Prior to European settlement, the waterway we now call the Parramatta River was a shared food source, a highway and a territorial boundary for the Wangal, Wallemudegal, Gammeraygal and Burramattagal peoples. Colonisation dramatically reshaped the ecology of the river; the natural cycles of climate and tide that had long influenced the waterway have been joined by other diverse social forces; economic, cultural and technological. Agriculture, river transport, land development and heavy industry have left a long term legacy despite recent environmental remediation.
