Telopea, New South Wales

Name

Telopea is named from Telopea speciosissima, the New South Wales waratah, a plant that was abundant in the area before it was colonized and which became the floral emblem of New South Wales.

History

The suburb is named after Telopea speciosissima, the Waratah, a flower once common there, now the state's floral emblem.

In early land use, the area was farmland, with notable businesses like the Rumsey nursery. Until the mid-1950s, the area was characterized by orchards and farms, with properties like the Adderton Estate. It evolved into a residential area following the opening of Telopea railway station in 1925. The old railway section connecting Telopea has been converted to light rail since 2024.

Telopea was gazetted under its current name in 1943. In the post-war years, extensive development by the Housing Commission of New South Wales led to significant population growth.

On 2 December 2025, a primary school and stores were sent into lockdown at Benaud Place in Telopea when a robbery suspect identified as Jeremiah Potger, refusing to come down, scaled across the roof of Waratah Shopping Centre, wielding a metal pole with an attached cord before he observed police. The standoff lasted for 4 hours, and the suspect was arrested on rooftops and taken into custody by heavily-armed police.

Transport

The area is serviced by Busways bus routes 545 and 513

Telopea railway station was on the Carlingford railway line of the Sydney Trains network. The conversion of the Camellia to Carlingford section of the Carlingford railway line to light rail was announced in 2015 as part of the Parramatta Light Rail project and the station closed 5 January 2020. The station area is now served by temporary bus route 535 between Carlingford and Parramatta.

Telopea Light Rail station opened on 24 December 2024 and is currently being served by L4 Parramatta Line.

Commercial area

Waratah Shopping Centre, located on Benaud Place, has many retail shops including a newsagent, chemist, kebab shop, post office, bakery and a hair and beauty salon. A small group of shops is also located opposite the railway station on Adderton Road.

Housing

Telopea is mainly low to low-medium density housing with most of the dwellings having been built after World War II. The suburb is bisected by the Carlingford railway line with most of the medium-density housing lying adjacent to the train line.

Sturt street, Wade street and Shortland street are the streets in Telopea with 89% housing commission apartments.

In November 2020 all residents in the housing commission apartments of Telopea were evicted and given elsewhere to live. However, in February 2025 after 5 years it was made public that the apartments would be refurbished instead of knocked down, with 300 new homes coming to Telopea.

Parks

Telopea contains a large tract of bushland on its western edge, backing onto the Oatlands golf course. The bushland, the Vineyard Creek Reserve as it is known contains a spring-fed creek and has several waterfalls on its course before it disappears beneath Kissing Point road to the south. The creek and the bushland are protected as environmental areas.

Places of worship

• The local Anglican Church meets in Telopea on Saturday evenings and at Dundas on Sundays.{{cite web
• Telopea Christian Centre is another local Church.{{cite web

Community facilities

Local facilities include a primary school, an alternative educational facility, a library, community hall and a community garden.

Heritage listings

Telopea has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• 34 Adderton Road: Redstone

Population

At the , Telopea recorded a population of 5,356. Of these:

• The age distribution was quite similar to the country in general. The median age was 40 years, similar to the national median. Children aged 0–14 years made up 18.1% of the population (national average is 18.2%) and people aged 65 years and over made up 16.3% of the population (national average is 17.2%).
• 43.4% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were China 15.2%, South Korea 7.1%, India 2.6%, Hong Kong 2.5% and Iran 1.8%. 36.3% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 16.6%, Korean 9.6%, Cantonese 8.8%, Arabic 3.6% and Persian 2.0%.
• The most common responses for religion were No Religion 34.2%, Catholic 18.4% and Not stated 7.0%.

References

References

1. {{Census 2021 AUS
2. Australia, Atlas of Living. "Species: Telopea".
3. {{Cite New South Wales transport timetables. B545
4. "Parramatta Light Rail – How the preferred network was chosen". Transport for NSW.
5. {{Cite New South Wales transport timetables. B535
6. [https://web.archive.org/web/20131025154758/http://www.telopea-p.schoolwebsites.com.au/ Welcome to Telopea Public School] Telopea public school
7. http://www.waratahcentre.schools.nsw.edu.au/home/ – the Waratah Centre
8. http://www.parracity.nsw.gov.au/play/facilities/library/opening_hours__and__locations – Telopea library
9. "Community Greening contacts - Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust - Sydney, Australia".
10. {{cite NSW SHR. 5056284. Redstone