Rouse Hill Profile
Rouse Hill (/ˈraʊz/) is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Rouse Hill is located in the Hills District, 43 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district and 19 kilometres north-west of the Parramatta central business district. It is in the local government areas of The Hills Shire and City of Blacktown. Rouse Hill Town Centre is at the heart of the suburb, which contains a busy Town Square.
History
Rouse Hill (sometimes named Rouse's Hill in older sources)[5][6] encompasses what was called the Village of Aberdour along with the area that became known as 'Vinegar Hill' following the convict rebellion of 1804.
Rouse Hill is noteworthy in Australian history as the site of the main battle during an Irish convict rebellion, known as the Castle Hill rebellion or the 'Second Battle of Vinegar Hill'.
The name Rouse Hill perpetuates the name of Richard Rouse (1774-1852), a public servant and free settler, who received a grant of land in the area. Rouse arrived in the colony in 1801. In October 1816 he was granted 450 acres at Vinegar Hill (named after the 1804 convict insurrection). Rouse had taken possession of the land at an earlier date because he began building his family home there in 1813. There were ongoing official efforts to dispense with the name Vinegar Hill, due to the association with the 1804 uprising. Governor Macquarie changed the name of the locality to Rouse Hill, but the alternate name Vinegar Hill persisted until at least the 1860s.
Demographics
At the 2021 census, the suburb of Rouse Hill recorded a population of 11,349 people. Of these:
Age distribution: Residents had a distinct bias towards young families compared to the country overall. The median age was 34 years, compared to the national median of 38 years. Children aged under 15 years made up 20.8% of the population (the national average was 18.2%) and people aged 65 years and over made up 7.4% of the population (the national average was 17.2%).
Ethnic diversity: 58.0% of all people in this area were born in Australia; the next most common countries of birth included India 6.2%, China (excluding Special Administrative Regions and Taiwan) 4.4%, the Philippines 3.6%, England 2.3%, and South Africa 2.1%. 61.2% of people only spoke English at home; other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 5.3%, Hindi 2.5%, Persian (excluding Dari) 2.3%, Cantonese 2.0%, and Tagalog 1.9%.
Religion: The most common responses for religion included No Religion 26.8%, Catholic 24.7%, Anglican 10.8, Hinduism 6.7%, and Islam 5.4%.
Finances: The median household weekly income was $2,643, compared to the national median of $1,746. This difference is also reflected in real estate, with the median mortgage payment being $2,730 per month, compared to the national median of $1,863.
Transport: On the day of the Census, 4.3% of employed people traveled to work on public transport, 38.4% by car either as driver or as passenger and 41.8% of people worked at home; this is in comparison to the 2016 Census when COVID-19 Work From Home restrictions were not in place, when the amount of employees that traveled to work via public transport was 11.9% and the amount of employees using a car to get to work to work either as a passenger or driving was 73.4%, 5.4% of employees worked at home.
Housing: 54.4% of occupied private dwellings were separate houses, 19.9% were semi-detached, row or terrace house, townhouse etc and 25.4% were flats or apartments. The average household size was 3.0 people.
Commercial area
Main article: Rouse Hill Town Centre
Rouse Hill Town Centre built on the old golf course is the town centre, owned and managed by The GPT Group, is located at the intersection of White Hart Drive and Windsor Roads. Construction on the Rouse Hill Town Centre started in April 2006. The first stage was opened in September 2007, with the launch of the town centre on 6 March 2008. The first stage comprises Woolworths and Coles supermarkets, a food terrace, and 80 specialty stores. The second stage comprises Big W, Target (now Kmart), Reading Cinemas, an additional 130 specialty stores, a Community Centre, Library, Medical Centre, commercial and residential accommodation and the Secret Garden. The development has been integrated with the North-West T-way and Rouse Hill railway station opened in 2019.
Rouse Hill Village Centre which opened in 1999, is a small shopping centre located on Windsor Road. This complex features a major discount supermarket chain selling packaged groceries and perishables, as well as specialty shops and restaurants. The Terrace is another small shopping centre which was opened on Panmure Street in 2004.