Badgerys Creek

Badgerys Creek, also known as Badgery's Creek, is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, located approximately 41 kilometres (25 mi) west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of the City of Liverpool.

Badgerys Creek, also known as Badgery's Creek, is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, located approximately 41 kilometres (25 mi) west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of the City of Liverpool. It is part of the Greater Western Sydney region and is adjacent to Kemps Creek, Austral and the Blue Mountains (New South Wales).

The suburb is best known as being the most favoured site for a Second Sydney Airport. In April 2014, the Abbott Government confirmed the construction ofthe Western Sydney Airport, initially scheduling construction in 2016, but construction actually began in September 2018 and is scheduled for completion in 2026.

James Badgery was a British-born farmer and miller who, in 1806, was granted 840 acres (3.4 km2) in the suburb that bears his name today. His original land grant was on the north side of Elizabeth Drive; land which today is used for farming research by the CSIRO and University of Sydney. Badgery named his property Exeter Farm but the creek running through the property became known as Badgery's Creek and that name was eventually applied to the local area.Badgery bought other land to the south of his grant and after he died, the area was subdivided in the 1880s, vastly increasing the local population. Badgerys Creek Post Office opened on 10 July 1894 and closed in 1989. A school was established in 1895 and the area gradually developed as a rural suburb which by 1981 had a population of 1,560.

In 1986, the Federal Government announced that the Second Sydney Airport would be sited at Badgerys Creek. The government bought a number of properties for that purpose, and as a result of that, as well as concerns about living near an airport, many people moved away, meaning that by 1996 there were fewer than 500 residents. By 2016 the population had further shrunk to 225. Construction of the airport hadn't started, but in 2012 an A$8 million report into Sydney's aviation needs found that Badgerys Creek remained the best site, with construction subsequently scheduled to start in 2016.