Western Sydney Lakes is located 3km north of Penrith CBD adjacent to the Nepean River and bordering Penrith's Great River Walk. 

Western Sydney Lakes has a rich history. For thousands of years, the Nepean River was an important place for the Darug people. It was later used as a European settlement, and in more modern times for agriculture and quarrying, as a venue for the Sydney 2000 Olympics, a community meeting space, and a sporting venue for rowing, kayaking, and regattas.

The Castlereagh site was previously a quarry operated by Boral, Holcim, and Hanson that supported Sydney’s housing and infrastructure projects for generations. Over the last 36 years, the site has undergone extensive rehabilitation and is now unrecognisable due to extensive work to regenerate the landscape and rehabilitate ecosystems and biodiversity. The most notable feature of the site includes a series of lakes which together form a ‘recreational lake system’ that are 20% larger than Lake Burley Griffin in the ACT. 

The composition of such an abundance of freshwater and beaches against the backdrop of the World Heritage Blue Mountains is unmistakably striking and memorable. 

One of the recreational lakes is being opened as Penrith Beach for this summer as a trial.