train journey from Brooklyn (Hawkesbury River Station). Accommodation can be found at the Brooklyn Hotel, The Anglers Rest Hotel, and on various websites. Pop culture Robert Buie was a local resident who fought in WW1, and his headstone in the Brooklyn cemetery credits him with shooting down Manfred von Richthofen, the German air ace who is more commonly known as the "Red Baron". The 2005 movie Oyster Farmer was filmed in and around Brooklyn. Many local residents were employed as extras. Demographics According to the 2016 census, there were 722 residents in Brooklyn. 76.6% of people were born in Australia and 86.8% of people only spoke English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 40.0%, Anglican 19.4% and Catholic 16.2%. History The general area was known as Peat's Ferry crossing for a long time until January 1884 when a plan of survey for the subdivision of land owned by Peter and William Fagan was registered with the suburb name of Brooklyn. A hotel of the same name followed later in the year. The town owes its existence and location to the main northern railway line with the railway arriving in Brooklyn in 1887 when the single track section north from Hornsby was completed. In January 1886, the Union Bridge Company from New York was awarded the contract to build a railway bridge across the Hawkesbury River. The American roots of the bridge are reflected in the name given to the construction camp, which was named after the 1883 Brooklyn suspension bridge. The town name survives to the present day. The Hawkesbury River Railway Bridge was the final link in the Eastern seaboard rail network and was a major engineering feat at the time of its construction. "Hawkesbury River" was the original platform name when the station opened in 1887 but the nomenclature varied over the following twenty years with the names "Flat Rock", "Brooklyn" and "Hawkesbury" all being used until the final change in 1906 to Hawkesbury River. Peat's Ferry Post Office opened on 1 January 1874 and was renamed Brooklyn in 1888. Brooklyn is positioned at the northern end of the Cowan Bank, a scenic stretch of steep track on a 1 in 40 grade. The line drops 200 metres from the ridgetop near Cowan to almost water level, passing through four tunnels in the process. Prior to electrification and diesel locomotives, Brooklyn was a