Well they used to say in the 18th Century that ‘‘civilisation follows the road’’. Perhaps today it is more apt to say that ‘‘civilisation follows the airport’’.

Henry Lawson once remarked about human isolation in The Drover's Wife by lamenting that it was "nineteen miles to the nearest sign of civilisation - a shanty on the main road". Today we boast that Sydney is no more than 18 hours by plane from any major city in the world. How our reference points have changed!

And if civilisation today does follow the airport, then we should be pleased to know that we are to receive a new airport at Badgery's Creek. Today, 19 miles (or 30 kms) connects a resident or traveller to a lot of civilisation, beach, bush and park. I ask myself, is the initial $8.0 billion price tag an extravagance or a necessity? In my view, it is a truly great decision by the Federal Government who on this occasion, is doing what was once described to me as nation building. And what is nation building? It is building today what you will require for tomorrow.

With Sydney breaking the 5 million population mark this year and emerging as one of the world's newly-anointed international destinations, commerce, trade and indeed civilisation cannot grow without our ability to expand, improve and export further to the world, particularly Asia.

Asia is less than 10 hours away from Sydney which provides us with an extraordinary and unique opportunity to export both goods and services to where growth will likely reside for the next one-to-three decades.  

So postcode 2555 will soon become pretty special. You won't just write and send a letter from there as James Badgery might have done in 1806 - you'll fly it out to any destination in the world. And if recent experiences around the world are anything to go by, Badgery's Creek Airport will foster new land uses for businesses, high-tech industries, universities, medical research facilities, retail, housing, tourism and much more.

We can see clear examples of these world-prominent success stories at places like Incheon Airport near Seoul, which had the distinction of being named by Airports Council International as "Best Airport Worldwide" for 12 consecutive years. Passenger throughput exceeded 48 million in 2015 and the airport was transformed within a 15-year period to rank third in the world for international air freight, with more than 2.5 million tonnes being transported each year.

There is no reason Badgery's at humble postcode 2555 cannot become the next Incheon in the South and carry Australia's baton to the finish line. And if the Federal and State Governments complete as planned a new rail link and two major highways (the M9 and M12) as touted, the aerotropolis in the west will have all it needs to become Sydney's latest success story. That would be "up there cazaly" as they say in AFL or "passing the ball to Lewis" as we might say in Rugby League.

Perhaps the last thing that remains is the more cerebral but delicate question of what you might call the new airport. Should it be memorable like De Gaulle, JFK, O'Hare or Heathrow? Should it be cool like Tullamarine, Narita or Incheon? What about easy to articulate like LAX or Frankfurt? It doesn't matter much to me and I would even be okay with calling it Sir Robert Menzies, John Curtin, or Ben Chifley. Perhaps on further reflection, it might be most appropriate that the naming rights revert to that benevolent original donor of the 840-acre parcel. We have after all, already called the waterway running right through the land - Badgerys’s Creek.