Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Camellia

Western former industrial suburb on the southern bank of the Parramatta River, which is in the process of redevelopment. It contains the oldest identifiable European gravesite in NSW, that of Eleanor Magee and her daughter, who drowned in 1793.

-33.814314747318, 151.02273954408

Name
Alternate
Subiaco
1885 - 1901
Property
Administered by
Part of
Type

Camellia

CC BY-SA 2.0
,
2008

Home of the Burramattagal clan, the area that became Camellia was full of game, birds and fish from the Duck River. When the Europeans came, they farmed with mixed success until Silas Sheather set up Camellia Grove nursery in 1852, breeding new varieties. By 1901, when the suburb was named Camellia, the river and railway had brought heavy industry, and suburban houses for workers in the factories. Much of the suburb has since been redeveloped.