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A businessman, pastoralist and philanthropist, Thomas Walker used the fortune he'd made in the colony to endow hospitals, establish cultural institutions and support the poor.

Traditional land of the Bediagal people, Belmore was once all forest. Early European settlers cut the timber for firewood and later for railway sleepers, and farmed crops and poultry. In 1869 the district was named Belmore in honour of the new governor of New South Wales.…

Willemering, a clever man or karadji from the Caragal of Broken Bay, was the man who speared Governor Phillip at Manly Cove.

Mona at Darling Point was built as a regency villa in 1841. It has been converted to an apartment building. Greenoaks, built from 1846 and developed into a gothic revival mansion in the 1860s, was renamed Bishopscourt after it was purchased by the Anglican Church in 1910.

The Aborigines Progressive Association had a leading role in organising the Day of Mourning on Australia Day 1938, and worked for full citizenship rights for Aboriginal people until the mid-1940s.

Brislington is Parramatta's oldest existing dwelling house and stands on land once used by the Darug-speaking Burramatta people. Initially a family residence, Brislington was a medical practice for almost a hundred years, followed by the Parramatta District Hospital's Nurses…

Originally comprising small farm blocks subdivided by Sophia Campbell, Hurlstone Park was to see a building boom with the development of both rail and tram lines through the area around the beginning of the twentieth century.

Built on the short-lived Fairy Bower pleasure gardens established in 1858 by Charles Hemington, the earliest European residents were fishing families. From 1880, subdivision into housing lots had begun, with little success. More people moved in between the wars in the…

The Commissariat held a strategic role in the economy of the early colony, supplying and storing foodstuffs and other necessities including 'liquor, hardware and other goods' for the population.

A retiring, even-tempered man, William Broughton won the respect of his peers, and showed concern for all his parishioners, including convicts and Aboriginal people, while travelling extensively throughout his jurisdiction.

Home to the Tharawal and Gundungurra people, Camden West was part of the area named Cowpastures after escaped cattle were found there in 1795. Granted to John Macarthur in 1823, the land was subdivided into small farms in the 1880s, and dairying became the main industry until…

Created by successive city councils through resumptions and rebuilding, Chifley Square was a venue for anti-conscription demonstrations during the Vietnam War.

Traditional country of the Tharawal and Gundungurra people, the Narellan area was granted to colonists by Governor Macquarie and became a prosperous farming area, though the village remained small, and overshadowed by nearby Camden. From the 1970s, commercial and residential…

The area that became Brookvale was granted and sold to settlers from the 1830s, the land becoming farms, market gardens and brickyards. The gardens were worked by Chinese and later Italian gardeners. Industrial growth during the 1960s covered the gardens with factories and a…

Coal lumpers were crucial to coal-powered shipping, hauling giant quantities of fuel from ship to ship in appalling conditions. With the disappearance of steam power, a whole occupation, with its own skills, lore and traditions as well as hazards and dangers, faded into…

Thomas Thompson, who opened a bakery on the corner in the 1850s, gave his name to this locality.

In the 19th century, there were parts of The Rocks most ordinary folk wouldn't dare to enter, lest they run into The Rocks Push. The underground bare-knuckle boxing gang were known by some as larrikins, and others as criminals. Their leader was Larry Foley, a notorious…

A radio movie about a highway robber turned patron of the arts: Robert Sidaway was a convict transported to Australia. By day he was a baker, and by night, he dreamed of starting a theatre in new land. Produced by Merran Winchester. The cast included: Brendon Taylor- Robert…

A peninsular suburb on the northern shore of the Parramatta River, Putney's waterside position has influenced its development, recreations, industries and people.

Originally the country of the Wallumedegal, Marsfield is built on part of what became the Field of Mars common, proclaimed in 1804. The common was resumed in the 1870s and sold in the 1880s, when Marsfield was subdivided. The expected tramway was never built, and Marsfield…