Charity Creek

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Charity Creek is a small river west of Sydney Harbour in New South Wales, Australia. It flows into the Parramatta River at Meadowbank Park in Meadowbank, with its source in West Ryde.

Catchment and location
- The Charity Creek catchment covers about 237 hectares (590 acres).
- It is bordered by Victoria Road, Devlin Street, Blaxland Road, Marlow Avenue, and the Main Northern railway line. The boundary crosses the railway just south of West Ryde station.
- The area is mainly residential, with some shops near Rhodes Street and Herbert Street.

How the creek drains
- Most of Charity Creek’s drainage goes through concrete pipes or boxed culverts.
- The creek is culverted down to Meadowbank Boys High School, then becomes a short natural open channel to the railway.
- Below the railway, the creek runs in a concrete-lined channel. All tributaries are piped.

Charity Creek Cascades
- Charity Creek Cascades is a series of council parks named after the creek.
- It runs from Top Ryde to West Ryde railway station and covers about 0.48 hectares (1.2 acres).

Named places and history
- Charity Point near the creek is named after William Bennet, an early settler who treated visiting South Sea islander crew well when ships needed repairs.
- Dinner Point, now called Charity Point, is in Meadowbank Memorial Park. It was named around 15 February 1788 after a diary entry describing a narrow creek with mangrove islands.
- The area’s original local names were Mur-ray-mah or karóoma, meaning “black bream,” heard by Lieutenant William Dawes.

Early land and development
- The Kent family received 170 acres in 1796, with a further 570 acres granted in 1803.
- After the 1840s, orchards and farms around Ryde were subdivided, and Charity Creek was filled in.