Granville

Granville is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.

Granville is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Granville is located 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of the Sydney central business district, split between the local government areas of Cumberland City Council and the City of Parramatta.

South Granville is a separate suburb.Lisgar, Redfern, Heath and Mona Streets form the approximate border between Granville and South Granville.The Duck River provides a boundary with Auburn, to the east.

In 1855, the Granville area was known as Parramatta Junction, named after the final stop of the first railway line of New South Wales. The Sydney-Parramatta Line ran from Sydney terminus, just south from today's Central railway station to the Granville area which was originally known as 'Parramatta Junction'. This led to the development of this area, which attracted speculators and some local industries.

In the early days of European settlement, timber was harvested to fuel the steam engines in Sydney and Parramatta. By the 1860s, the supply of timber was exhausted. The remainder was used by scavengers who made a living by collecting firewood. Wattle bark found use with tanners and the bark from stringybark trees was used for roofing of huts. In 1862, a major estate, Drainville, became subject to a mortgagee sale and subdivided for villa homes, and small agricultures. At the end of the decade a Tweed Mill was established, which was steam powered using water from the Duck River.. In 1878, the locality received its own post office, which was then part of the stationmasters house.

The name 'Parramatta Junction' remained until 1880, when two public meeting voted that the name be changed. Some very strange names were suggested including Drainwell, Vauxhall, Nobbsville, and Swagsville, but finally the name of Granville in honour of the British Foreign Secretary, the Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville. Even then the voice of protest was raised declaring the name was "too French", but the dissenter was ignored.

At this time, the place had a population of 372, of which 176 were male and 196 female. In this era some German settlers, Joseph Klein and P W Merkell, tried to establish vineyards in the area, but eventually found the land was not suited for this type of agriculture. More farmers discovered the limitations of the local soils and fruit growers complained about the damage from flying foxes. Thus, the only practical use for the grasslands, which replaced the original bushland, was for dairy cattle.The Granville Municipality was formed in 1885 and the council carried on the local government of the area until 1948, when it became part of an enlarged City of Parramatta.

On Anzac Day of 1974, Granville was partially severed by flooding of the Duck Creek stormwater channel due to torrential rain that fell over the area. 135 millimetres of rain fell between 11.30 pm and 12.30 pm at Guildford, with the ensuing flood doing major damage through Granville. The nearby RSL was damaged and many of the club's old photographs and honour boards were destroyed.Granville is also the location of the Granville railway disaster, which occurred on 18 January 1977 when a commuter train derailed just before the Bold Street overpass and hit the staunchion, causing the bridge to collapse. 83 people perished, making it the worst rail disaster in Australian history.