The southern shoreline of the Parramatta River between Parramatta and Sydney is punctuated by many bays and coves into which flow some 27 creeks. It was the precious crystal-clear water of these creeks that attracted early white settlers to this area and led to what today are Sydney's inner western suburbs becoming the original grazing lands of early Sydney.
Johnstons Creek
Johnstons and Whites Creeks are two tributaries of the Parramatta River that flow north through the suburbs of Sydney's inner west and enter the river through Rozelle Bay. Johnstons Creek rose in the vicinity of present day Newtown station. The Western Railway Line follows the course of the creek towards what in the 1880s had been subdivided and developed as Northaingston estate to the north west of Newtown station. The creek then turned north, following the east side of Kingston Road and Cardigan Street to follow the present course of the open stormwater drain that becomes Johnstons Creek. Where it crosses Wigram Road, it is joined by its major tributary, Orphans School Creek.
In 1793, the land between the Whites and Johnstons Creeks and the Harbour was granted to George Johnston, a Marine of the NSW Corps who had supervised the transportation of convicts in the First Fleet. George named Annandale after his birthplace Annan, Scotland, in the tradition of another Scot, Col. William H. Fitzhugh, who had named Annandale, Virginia, USA a century earlier. It was Johnston who lead the soldiers in revolt against the Governor of NSW, William Bligh, in the famous Rum Rebellion of 1808.
UBD Map 235 Ref H 13
Whites Creek
Whites Creek, which also empties into Rozelle Bay, rose on the hillside to the south of Parramatta Road, Leichhardt. Parramatta Road crossed the creek via a bridge in the vicinity of Catherine Street. Whites Creek Lane follows the path of the water course to Booth Street, beyond which it passes through Whites Creek Valley Park. This park contains a rare remnant of native vegetation in Sydney's inner west. The Lilyfield goods line was built on the creek's northern bank and follows it until the creek enters Rozelle Bay. In 1793, the land between the Whites and Johnstons Creeks and the Harbour was granted to George Johnston, a Marine who had supervised the transportation of convicts in the First Fleet. The creek and White Bay are named after First Fleeter and surgeon-general John White who was granted land in the vicinity of the bay in 1789. UBD Map 235 Ref E 13
Orphans School Creek
Orphans School Creek, which rose in Grose Farm in the vicinity of the No. 2 Oval of the University of Sydney, is one of the casualties of urban development. Once a crystal clear steam, it only has water in it these days after heavy rain. For part of its length it is an underground drain. Sections above ground remain between Parramatta Road and Pyrmont Bridge Road. The creek was named because it flowed through land in the locality of Forest Lodge which was allocated for use by an orphan school. In 1800 Governor King established a Female Orphan School to provide shelter for orphaned and abandoned children. He secured William Kent's house in Sydney as accommodation; established a regular income for it by way of port duties and provided for its long-term needs with a secular equivalent of the glebe - land reserves to support livestock from which the institution could earn an income.
Iron Cove Creek
The eastern arm at the head of Long Cove is known as Iron Cove, into which flows Iron Cove Creek. It was originally known as Ironbark Creek, which gave rise to the name Ironbark Cove, the original name for the bay into which it flows. Iron Cove Creek supplies water and sediment enriched in copper, lead and zinc to the Iron Cove under low flow conditions. Once a natural watercourse abound with native vegetation and wildlife, Iron Cove Creek was transformed in the late 19th century into a stormwater channel that drains a fairly large catchment area in Sydney's inner-western suburbs. Iron Cove Creek still follows its original course from its source around Norton Street, Croydon though it is but a shadow of its former self. In the 1860s Iron Cove Creek was a freely flowing waterway which in places broadened into ponds that made excellent and picturesque swimming holes. Water birds and snakes were abundant in this area. UBD Map 234 Ref J 11 and UBD Map 234 Ref L 15
Long Cove Creek
Like Rozelle Bay, the next major bay on the southern banks of the Parramatta River has two tributaries entering it which were significant watercourses to the Aborigines and early colonial settlers. The bay, known today as Iron Cove, was known as Long Cove until well into the 20th century. Long Cove Creek enters the cove through the eastern arm at its head via the Hawthorne Canal. This uncompleted canal was part of a scheme proposed in 1929 connecting Parramatta and the main western railway line with Botany Bay via a series of natural and man-made waterways. Hawthorne Canal is named after John Stuart Hawthorne (1848-1942), member of the Legislative Assembly for Leichhardt from 1894 to 1904. The canal at the time of its construction was variously known as the Long Cove Canal, the Leichhardt Canal and the Hawthorne Canal. The canal had a ferry service operating from 1903 through 1904. The service was operated by the Drummoyne - Leichhardt Ferry Company, and there were nine ferries operated each weekday and twelve on Sundays. The ferry wharf was on the eastern side of the canal aligned with Barton St, and a footbridge was built from the western side. The ferry service became impractical due to sedimentation in the canal, and competition from the tramway.
Long Cove Creek
Hawthorne Canal
It was over Long Cove Creek at Lewisham, where the creek passes through a wooden gorge, that Australia's first railway viaduct was built in 1855 as part of the Sydney to Parramatta Railway. The Rozelle to Botany Goods line follows Long Cove Creek along much of its length between Leichhardt and Dulwich Hill, passing through an industrial centre which sprung up around a flour mill on the western bank of the creek near the viaduct. Long Cove Creek began in marshy ground at what is now Johnson Park.
Gambling Creek
Gambling Creek recalls John Gambling, who was granted 40 acres in the Lewisham area on Gambling Creek. The creek is now a covered drain which flows into Hawthorne Canal.
Duck River
Duck River
Duck River flows into the Parramatta River west of the Silverwater Bridge. On its western shore stands the Shell Oil Refinery. The refinery was established in the 1920s and was taken over by Shell in 1927. Initially 22 barges brought the crude oil from the Gore Cove Terminal to the refinery. These barges were a familiar sight on the for 40 years. Eventually, the oil was transported by pipeline from Gore Cove to the refinery. The wharf area where the barges berthed was known as Redbank and it was here also that the paddle wheel ferries ended their part of the journey from Sydney to Parramatta. From the Redbank wharf, light rail took passengers into Parramatta. The steam-driven paddle wheelers began operating in the 1890s and stopped in 1928. The Duck River was named by Captain Hunter in 1788 on the original journey up the Parramatta River by First Fleeters. The party saw many ducks in the vicinity as well as other abundant wildlife. In time, the area from Duck River to Parramatta became part of the land owned by John Macarthur.
A'Beckett's Creek
rigin unknown. The Western Motorway follows the line of this creek between Church Street to Alfred Street, Granville. The two sections of A'Beckett Street run adjacent to the creek.
Saleyards Creek
Saleyards Creek has its source in the Rookwood Cemetery beside the suburb of Strathfield, and flows generally northward through the suburb of Homebush. The creek was lined with concrete banks for its entire length as a work relief project during the Greawt Depression (1930s). Canalisation of the stream has affected salinity and pollution levels in nearby tidal wetlands. Saleyards Creek flows through a man-made tunnel under Paddy's Markets Flemington. Emerging into daylight, it continues under Parramatta Road and the M4 Western Motorway, finally flowing into Powells Creek at Bressington Park in Homebush. 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.
Haslams Creek
Haslams Creek
Haslams Creek flows into Homebush Bay on the Parramatta River. It is named after an early settler and shepherd, Samuel Haslam. The first grants in the vicinity of today's Homebush, Lidcombe, Auburn and Strathfield area were made in 1793 to a group of free settlers, and the area was subsequently known as Liberty Plains. Samuel Haslam, after whom Haslams Creek is named, received his first 50 acre grant in the area to the north of the Parramatta Road in 1806, and a second small grant to the south of Parramatta Road and east of Haslams Creek. The Creek was formerly known as Hacking Creek. Haslems Creek, formerly a meandering earth-banked waterway, was channelised in the early 1930s as an Unemployment Relief project supervised by the Department of Public Works. Industry entered the area early in its history. John Blaxland, brother of the explorer, received a large grant in the Silverwater/Newington area in 1807 and by 1816 he had cleared the land and established a salt works and woollen mill. Haslams Creek for many years flowed through the holdings of the Sydney Meat Preserving Company Ltd 1876-1965, which dammed the creek, and past the former State Abattoir on Homebush Bay. The railway arrived in the Lidcombe district in 1855, with a station opened at Lidcombe in 1859, initially known as Haslams Creek Station. After much debate as to the routing of the line further west, it reached Parramatta in 1860. The Tooheys Brewery adjacent to the Haslams Creek Bridge to the south of Parramatta Road opened in the late 1970s, replacing the company's breweries at Taverners Hill near Leichhardt and Central Station.
Powells Creek
Powells Creek flows through the green areas of Mason Park, Bressington Park and Bicentennial Park. Its name recalls Edward Powell (1762-1814), one of the district's earliest white settlers who was granted land on the shores of Homebush Bay. Until World War II, the creek was largely untouched and followed a natural meandering course through mangrove forests, delivering fresh water to Homebush Bay. In 1948 the Creek was straightened and transformed into a concrete stormwater canal at its southern end. In 1993, the concrete was removed in the areas around Bicentennial Park and this has provided the Park with a more natural environment. A drop board weir installed in 1998 has partly restored natural tidal flows.
Clay Cliff Creek
The Burramattagal clan were the indigenous people who inhabited the land beside the mostly freshwater stream now known as Clay Cliff Creek, that was a vital sources of their food and living resources. In their seasonal rotation of campsites around their territory, the clan would have found that the reasonably abundant fish, shellfish, bird life, reptiles and marsupials large and small contributed greatly to their daily quest for food. Governor Arthur Phillip camped beside this creek on April 22, 1788, the day before he discovered good soil at Parramatta, which caused him to found a settlement there. On the day following their overnight bivouac, Phillip found the landforms which he named the Crescent and Rose Hill. The 'small fresh-water stream' has its headwaters in Merrylands and is romantically depicted in Joseph Lycett's 1822 painting of Elizabeth Farm from the northern riverbank.3 The campsite was probably in the vicinity of where today's River Road crosses the creek, where fresh water met the ebb and flow of tidal water. Unfortunately this historic spot is now a stormwater drain shrouded in concrete. The creek, which flowed through John Macarthur's property, is immediately to the west of James Ruse Drive. The creek was also the reason for James Ruse's choice of the historic first land grant there.
Domiain Creek
Domain Creek
Domain Creek flows through Parramatta Park, which was set aside by Gov. Phillip in 1789 as the Governor's Domain. The creek provided fresh water for use at Government House Parramatta in its early years.
Subiaco Creek
On the north shore of the river and nearly two kilometres west of the Duck River mouth is a point where Subiaco Creek flows in to the Parramatta River. It is hard to distinguish because it flows through a thick stand of mangroves. The Parramatta River frontage between the two creeks is over a kilometre in length. The creeks and the river formed one boundary for an important estate. Subiaco Creek was originally called Bishops Creek. Thomas Bishop, an ex-marine received a grant of land from Phillip. He later sold it to another settler Thomas Schaeffer. Subiaco Creek is named after a convent and boarding school for girls, which was established in the area by Benedictine Nuns. They named the school 'Subiaco', after the Italian town of Subiaco in which Saint Benedict established his religious order. The majority of Subiaco Creek has been spared from development, with much if its length contained within a network of reserves and parks.
Vineyard Creek
In all, Thomas Schaeffer (see Subiaco Creek above) had acquired 56 hectares of land between the Subiao and Vineyard Creeks. On this property he established a vineyard and so the nearby creek was known as Vineyard Creek. Originally Schaeffer had been granted 16 hectares of land by Governor Phillip in 1792. He was an ex-soldier who had fought for the British in The American War of Independence and had arrived in New South Wales with the Second Fleet in 1790. Thomas Schaeffer's vineyard was the first vineyard to be established in the colony. In 1798, he sold this property to Captain Henry Waterhouse who had just sold his land on the southern shore on the eastern side of Duck River. In 1800, Captain Waterhouse sailed for England. He never returned to New South Wales but did correspond with Macarthur who was also in England from 1801 to 1805.
'Vineyard' was sold in 1812/13 after Waterhouse's death in England and was bought by Hannibal Hawkins Macarthur, a nephew of John Macarthur . He planned to use the property as a sheep station and so purchased more of the adjoining land. His estate covered most of the land that is now occupied by the suburbs of Rydalmere and Dundas. In 1836, Hannibal Macarthur built a mansion on the banks of the Parramatta River between the two creeks. He and his wife Maria had come to Australia after buying the property and John Macarthur, again in England, commended Maria to his family and asked that they might look after her. Maria was the daughter of the former Governor of New South Wales, Philip Gidley King.
During the 1830s and 40s, the mansion at 'Vineyard' became a focal point for Sydney society. It was famous for its parties and dances and it was the place where 'the best people arrived in chartered steam launches or private yachts.' Hannibal Macarthur ran into financial problems after the Bank of Australia failed in 1844 and he sold 'The Vineyard' estate. It was bought by Bishop Polding on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church and the house renamed 'Subiaco', the place where St Benedict had lived in Italy in the 6th century. The Church sold or leased the land but retained the house as a convent for the nuns of the Order of St Benedict. The Benedictine Sisters occupied 'Subiaco' for the next 108 years until 1957 when they moved to Pennant Hills. 'Subiaco' was demolished and is now only commemorated by the name of the creek.
The Ponds Creek
The Ponds Creek is one of a number of small creeks which flow through the Dundas Valley and eventually feed into Subiaco Creek. Lieutenant-General Watkin Tench of the first fleet described Ponds Creek in 1789 as the Ponds, a name which I suppose it derived from several ponds of water . The Ponds/Subiaco creek area was one of the earliest areas settled by European colonists. The first land grant in the area was made in 1791 to Phillip Schaeffer was the fourth land grant made by Governor Phillip. The Ponds was a chain of freshwater ponds which formed the headwaters of the creek and flowed through Dundas Valley into Subiaco Creek.
Archers Creek
Archers Creek flows generally south to the Parramatta River where it joins at Meadowbank Park, Meadowbank. The creek's name recalls Isaac Archer, who was granted 80 acres through which this watercourse runs. Isaac Archer was a private in Captain Campbell's company of marines and he received his grant of land from Governor Phillip in 1972. On March 11, 2011, construction workers discovered a suitcase containing human remains in Archers Creek. A man was arrested and charged the following day.
Charity Creek
Charity Creek flows generally south to the Parramatta River where it joins at Meadowbank Park, Meadowbank. The creek is culverted down to Meadowbank Boys High School. Below this is a short reach of natural open channel to the railway line. Downstream of the railway line the creek is a concrete lined channel. All the tributaries of Charity Creek are piped. Charity Point, near Charity Creek, is attributed to early Settler William Bennet, who was both a farmer and south sea trader. When his ships need repairing, a large number of south-sea islander crew camped on the shore. His kind treatment to them earned the names Charity Creek and Charity Headland. Charity Point was originally named Mur-ray-mah, and is thought to mean 'black bream'. Charity Point was also a popular fishing spot. Kent, a nephew of Governor John Hunter, was first granted 170 acres on 12 May 1796. He received a further grant in 1803, when his nephew William Kent Jnr obtained 570 acres in the District of Eastern Farms. It was after the 1840's that the former orchards and farms of the Ryde area began to be subdivided and Charity Creek was filled in.
Smalls Creek
Smalls Creek flows generally south to the Parramatta River where it joins at Meadowbank Park, Meadowbank. The Main Northern Railway Line crosses the creek's catchment in the top north-east corner. Smalls Creek is jointed by Mariam Creek which drains the north east corner. The catchment is predominantly residential with a large area of clustered commercial premises at the West Ryde Shopping Centre near the intersection of the railway line and Victoria Road. There are also large areas of open spaces in the form of recreational parklands and playing fields.
Tarban Creek
Tarban Creek
Tarban Creek is a very short watercourse which starts near Earnshaw Parade in Gladesville and runs along a concrete base through Tarban Creek Reserve before entering Parramatta River at Huntley's Point via Huntleys Cove. It is said to be named after the Turiban Aboriginal clan, which occupied the lands to the west of where the Lane Cove River enters the Parramatta River. Tarban Creek Lunatic Asylum, designed by Mortimer Lewis, was opened in 1838.
Gore Creek
Recalls early settler William Gore (1756-1845) who took up land here in 1810. Gore was Provost Marshall during William Bligh's governorship. Gore Cove and the nearby locality of Gore Hill are also named in his honour. In the aftermath of the Rum Rebellion against Bligh, Gore was brought before a rebel court and refused to plead. He was sentenced to transportation for seven years and was sent to Coal River (Newcastle) where he laboured side by side with ordinary convicts. His wife and four children, meanwhile, were dependent upon the charity of friends. Reinstated when Governor Macquarie arrived, he received a large land grant at Artarmon in 1813, became a leading citizen and one of the first Directors of the new Bank of NSW in 1817. He was imprisoned for misappropriating court funds in 1819, escaped and made his way to Van Diemen's Land, was arrested and brought back to Sydney. He was back in gaol again after shooting and wounding a soldier from the Woodford Bay stockade who was trespassing on his land and stealing grass. He died in 1845, deeply in debt, and his land was subsequently subdivided. Gore Creek and its tributaries flow through Lane Cove Bushland Reserve, Kellys Flat and Gore Creek Reserve before entering Lane Cove at Greenwich. Interestingly, the creek does not flow into Gore Cove. In early colonial days, the North Shore was a timber-getting area and timber was moved by barge down Gore Creek.
String Bark Creek
String Bark Creek is a small creek which flows through Stringy Bark Creek Reserve and Batten Reserve, Lane Cove, before entering Lane Cover River. The creek rises in Helen Street Reserve. Its name recallas the string bark forests through which it originally flowed.
The creeks that make up the Duck and the Lower Parramatta River Catchments also eventually flow into Parramatta River. This includes Vineyard, Subiaco, Clay Cliff and Brickfield Creeks. The only exception is the Lane Cove Catchment, comprising Terrys Creek and Devlins Creek, which make their way to Lane Cover River. In total there is approximately 65km of natural creeks or 13.4km of open channel that form the lifeblood of our catchment.
Parramatta River and its associated creeks has been a significant landmark since early Aboriginal inhabitance, through the early periods of European settlement, to the present day. Over this time the waterways have been impacted by many factors including pollution, introduced weeds, erosion, changes to water flow and many other physical disturbances.
The Upper Parramatta River catchment was originally home to the Dharug Aboriginal people who had inhabited the area for more than forty thousand years before British settlement in 1788. The local clan in the catchment was the Burramatta, from which the name Parramatta came, (burra meaning place and matta meaning eels). Many significant items of Aboriginal cultural heritage can be seen in the catchment, specifically in Lake Parramatta and Parramatta Parks, including such things as middens, tree scars, cave paintings and stone flakes.
The confluence of Toongabbie Creek and Coopers Creek (left)
Toongabbie Creek
Toongabbie Creek is one of the two main creeks, (the other being Darling Mills Creek) into which most of the creeks enter before they join the Parramatta River. Toongabbie Creek corridor begins at Crestwood Reserve, Baulkham Hills and continues south through a large industrial area where it is narrow and severely degraded until it is joined by Greystanes Creek in McCoy Park. From there it travels east in a bushland corridor until its confluence with the Parramatta River at Cumberland Hospital.
The Toongabbie Creek corridor is used for passive recreation, mainly walking and as a natural adventure playground for children. An informal trail follows the creek from Hammers Road to Oakes Road and is a beautiful, if somewhat weed overgrown walk through Blue Gum River flat Forest. Sue Savage Reserve, Palestine Park and Third Settlement Reserve provide open space for ball games, however the area is not conducive to organised sport due to its undulating nature.
The name is of Aboriginal origin, said to be derived from "tuga" meaning "thick wood". Another source suggests it means "meeting of the waters" referring to the confluence of Toongabbie Creek and Quarry Creek where the Toongabbie Convict Farm was established in 1791. In early colonial days, Toongabbie Creek and Darling Mills Creek, tributaries of the Parramatta River, were an import source of water for the settlements established in the Parramatta region. Third Settlement Reserve at Old Toongabbie, which adjoins Toongabbie Creek and Quarry Branch Creek, marks the site of the 3rd settlement established by the early British colonists. Needing to find land more arable than that around Sydney Cove, the Government established farms at Rose Hill (present day Parramatta) in 1789 and a third settlement at this location in 1791.
Known as the Toongabbie Convict Farm, it used convict labour to grow crops of barley, maize and wheat. There were two main areas of settlement, one at Johnston's Creek crossing, the other 3 km further north along Old Windsor Rd. The Johnston's Creek settlement comprised of 13 wattle and daub convict huts, stockyards and other outbuildings. A brick threshing barn was located at the northern settlement while the sites of the other documented buildings such as the church and dairy are unknown.
By April 1791, the settlement's 500 convicts had cleared 640 acres. The convicts were worked so hard, it developed a reputation as a place to be avoided at all costs. Within 5 years, soil quality had declined and better land had been found in the Hawkesbury region. Government stock was then grazed here until 1807 when the farm was abandoned and the land sold off to private farmers. Toongabbie Creek is fed by numerous tributaries including Lalor Creek (Bella Vista), Finlaysons Creek (Wentworthville), Coopers Creek (South Wentworthville), Quarry Branch Creek (Northmead), Greystanes Creek (Prospect and Girraween) and Blacktown Creek (Blacktown).
Coopers Creek, Toongabbie
Coopers Creek: the origin of this creek's name is unknown. Coopers Creek corridor extends from the southern side of Old Prospect Road in Greystanes, under the M4 Motorway and the Great Western Highway, through South Wentworthville to its confluence with Toongabbie Creek upstream of Westmead Hospital. Coopers Creek runs through a series of open spaces, drainage easements, under roads and behind residential areas. Most of the large parks, such as Ringrose Park and Monty Bennett Oval cater for intensive recreational uses. There is no formal pedestrian connection along the corridor except for the section between the railway line to Oatlands Street, Wentworthville.
Lalor Creek
Lalor Creek, which is a tributary of Toongabbie Creek, flows along the western border of the suburb of Lalor Park. The suburb, which takes its name from the creek, was originally farmland and began being developed by the housing commission in 1959 when it became known as Lalor Park. Is north of the present day Seven Hills, but the farmland was in the western section of the original Seven Hills Farm which covered a wider area than today's suburb. The creek takes its name from the Lalor family, who owned property in the area. Two members of the family (George and Robert) were Councillors on (then) Blacktown Shire Council, George serving as Shire President on two occasions, 1921-1923 and 1928. Lalor Creek forms a green corridor between the suburbs of Seven Hills and Lalor Park. Extensive bank rehabilitation and regeneration programs have been running here to help repair the eroded creek banks and remove weeds. Jute matting has been laid on the creek bank to stop weed growth. There are two tributaries along the length of Lalor Creek.
Finlaysons Creek
Finlaysons Creek
Finlaysons Creek along with Greystanes Creek, Pendle Hill Creek, Blacktown Creek, and Coopers Creek, drain from the south west of the catchment to join with Toongabbie Creek north of the railway line. Finlaysons Creek, a tributary of Toongabbie Creek, forms a green corridor through Wentworthville and South Wentworthville. The creek is in a concrete channel for over three quarters of its length. The Dharug Tribe ( Bool-Bain-ora Band) originally inhabited the area, with Finlaysons Creek known for providing the fishing, hunting and gathering needs of the local people. The fields surrounding Finlaysons Creek, which was part of Dr. Darcy Wentworth s original land grant of 1808, were used during the 1920s and 1930s for poultry farms and market gardens. These lands were gradually subdivided into residential estates such as Hillcrest and Fairmont estates. The origin of the name is unknown.
Blacktown Creek
Blacktown Creek flows from Prospect Reservoir in the south to join Toongabbie Creek at International Park north of the railway line. Several large parks, William Lawson and Orana Park, form part of the creek corridor. This creek corridor is one of the most altered in the Upper Parramatta River Catchment with large sections of the creek in concrete channels and the adjacent open space. The name is taken from land in the area that Gov. Macquarie reserved for the exclusive use of the Aborigines of the Sydney area. On it a Native Institute, known as 'Black Town', was built at Plumpton to assimilate the Aborigines into European ways. It failed and was closed in 1833. Blacktown Creek passes through several parks or reserves including William Lawson Wetlands, Orana Park, Wall Street Reserve and Mitchell Reserve. It is one of the most changed waterways in the Upper Parramatta River Catchment with some sections converted to concrete channels. Blacktown Creek can best be seen at Timbertop Reserve. The natural vegetation found at this site is considered endangered as it forms part of the Cumberland Plain Woodland. Timbertop Reserve is located in the upper catchment of Blacktown Creek.
v Greystanes Creek, Girrwaween
Girraween (Greystanes) Creek: takes its name from the Aboriginal name of the locality, said to mean a place where flowers grow. Also known as Greystanes Creek; this latter name has been officially discontinued however it still appears in street directories. The natural channel of the creek has been largely lost due to engineering and flood mitigation, however in the upper reaches, where the creek runs through CSIRO land it is in a semi-natural state. North of Fox Hills Golf Course the creek widens at the culvert and provides a wetland environment. Greystanes Creek, along with Grantham Creek, Finlaysons Creek, Pendle Hill Creek and Coopers Creek, drain from the south west of the catchment to join with Toongabbie Creek north of the railway line.
Grantham Creek
Grantham Creek: Grantham Creek extends from Grantham reserve at the southern end of Seven Hills to the confluence of Toongabbie Creek on the northern side of the railway line. The creek corridor provides an important connection to Seven Hills Railway station. The creek bed is partially natural at the upper reaches and channelled at the northern edge of Duncan Park. In Duncan Park the creek is in a semi-natural state as it runs through a remnant of River-flat Forest before being diverted into a concrete culvert at the northern edge of the park. The natural channel of the creek has been largely lost due to engineering however in Duncan Park and Grantham Research Poultry Station some semi-natural remnants remain.
