The remains of the SS Ayrfield in Homebush Bay-Australia

Homebush Bay is a bay on the south bank of the Parramatta River, in the inner west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The name is also used to refer to an area to the west and south of the bay itself, which was formerly an official suburb of Sydney, which has now become the suburbs of Sydney Olympic Park, Wentworth Point and part of the neighbouring suburb of Lidcombe. Homebush Bay is located 16 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of City of Auburn.  Homebush and Homebush West are separate suburbs.

The bay has natural and artificial shoreline on the southern side of the Parramatta River between the former suburb of Homebush Bay and the suburb of Rhodes. The bay was contaminated with dioxin and other chemicals by Union Carbide group which led to commercial fishing bans in most of Sydney Harbour and health advisories about limiting the quantity of fish eaten from the Parramattta River. Fishing is prohibited in Homebush Bay for health reasons. Other contamination includes phthalates, lead, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, DDT and heavy metals. The eastern shore of the bay was remediated starting in 2008 to remove about 75% of the dioxin from the bay. Remediation was completed in mid-2010.

History:-

Homebush was established in the 1800s by the colony's then assistant surgeon D'arcy Wentworth. According to local government historian Michael Jones, "Wentworth is popularly credited with having called the area after his 'home in the bush', although Homebush is also a place in Kent.

In the 20th century Homebush Bay became a centre of heavy industry, with large scale land reclamations to accommodate industrial facilities. When industrail operations scaled down, the bay became a dumping ground for a large range of unwanted material - from waste to broken up ships, even toxic industrial waste. Union Carbide had manufactured chemicals, including Agent Orange, on the site and dioxins produced as a by product were buried in landfill or left in drums.

A drive to regenerate and rehabilitate the bay began in the 1980s. This led to the construction of Bicentennial Park, including a program to regenerate some of the mangrove wetlands and saltmarshes which existed around the bay pre-development. In preparation for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, it was decided to site Sydney Olympic Park at Homebush Bay, which spurred the further regeneration and rehabilitation of the bay. A range of residential and commercial developments also began around the bay, including the development of a large shopping centre and residential district on the eastern shore.

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