Riverwood Accommodation, Hotels, Tours & Information

Riverwood

About 30km south-west of Sydney's CBD, Riverwood evolved from a market gardening and small farming community into a residential area when the NSW Housing Commission took over 236ac in the 1950s. In 1942, the $1million 118th General Hospital was built for the US Army - the largest military hospital in Australia. There were 490 timber barracks-type buildings know as 'huts' built at the site, accommodating 1250 patients and 3500 staff in segregated, black and white quarters.. Immediately after the war, when the hospital reverted to the NSW Housing Commission, the huts were used to ease the chronic housing shortage. Riverwood is fortunate to have the broad Salt Pan Creek as its western boundary. This creek, which empties into the Georges River, which, in turn, finishes its course in Botany Bay, has kept generations of Riverwood's local children amused, fishing, boating and swimming. The creek gives local boaties direct access to the sea via the Georges River and Botany Bay.