Fieldwork Report

As a resident of the Blacktown City Council for the past 8 years, I have monitored much
change and development within the area since I was a young child, from the growth in
facilities to the wider and more diverse community and a healthier environment. My aim for
this report is to research and compare housing affordability, accessible facilities and the
income in Blacktown City Council as an oppose to the Hills Shire Council. To begin, let us
define the term wellbeing. According to google, “Human well-being is a broad concept, one
that includes many aspects of our everyday lives. It encompasses material well-being,
relationships with family and friends, and emotional and physical health. It includes work
and recreation, how one feels about one's community, and personal safety.”

The first factor I will discuss is housing affordability. Statistically speaking Blacktown city
council is much more populated, The Hills Shire council has the population of 157,243 and
Blacktown city council has 336,962. This means Blacktown City council requires more
facilities to caters to its wider community. In terms of housing let’s take two suburbs as
examples. The representative from Blacktown city council is Marsden Park (my area) and
from The Hills District it is Kellyville (the school area). If we compare both areas, 43.6% of
citizens there fully own a house, on the other hand in Kellyville only 25.3% own houses. This
could be due to many factors. Kellyville has relatively new areas near newer facilities such as
metros and train stations. These areas have many apartment homes in preparation for the
sudden increase of residents due to the availability of more facilities. Having more
apartments available encourages people to rent them as not many people wish to buy an
apartment but rather save for a house. Another reason less people own houses in Kellyville
is due to the lack of development of the area, as the area is still growing there are a lot of
green area and farms as this area was mainly Greenland before its urbanisation. This is why
they are working rapidly to build housing and develop the area to account for the growing
population. Lastly, the most obvious reason for the lack of housing ownership is due to the
housing prices, an average price for to fully own a house in the Hills District area is
approximately $2,568,396 and for Blacktown City council it is, $752,569. There is a drastic

variation in the housing prices and hence less people fully own a house in the Hills District.
Moving on to why houses are much more expensive in the Hills District, this is due to many
other factors that we will discuss in detail. But the main reasons for the hills having such
high house prices is the income received by the residents, the more money earned, the
more money the council is able to collect via tax and government funding. With the money
that the council have they invest it in the area and are able to provide more for their
residents. They do this by providing parks, recreational centres, natural reserves, residential
areas, shopping centres, leisure centres, gyms, restaurants, hospitals, medical centres,
schools, metros, train stations, bus stops, health care, disability facilities, libraries, childcare
centre etc. This then increases the prices of the houses and it becomes a cycle. The income
of residents affects the amount of money the council has, and the council then uses that
money to provide for the residents which ultimately increases the house prices and the
cycle continues on.

Secondly, I will compare the income of both areas and discuss how that effects the area. It is
very obvious that the Hills Shire Council is much richer than Blacktown City council and that
can be reflected through comparing the house prices, education system, facilities open and
income of residents in each council. On average In the Hills Shire, 41.6% of households
earned an income of $2,500. In Blacktown City Council on the other hand, only 24.9% of
households earned an income of $2,500 or more per week. Again, the same reasons apply
for why the Hills Shire council has residents
earning a higher income. There are more job
opportunities in The Hills due to their variety of
facilities available. The wellbeing in Blacktown
City council isn’t as good compared to the Hills
Shire. Blacktown is heavily populated with
migrants and Indigenous people due to its cheap
housing affordability and cheap living standards,
not all areas in Blacktown city council are like
this but this is a large reason for its low
wellbeing rates. Having many migrants and
Indigenous people means that some residents
may have speaking barriers, might experience

difficulty communicate, lack experience and their

degrees might not be eligible for jobs in Australia,
being illiterate or not having enough educational
qualifications. The unemployment rate for
Blacktown City council is 7.9% and in The Hills
Shire it is 4.6%, this again is another reason why
the income Is higher, with more people working
the economy of that specific area is much better
financially. This justifies how difficult it is for
people in Blacktown City Council to get jobs.
Lastly, the final aspect I will be analysing is the education system of both areas. 33.5% of
people in The Hills Shire had a Bachelor or Higher degree qualification higher that is higher
than the average of Greater Sydney. Whilst 22.0% of people in Blacktown City had a
Bachelor or Higher degree qualification in 2016, lower than the average of Greater Sydney.
55.5% of people aged 15 or over finished year 12 or something equivalent in Blacktown City
Council. 66.2% of 15-year old’s and over had finished year 12 or something equivalent in the
Hills District. This shows that the Education levels and system in the Hills District council is

much better. The same reasons also apply here, many people living in areas like Blacktown
City Council experience lack of educational resources and are living in not as well-developed
areas like in the Hills District. Another reason schooling is better in The Hills District is
because of other factors we covered, having a higher income and higher house prices affects
the types of people living in The Hills, people who are have a higher income live in The Hills
which provides better schooling, these people then invest in their education and the
education of their children which benefits the education system of that specific region.
33.6% of graduates had no qualifications in The Hills and for Blacktown City it was 43.4%.
These statistics prove that the wellbeing in The Hills District is better educationally and
financially. The education system seems to have been spent on by the council more and the
types of students who attend schools in the Hills are much more privileged.

Finally, after discussing all these things that need to be improved, here are some ways the
council could do to improve wellbeing. One way for my council to narrow spatial variation
between the two areas is by organizing free workshops or organizing places for people to
build necessary skills for higher order jobs and encourage residents to continue their
education and pursue future careers. They can host youth workshops to help guide youth to
a career path suitable for them and they can host workshops for people who haven’t
finished school in order to help them find jobs and finish their education. This will highly
benefit our council as with more people working the living standards and wellbeing of my
area will improve. The council can open more health-related facilities to stress the
importance of physical wellbeing. Physical healthy is crucial because when more people are
being active this makes their mental wellbeing much better. Sport and physical activity
effects academic performance and mental health. Encouraging everyone to exercise overall
relieves stress, improves memory, helps you sleep better, and boosts your overall mood.
Sport and physical activity positively impact academic performance as it encourages the
enhancement of brain function and cognition through increasing blood flow to the brain;
increasing levels of norepinephrine and endorphins; and increasing growth factors that help
create new nerve cells.
Lastly the council should invest in building more residential homes, not only houses but
apartments to cater for a larger number of residents, especially in areas heavily populated
or near metro stations or train stations. We have seen this to be successful in The Hills Shire
Council as they have recently started building lots of new apartments which has utilized the
land effectively and they have profited more off doing that then of having regular housing
everywhere.

In terms of the future of Blacktown City Council, the council claims, there will much more
facilities being built. These include, new shopping centres in places like Riverstone and
Seven Hills, Promoting diverse and affordable housing, Conserving, restoring and enhancing
biodiversity, Providing infrastructure to meet growing demands, Conserving and enhancing
built, natural and cultural heritage, Minimising the risk of flooding and natural hazards,
Promoting investment and jobs growth, Promoting high quality design outcomes and lastly
Providing equitable access to community, arts and cultural facilities, open space and
recreation to meet residents’ needs. Here is the plan for the next couple of years for the
Blacktown City Council:

So, In conclusion, Blacktown City Council has much room for potential and if the council
could take in consideration some suggestions, we can improve the wellbeing standards in
Blacktown City Council.