Dictionary of Sydney
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The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Rydalmere

Suburb

North-western industrial and residential suburb on the northern banks of the Parramatta River, where merino sheep were first successfully bred in Australia in the early 19th century. In 1886 the orchardist Thomas O'Neill subdivided it and named it after his home town of Rydal in the English Lake District.

-33.802669434516, 151.05348588988

Property
Administered by
Parramatta City Council
Part of
Parramatta local government area
Type
Suburb

Rydalmere

by
Dictionary of Sydney staff writer
,
2008

Originally Burramattagal country, the area that became Rydalmere was granted to Philip Schaeffer, who planted vines, and the land was later acquired by Hannibal Macarthur who built a grand house, later a Catholic girls' school. The area was named Rydalmere in 1886 when it was subdivided, but remained semi-rural, with orchards and poultry farms until industry moved in from the 1940s.

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