Hills District or The Hills is a general term for the north-western suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Hills District is also referred to as The Sydney Hills and The Hills Shire. These suburbs are generally located within the local government area of The Hills Shire Council but parts of the City of Parramatta, City of Blacktown, and Hornsby Shire are also included in the area that is given the appellation "Hills District".
It is so called for its characteristically comparatively hilly topography, and the fact that several of its suburbs have the word 'Hills' in their names, such as Winston Hills, Pennant Hills, Castle Hill, West Pennant Hills, Rouse Hill, Beaumont Hills and Baulkham Hills.
The Hills District contains a number of affluent areas, with the Baulkham Hills LGA being rated 4th highest on the Quality Of Life Index for NSW in 2008, which is based on income and property wealth, only to be below Ku-ring-gai at 1, Hunter's Hill at 2 and Mosman at 3. Not only this, but the Hills District has a greater income and property wealth than such areas as Willoughby, Lane Cove and Woollahra.
The regional designation is a largely artificial construct and actual suburbs and localities that are considered to be in "the Hills" can be somewhat amorphous and varies according to who is doing the listing. For example the Hills District Historical Society restricts its remit to the Hills Shire local government area.
Land grants in the district were made shortly after settlement began, however much of the district owes its development to the construction of the railway line between Strathfield and Hornsby, which wasn't declared open until 17 September 1886, some 15 years before Federation, and almost a century after land grants were first made in the area.
At present, the district boasts Sydney's largest cinema complex, spanning both the Castle Hill Piazza and Castle Towers.
Read more about Hills District: Population, Geography, Religion, Public Transport, Schools, Pubs and Clubs, Sport
Famous quotes containing the words hills and/or district:
“And the heavy night hung dark
The hills and waters o’er,
When a band of exiles moored their bark
On the wild New England shore.”
—Felicia Dorothea Hemans (1783–1835)
“Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)