Toronto, New South Wales

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**Suburbs of Lake Macquarie**
Toronto
Country:	Australia
State:	New South Wales
City Council:	Lake Macquarie City Council
Ward:	West Ward
Surrounded by:	Blackalls Park (North); Killaben Bay (East); Wangi Wangi (South); Awaba (West)

Toronto is a busy town within the city of Lake Macquarie, and a commercial hub for the sprawling suburbs on the western shore of the lake. It is about half an hour south by car from Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia.

Toronto was named after Toronto, Ontario, Canada in honour of Edward Hanlan, a world-champion sculler who visited Australia in 1884. The areas subdividers, the Excelsior Company, named the land in honour of Hanlans visit, which coincided with the opening of the subdivision. The name was not publicly used until 1887. The Canadian city's name comes from the Mohawk language tkaronto, meaning where there are trees standing in the water.^[1]

Toronto was originally the site of an Indigenous Australian mission called Ebenezer, established in 1829 by Reverend Threlkeld. Threlkeld is reported to have begun construction of his chimney with a local black stone which he later realised was coal. Coal Point is named after this discovery. The development of several coal mines in the region, proximity to the nearby city of Newcastle, and its position by the lake led to gradual development and population increases.

Up until 1991 Toronto had a railway station which terminated the branch line from Fassifern. The railway track and ballast has (mostly) been removed and turned into a bike track. It now has a bus service aptly named "The Train". Cityrail tickets to Toronto are valid on that service. When leaving Toronto on "the train" bus, unless you already have a cityrail ticket, you pay for the busfare to Fassifern only, and then present the bus's ticket for rebate off the price of any railway ticket you buy. The company "Toronto Bus Service" runs the service using one of a few buses.

Lake Macquarie City Council has from time to time proposed reopening of the railway line. But that has not occurred . That is not unsurprising as it is NSW government and Cityrail policy to not allow a level crossing to be created (or, absurdly, moved ) where it receives significant traffic,due to the risk to life and limb at such crossings. Re-opening the railway would therefore require an expensive and inconvenient overpass (or underpass) at Carey street, and access to areas of Blackall Park that is cut off by the railway line would then have to be created ,eg by building a bridge over Stoney creek, or by building a connecting road to Fassifern).