150 YEARS OF COUNCIL HAPPY ANNIVERSARY PENRITH
In 1871, Penrith was declared a municipality and a Council of local elected representatives formed; 2021 marks 150 years since this historic beginning. As we look ahead to the next 150 years –
in which Penrith will become a global City in its own right, with world-class parks, well-connected employment hubs and a quality of life second to none – we acknowledge the achievements of our past and of the people whose shoulders we stand on. The lands we call home have seen agricultural pastures for animals, a penal colony, a vast factory producing ammunition for farflung wars; these lands have been
sacred country for the Dharug people for thousands of years. Our City has been home to convicts, who were deported from England and incarcerated at Emu Plains, then made to work in iron-gangs to build the treacherous Zig Zag Road, now known as Old Bathurst Road. Even female convicts were incarcerated at Emu Plains, and no doubt also worked to the bone. Our location in this pivotal position on the Western Road ensured that Penrith City became instrumental in the history of NSW. It was the construction of the mighty Victoria Bridge (the fascinating history of which featured in the Winter 2020 edition of Our Place) that allowed for the gold fields west of the
PENRITH CITY COUNCIL • COMMUNITY NEWS WINTER 2021 • 4
