In 1788 Parramatta was founded when the 1st fleet of British Colonist arrived in January, the same year as Sydney, making Parramatta the second oldest city in Australia. By November, Government Philip with a detachment of marines made his way upriver to The Crescent which is a defensible hill curved round a river bend which is now in Parramatta Park.

When a settlement began to develop, Governor Philip gave “Rose Hill” as the name after the British politician George Rose. Philip changed the name of the township to Parramatta on June 4, 1791, a term being used by the local Aboriginal people. A neighbouring suburb got the name “Rose Hill”, now spelt as “Rosehill”. Despite that, we are proud to be one of the best North Parramatta dentists.

To help with the food shortage, Philip granted James Ruse, a convict the land of Experiment Farm, for the development of agriculture. True enough, Ruse became the first one to grow grain in Australia. Parramatta also started the wool industry by John Macarthur’s Elizabeth Farm in the 1790s.

On March 1797 the Battle of Parramatta, a major battle of the Hawkesbury and Nepean Wars occurred. The resistance leader Pemulwuy led a group of 100 Bidjigal warriors to attack the government farm at Toongabbie, challenging the British Army to fight.

Governor Philip built himself a house on The Crescent which Governor Lachlan Macquarie improved in 1815 to 1818 that continued to survive up to the present making it the oldest surviving Government House anywhere in Australia.

Another famous incident happened in Parramatta in 1803, it involves a convicted criminal named Joseph Samuel who originally came from England. He was sentenced to death by hanging because of murder but was able to cheat death thrice.

First hanging, the rope broke, the 2nd attempt, the rope slipped off his neck and on the third attempt, the new rope had broken again, those incidents were somehow perceived to be of divine intervention which leads to the pardoning of Samuel by the Governor King.

Macquarie opened a school for Aboriginal at Parramatta in 1814 communities which was later relocated to “Black Town.” This was part of the policy to improve relations between Aboriginal and European communities.

Living in North Parramatta is quite exciting from all those history. It is an honour to be in an area where a lot of history happened as there are a lot of stories to tell especially to the next generation.