers of the Minto Cobras team both players give up their time to help the Minto Cobras out every week in their extra time.
• Member of the Parliament of New South Wales and former Housing Minister Cherie Burton grew up in Minto.

Sport and recreation

Minto Sports Centre

The Minto Indoor Sports Centre is home to local basketball and netball teams. The Macarthur Heat plays in the New South Wales State Basketball League and uses the Centre as its home court. The Campbelltown District Netball Association, which is also based at the Centre, plays in the third division of the Netball NSW State League.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Minto has a rugby league team, the Minto Cobras playing in the Western Suburbs District Junior Rugby League. The Cobras home ground is Townson Oval and they have produced a number of NRL players including Israel Folau, Michael Lett, Gray Vaine, Justin Brooker, John Skandalis, Ken McGuinness, Kevin McGuinness, Jarryd Hayne, Mickey Lopini, Lalea Paea, Krisnan Inu and Tim Lafai. Mickey Paea a current bulldogs forward always give's up his extra time and help's out Minto cobras and the club is proud of him for doing that because not much NRL players would give up spare time to go visit the club's they played their junior footy at.^[11]

Controversy

The entrance to Minto Mall

Minto has received negative publicity on two occasions because of a local shopping centre, Minto Mall, which has been investigated twice on A Current Affair. Although it began as a boost to local business, it has more recently become dilapadated and untidy, and the management has taken no action to combat these problems. After being placed under pressure by the news program A Current Affair and members of the community due to the rundown state of the mall, Minto Mall has been put up for sale.

References

1. ^ Minto History
2. ^ "Campbelltown's environment". Campbelltown City Council. Archived from the original on September 13, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060913123033/http://campbelltown.nsw.gov.au/upload/fxwyn53436/Cultural.pdf. Retrieved 2008-01-25. 
3. ^ "History of Camden". Camden Historical Society. http://www.camdenhistory.org.au/index.html. Retrieved 2008-01-25. 
4. ^ The Heritage of Australia, Macmillan Company, 1981, p.2/21
5. ^ "Passfield Park School". NSW Department of Education. http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/schoolfind/locator/?section=showRecord&code=5563. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 
6. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (9 March 2006). "Minto (State Suburb)". 2001 Census QuickStats. http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/ABSNavigation/prenav/LocationSearch?collection=Census&period=2001&areacode=SSC11667&producttype=QuickStats&breadcrumb=PL&action=401. Retrieved 2007-12-23. 
7. ^ "Minto Indoor Sports centre". Campbelltown City Council. http://www.campbelltown.nsw.gov.au/default.asp?iNavCatID=277&iSubCatID=351. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 
8. ^ "State Basketball League". Basketball NSW. http://www.nswbasketball.net.au/events/2008/SBL/Men/08DivMMain.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 
9. ^ "State League Div 3". Netball NSW. http://www.netballnsw.com/ladder.asp?comp=4470&OrgID=2. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 
10. ^ "Campbelltown District Netball Association". Campbelltown District Netball Association. http://www.cdna.com.au/. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 
11. ^ "Israel Folau". News Limited. Archived from the original on March 29, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080329025344/http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/sport/nrl/player/0,26796,108794-61,00.html. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 

Coordinates: 34°01′35″S 150°51′03″E / 34.02646°S 150.85070°E / -34.02646; 150.85070