Penrith City Local History - Places - Suburb profiles - Emu Heights
Emu Heights
Emu Heights is located on the western side of the Nepean River, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. It is bounded by the suburb of Emu Heights, the Blue Mountains Local Government Area and the Nepean River. The historic Old Bathurst Road which cuts through the suburb is used as a convenient road by those living in the lower Blue Mountains. Emu Heights rises above Emu Plains to overlook the Nepean Valley and the surrounding Penrith suburbs across the river. Emu Heights is on the Blue Mountains Escarpment which creates a unique blend of housing and natural beauty away from the busy flow of the city.
Emu Heights on Google Maps.
The name Emu Heights was formally assigned in early 1976. Prior to this time it was known locally as The Estate and was a neighbourhood of Emu Plains. Originally the area consisted of orchards and dairy farms but these gradually disappeared as the farms were sold and redeveloped. Residential development in the area, the topography, and the already growing usage of the name before 1976, all contributed to the name’s official assignation.
| 1789 | 26 June | Captain Watkin Tench set out to explore western-most parts of the colony |
| 1790 | 26 August | Tench & Dawes explored the Nepean river and ‘saw three cassowaries’ – a precursor to naming Emu Plain |
| 1806 | 12 September | Proclamation by William Bligh to prohibit crossing of the Nepean River |
| 1808 | 8 July | Rebel Governor, Major Johnston, issued a land grant at Emu Plains to his son |
| 1819 | 11 September | Proclamation to set up a convict Agricultural Establishment with Richard Fitzgerald as Superintendent |
| 1831 | George Innes, a free settler from Bathurst obtained 400 acres near McCann’s Island and named it Emu Heights | |
| 1832 | 20 May | Village of Emu was laid out by the Government Surveyor |
| 1930s | Emu Heights estate sold and subdivided as the Nepean River Estate | |
| 1972 | Emu Heights Primary School opened | |
| 1976 | The name Emu Heights formally assigned to the neighbourhood | |
| 1996 | Aboriginal paintings discovered in a cave near Emu Heights |