Winmalee, New South Wales

The area now officially known as Winmalee was once inhabited by Aboriginal Australians known as the Dharug tribe. This was a nomadic tribe which inhabited much of the Lower Blue Mountains until European colonisation and settlement. The dialect spoken by the tribe is known as the Dharug language. Current figures place the date of this settlement as beginning up to 50,000 years ago.

Except for a small number of descendants there are no members of the Dharug tribe now living in the area. The majority of this group were thought to have moved northward in the Blue Mountains and to have merged with the Gundungurra tribe. Others are thought to have been wiped out during European exploration and settlement. Archaeological evidence from the aboriginal inhabitants is common throughout Winmalee and includes several open sites and occupation shelters.[3]

In 1970, the Geographical Names Board of New South Wales suggested that the area which had been unofficially known as 'North Springwood' be made an independent suburb of the Blue Mountains and renamed 'White Cross' because of the rapidly increasing population growth of Springwood. However residents of the area objected to the name 'White Cross'.

In 1971, the Department of Education selected "Winmalee" as the name for a new school in the area. Though the residents of the area approved this as the name for the proposed school they rejected it as a name for the suburb. The name Winmalee was chosen by the Department of Education as the result of a competition that had been organised amongst the local people. Terry Macauley, who was to be one of the school's original primary students, suggested the name "Winmalee", a supposed Aboriginal word for North.[4] The word was in fact never used by the Dharug people in relation to the area, but is instead a reference to its previous unofficial name.

Winmalee was finally officially established as an independent town on 28 April 1972 after the Minister for Lands, Tom Lewis MLA announced the suburb's independence from Springwood and approved the name Winmalee despite objections from residents.

The town, the nearby village of Yellow Rock and a small part of the adjacent town of Springwood were badly affected by a bushfire which started on 17 October 2013. 196 residential properties were destroyed, and 109 damaged.[5] 40 homes were destroyed on Buena Vista Road in Winmalee alone.[6]

• The first High School established in the Winmalee area was St Columba's High School. Originally a Catholic seminary, it was re-established as a high school in 1979, but did not cater for years 11 and 12 until 1993. The school and its grounds are some of the oldest forms of architecture in the area. The St Columbas property is one of the largest property holdings in the Blue Mountains and is rich in native flora and fauna. The whole of the St Columbas property is a Heritage property. St Columba's High School established the first Japanese sister school agreement in the Blue Mountains with Hokusetsu Sanda Senior High School in Sanda, Hyōgo.[7]
• Winmalee High School was the first high school developed after the suburb was named Winmalee and had established independence. It was officially established in 1985. Winmalee High has Sister School agreements with Arima Senior High School in Sanda City, Japan, Aurora College in Invercargill, New Zealand and Hillcrest School in Birmingham, UK[8]

• St Thomas Aquinas Primary School - Opened in 1921 with a total school enrolment of 24 pupils. The school was staffed up until the early 1980s by the Sisters of St Joseph. The school moved to its current site off Hawkesbury Road in 1982, which is situated on the same grounds as St Columba's High School.
• Winmalee Public School - The school's first year was in 1972 when pupils boarded at Springwood Primary. The first classes were held at Winmalee in the last weeks of 1972, but the school began on the site at the beginning of 1973.
• Ellison Public School - Ellison Public School received its first complement of pupils in February 1986 under the supervising care of its foundation principal, and a staff of eight teachers. With an initial enrolment of 228 pupils, the school was organized into eight classes catering for kindergarten through to fifth grade. While Ellison Public lies within the town boundaries of Springwood, it draws students from both Winmalee and Springwood.[9]