Hornsby, New South Wales
Hornsby is a Local Government Area (the Shire of Hornsby), and a suburb in the North Shore region of Sydney, Australia. It is 26 km by train from the Sydney central business district and is approximately 24.5 km by road.
The major commercial centres of Hornsby Shire are the suburbs of Hornsby, which lies at one of the highest points in the Sydney Metropolitan Area; Pennant Hills; and Carlingford. The Hornsby Town Centre is divided into two distinct halves by the Main Northern Railway Line. The western half consists of a traditional high street shopping village along the Old Pacific Highway. The eastern half, centred on Florence St, was pedestrianised in the 1990s. It is now dominated by a large Westfield shopping centre, which includes two department stores and a cinema multiplex.
Hornsby calls itself the 'Bushland Shire'. This is in reference to its location on a high ridge separating two expansive areas of natural bushland: The Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park on the eastern side and the Berowra Valley Regional Park on the western side. Ku-ring-gai Chase is a large area of natural parkland that provides a greenbelt separating Sydney from the countryside to the north. The park is extremely popular with day-trippers from all areas of Sydney and provides diverse recreations such as bushwalking and boating. Berowra Valley Regional Park separates the main, urbanised ridge from a western, rural extension of Hornsby Shire. The village of Galston is the centre of this rural area.
There are two industrial areas, in Hornsby and Thornleigh. Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital at Hornsby is the main public hospital for the Upper North Shore.
Local attractions in Hornsby Shire include its easily accessible wilderness areas, many parkland recreational facilities such as Fagan Park at Galston and Pennant Hills Park, and Koala Park, a popular koala sanctuary in West Pennant Hills. There are marinas in Hornsby at Bobbin Head on Cowan Creek, Berowra Waters on Berowra Creek, and the village of Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury River.
Hornsby is a notable part of Sydney, not only due to its juxtaposition of urban and bushland environments, but also because of its diverse population and strong commitment to community living.
Population
The estimated population of Hornsby Shire at June 2003 was 155,971 (Aust. Bureau of Statistics).
