Padstow History
East Hills takes its name from the East Hills Park Estate, a residential development comprising riverfront blocks of 1000 square metres and more. The estate included a park – originally more than twice the size of today’s East Hills Park. All this land was based upon James Watson’s 1838 land grant of 50 acres. The large water front blocks some of which still exist today, for example those in the middle of the two sections of Burbank Avenue, ran down to the picturesque Georges River. Many early purchasers used these as weekenders and built boat sheds. Hundreds of people every weekend caught buses out to the East Hills Park where they had picnics in the grounds and swam in the river. Other bus-loads of people stopped at the nearby Lambeth Street Reserve. Residents today can enjoy these wonderful parks.
The suburb became the terminus for the East Hills railway line in 1931 when the line came through, and this took some of the original park away, then in 1939 when Henry Lawson Drive was built it ran through the park and took even more land away. Finally in 1987 when the railway was extended to Glenfield, more of the park was lost again. The suburb is renowned today for million dollar homes along the Georges River, and these people enjoy the same views and relaxation this had to offer. Other blocks on the non-river side of Henry Lawson Drive are extremely large and can either be used to build a luxury family home on, or to develop and build two homes in the form of a duplex.
East Hills Today
The size of East Hills is approximately 1 square kilometre. It has 6 parks covering nearly 13% of the total area. The population of East Hills in 2006 was 2,576, and the predominant age group in East Hills is 10-19 years. Households in East Hills are primarily couples with children and are likely to be repaying between $1200 – $1400 per month on mortgage repayments. In 2006, 66.6% of the homes in East Hills were owner-occupied and the current median sales price of houses in the area is $730,000.
One popular feature of East Hills is it being so central, with great transport options. The main shopping centre boasts a chemist, a bakery and take away shop, a newsagent, a clothing store, a medical centre, community support centre, a bottle shop, gym, restaurant, plus East Hills Hotel. The East Hills area also boasts some great schools, several churches, plenty of local parks, and East Hills train station.
If you would like to know more about the East Hills area ask us about The History of East Hills books by Andrew Molloy exclusively sold in our office here on the corner of Faraday and Howard Road
