Kingswood is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales in Australia. It is 52 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith. There are various other locations within the state of New South Wales that are also called Kingswood, and is often confused with the nearby suburb of Kingswood Park. History Kingswood was named after the family of Governor Philip Gidley King, who owned land in the area which was originally heavily forested. In 1881, the area was known as Crossroads for the intersection of the Great Western Highway and The Northern Road (now Parker Street). The name was changed to Kingswood on 2 August 1887. Cross Roads West Post Office opened on 20 April 1887 and was renamed Kingswood in August 1887. The land was used for farming and subdivision began after the railway came through in 1862, although the Kingswood siding did not open until 1887. The NSW State Archives and Reading Room (formerly known as Western Sydney Records Repository), where NSW public sector bodies' records are stored, is located on O'Connell Street, Kingswood. Demographics According to the 2016 census of population, there were 9,301 people in Kingswood. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 4.3% of the population. 64.5% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were India 5.0%, England 3.0%, New Zealand 2.1%, Philippines 2.0% and China 1.2%. 69.7% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Punjabi 2.8%, Malayalam 1.9%, Mandarin 1.3%, Nepali 1.2% and Hindi 1.2%. Their median age was 34 years, 4 years younger than the national median of 38. Children aged under 15 years made up 20.8% of the population (18.7% nationally) and people aged 65 years and over made up 13.2% of the population (15.7% nationally). The most common responses for religion were Catholic 24.4%, No Religion 23.6% and Anglican 17.1%. Transport Kingswood Railway Station is on the North Shore & Western Line of the Sydney Trains network. Schools Government Kingswood Public School - primary school Kingswood South Public School - primary school Kingswood High School Private St. Josephs Primary School St Dominics College run by the Christian Brothers Tertiary education Western Sydney University's Penrith campus is divided across the suburbs of Kingswood and Werrington. The university is accessible from both Werrington and Kingswood