It may have taken 40 years, but Estella residents say they will have everything they need

Estella was first proposed as a suburb in the late 70s with its first residents moving there in 1981.

Among them was Wendy Cattell who said the move to Estella had been considered as a move to "the middle of nowhere".

Now, with the development of a brand new shopping centre and service station underway, what once was uninhabited farmland prone to flooding, will have everything it needs to stand alone.

But, residents say it has been a slow progression.

Estella Progress Association president Bruce Durham said many projects had been set aside throughout the years, leaving residents eagerly awaiting any sign of development.

"There was a little general store in Estella about 35 years ago and then there had been word there was going to be a new supermarket and a small store, but it has been coming for about 20 years now," Mr Durham laughed.

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"They eventually decided to close the general store down because they didn't want to go into competition with a new supermarket, but if they had kept it open a bit longer we would have been a lot happier."

Mr Durham said the general store had since been turned into flats.

Groundwork is now finally underway for a shopping centre complete with a supermarket and liquor store at a site on Avocet Drive.

Similarly, plans for a new school on Avocet Drive had been on the horizon for years, with space for the project having been set aside.

"Nothing was done there for a long time but then they made the decision to incorporate the school in with Charles Sturt University. Now it's all houses where the school was going to be," Mr Durham said.

Estella Public School was eventually opened at its Estella Road location in 2021, which Mr Durham said was a "big" achievement for the suburb.

"There are a lot of young families here with children, and we aren't without child care centres, we will have three, so the school was a big establishment," he said.

One project residents didn't have to wait long for was the establishment of one of the very first big projects, the opening of Settlers Retirement Village in October of 1996 which came shortly after it was proposed.

Mr Durham said with the shopping in Estella, and another in Boorooma, northern suburb residents will have "everything they need".

Historian Geoff Burch said the establishment of Charles Sturt University had acted as a catalyst for the development of the suburb.

"In its 40 years the suburb has certainly progressed a lot and a lot of the recent developments have been amazing," he said.

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