Dural is a semi-rural suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 36 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of Hornsby Shire and The Hills Shire. Dural is part of the Hills District, in North Western Sydney. Round Corner is a locality in the south-western part of Dural.
History
The original inhabitants of the Dural area were the Darug people. Dural is derived from Dooral-Dooral, an Aboriginal name meaning a smoking hollow tree.
The name Dooral appeared on Surveyor Richard Dundiate's map of April 1817 and originally covered the whole area including present day Glenorie, Galston, Arcadia and Middle Dural. The first grant in the area was made to George Hall in 1879. At an earlier stage, a local settler, James Roughley, had donated land to be used for the building of a church. A sandstone chapel was built on Old Northern Road circa 1846, with a vestry, apse and shingle roof, plus a bell turret on the western gable. A porch was added soon after. The chapel—known as St Jude's Church—is now listed on the Register of the National Estate.
Dural Post Office opened on 1 August 1864.
Population
According to the 2011 census, there were 7,357 residents in Dural. The majority of people were born in Australia (69%), with the top other countries of birth being England 4.7%, South Africa 1.9% and New Zealand 1.6%. The median household income was $1,998, a fair bit higher than the national median of $1,234. 84.5% of occupied dwellings were separate houses and 62.2% of houses had 4 or more bedrooms. There was a high level of home ownership in Dural, with 82.7% of people either owning their house outright or owning with a mortgage.
Schools
Dural plays host to the Dural Rugby Club, Dural Country Club, Dural Country Club soccer teams, Redfield Lions Soccer and Rugby Clubs and the Pacific Hills Pumas Soccer Club. Dural Rugby Club organises Wallatag in the Summer Months which is held on a Friday night at Bernie Mullane Sports Complex in Kellyville.
Transport
Dural doesn't have a railway station but is served by buses operated by Hillsbus. There is also a Hillsbus depot on New Line Road next to McDonald's.
Media
Between 1985 and 1987, Dural was the site for tapings of the television game show It's a Knockout shown nationally on the Ten Network and hosted by Billy J Smith and Fiona MacDonald. However, due to numerous complaints from local residents the show was cancelled in 1987.