Hills District Independent August 2020 #62 August 2020 | Page 10

HILLS REGIONAL HISTORY
Courtesy of www.thehills.nsw.gov.au
Hills Shire Suburb Names - Part 2
LOWER PORTLAND
Named after William Henry
Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke
of Portland, and Prime Minister
of Great Britain in 1783, and
from 1807-1809. He was Home
Secretary from 1794 to 1801.
The name was first used in 1805,
and almost certainly seems
associated with the story that a
rock on the plateau above the
headland resembled the Duke
of Portland. Lower Portland was
the area settled downstream
from Portland Head.
MARAYLYA
This locality, east of Windsor,
was originally known as
Forrester after a descendant of
an early Hawkesbury landholder
Robert Forrester, who was
granted 30 acres at Mulgrave
Place in 1794. In the 1920s the
local Progress Association changed the
name to Maraylya that is presumed to be
an Aboriginal name, but the meaning is
unknown.
MAROOTA
According to Ruby Ramm, in her
recollections ‘Life at Lansdale’, it is an
Aboriginal name meaning ‘much water’.
It was first mentioned in 1827. There are
a multitude of springs in the area, the
largest of which was estimated in 1970
to make 90 million gallons of clear water
each year.
MIDDLE DURAL
This suburb is located between
Dural, Kenthurst (previously Little Dural)
and Glenorie (previously Upper Dural).
In 1819 Thomas Best was the first person
to settle in the area, and from 1828
Rouse Hill House, 1859.
until 1836 he operated an inn on Old
Northern Road for travellers on their
way to and from Wisemans Ferry.
NELSON
Named after Admiral Horatio
Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, the
hero of the Battle of Trafalgar.
Governor William Bligh served
under his command at the Battle
of Copenhagen (1801) and received
a land grant in this area which he
named ‘Copenhagen Farm’ in honour
of the battle.
NORTHMEAD
Northmead is a hilly domain north
of Parramatta and was so named
because of where it sits - it was
the north ‘mead’, or meadow of the
Parramatta Government Domain.
NORTH
PARRAMATTA
This area was
originally named
the Northern
Boundary by
Governor Phillip.
The portion of
the suburb in The
Hills Shire once
included Burnside
Homes founded by
Sir James Burns in
1911. The King’s
School relocated
from Parramatta in
the 1960s. ‘Gowan
Brae’, home of its
preparatory school,
was built by Sir
James Burns in
1886.
NORTH ROCKS
A massive sandstone outcrop gave its
name to the suburb of North Rocks. The
area was originally known as Jerusalem
Rocks. The rock outcrop, which was
north of Parramatta, was used to build
Parramatta Gaol, and the wall for the
Lake Parramatta dam.
OATLANDS
Named after ‘Oatlands House’, built
by Captain Percy Simpson, and later
owned by his son Sir George Bowen
Simpson, Judge of the Colony. The
name is derived from Oatlands Park in
England, which is near the land of Lord
Dundas, after whom the adjacent suburb
was named.
ROUSE HILL
This suburb is named after the
estate of a free settler, Richard Rouse,
Middle Dural St Jude’s Hall, 1920. Bridge over Toongabbie Creek in Northmead, 1913.
who arrived in the colony in 1801. He
was given a grant of 450 acres in 1816
at Vinegar Hill. Governor Macquarie
suggested that the estate be called
Rouse Hill, probably to remove the
convict association with the area via the
Battle of Vinegar Hill that occurred in the
vicinity in 1804.
SACKVILLE NORTH
Located across the Hawkesbury River
from Sackville, this suburb was named
after Viscount Sackville during the
early years of the colony. The Sackville
ferry was originally a punt but is now
motorised and has provided a vital
transport link between communities on
both sides of the river.
SOUTH MAROOTA
This area was once home to early
settlers such as Charles Williams and
George Hall and is located on the
Wisemans Ferry Road between Cattai
and Maroota. The suburb is east of
Sackville North and is bounded by the
Hawkesbury River and Little Cattai Creek
so water skiing and golf have become
major activities.
WEST PENNANT HILLS
This is the area west of the current
suburb of Pennant Hills and was
originally known as Pennant Hills until
Pennant Hills Railway Station was built
and a suburb grew around it. Pennant
Hills was probably named after Sir
Thomas Pennant, the famous naturalist
who died in 1798, and had been a friend
of Sir Joseph Banks who might have
suggested the name.
WINSTON HILLS
This suburb was formerly part of
Governor Macquarie’s plan to make the
area a ‘Model Farm’. Farming continued
with many Italian and Maltese migrants
continuing the pattern after World War II.
During the 1960s developers purchased
large portions of these properties
naming their development Winston Hills
Estate in 1965 after Britain’s wartime
Prime Minister, Winston Churchill who
died that year. The area was made a
suburb in 1972.
WISEMANS FERRY
Named after Solomon Wiseman, who
established a ferry service across the
Hawkesbury River in 1827 and built the
famous Wisemans Ferry Hotel.
MARTINS
Building & Landscape Supplies
SAND • CEMENT • METAL
SOIL • LEAF MULCH
DECORATIVE GRAVELS • PAVERS • PINE BARK
POTTING MIXES • ORGANIC SOIL MIXES
BULK BAGS AVAILABLE FOR MOST PRODUCTS
9651 1055
TRADES & GENERAL PUBLIC WELCOME
272 - 274 NEW LINE ROAD DURAL
OPEN
6 DAYS
PICK UP OR
SAME DAY
DELIVERY*
10 ISSUE 62 // AUGUST 2020 www.hdinews.com.au THE HILLS INDEPENDENT
*Conditions apply.
www.martinsbuildingsupplies.com.au