and a public hall, the Empire Theatre, opened in 1925, screening movies and hosting dances. The village became a centre for the surrounding farms. In the 1960s, Sydney's suburban sprawl reached the Quakers Hill area and the five acre farms surrounding the village began to be subdivided. In 1994, HMAS Nirimba, a naval training property on the western side of the suburb, was decommissioned and converted into an educational precinct. In 1996, a new development in the north-east of Quakers Hill was converted into a new suburb, Acacia Gardens. In November 2020, the small portion of the suburb north of Quakers Hill Parkway became part of the new suburb of Nirimba Fields. Nursing home fire On 18 November 2011, an early morning fire at Quakers Hill Nursing Home killed 11 elderly residents, seriously injured others and caused the evacuation of up to 100 people. Three people died in the fire, and a further eight residents of the home died later in hospital from their injuries. The fire started in two places and was regarded by police as suspicious. Aftermath A nurse working in the home, 36-year-old Roger Kingsley Dean, was later arrested and charged with four counts of murder. He was later charged over more subsequent deaths. On 2 November 2012 the accused pleaded not guilty to eight counts of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm and eleven counts of murder. He had wished to plead guilty to manslaughter, but that was rejected by the Crown. He did plead guilty to two larceny charges relating to theft of prescription painkillers from the nursing home. He stood trial in the Supreme Court in May 2013. On 27 May 2013, Dean pleaded guilty to eleven counts of murder, and on 1 August 2013 he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. In September 2014, an inquest into the deaths opened, and its results were released on 9 March 2015. After finding that the nursing home operators Domain Principal Group (now known as Opal Aged Care) didn't look into Dean's past before employment, Hugh Dillon, the NSW deputy coroner recommended: a database of healthcare workers be created with details of their background; that workers be trained to recognise signs of co-workers abusing drugs; and that nursing home door and corridors be constructed to allow beds to be moved rapidly during emergencies. Dillon also suggested that two fire-fighters receive bravery awards. Opal