Local Town Guide
Annangrove
Annangrove is located approximately 40 kilometres northwest of Sydney in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. Annangrove is located between Kenthurst and Kellyville and was named after Annangrove House. The house belonged to Edward Charles Johnston whose grandfather, George... more info >>
Arcadia
Arcadia is located approximately 40 kilometres northwest of Sydney in the Shire of Hornsby. With European settlement, the area was extensively logged to provide timber for a growing colony. This cleared land presented an excellent location for the development... more info >>
Baulkham Hills
Baulkham Hills is located approximately 30 kilometres northwest of Sydney in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. William Joyce, the first settler in the Hills, was given a grant of 30 acres in 1794 near today’s Junction Road and... more info >>
Bella Vista
Bella Vista is located approximately 32 kilometres west of Sydney in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. Bella Vista’s most famous historical resident was Elizabeth Macarthur who farmed sheep on her "Seven Hills Farm". The Pearce family later acquired part of... more info >>
Berowra Waters
Berowra Waters is located approximately 30 kilometres north of Sydney in the Shire of Hornsby. Berowra Waters was originally known by European settlers as Berowra Creek. The area was first used by settlers for felling timber, which pushed settlement... more info >>
Berrilee
Berrilee is located approximately 30 kilometres north of Sydney in the Shire of Hornsby. Berrilee offers a pleasant country drive to the tranquil setting of Berowra Waters. The original inhabitants of the Berrilee area were the Darug people. The... more info >>
Box Hill
Box Hill is located approximately 40 kilometres northwest of Sydney in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. There have been two possibilities identified for the origin of the areas name. The first is that it takes its name from a... more info >>
Carlingford
Carlingford is located approximately 15 kilometres northwest of Sydney in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. In the early years of European settlement the area was known as Mobbs Hill after William Mobbs an early settler. Carlingford probably received its... more info >>
Castle Hill
Castle Hill is located approximately 30 kilometres northwest of Sydney in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. The exact origin of the name Castle Hill is not known. One origin is thought to be the fine views offered by the... more info >>
Cattai
Cattai is located approximately 60 kilometres northwest of Sydney in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. The name 'Cattai' is derived from a Darug word of unknown meaning. It was first applied to "Caddie Park", a homestead on "Cattai Farm"... more info >>
Cliftonville
Cliftonville is located approximately 80 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Hornsby. Cliftonville is very popular with water-skiers. The original inhabitants of the Cliftonville area were the Darug people. The Darug were the custodians of... more info >>
Dural
Dural is located approximately 35 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. For many years this peaceful area was utilised for timber cutting and fruit growing. In 1802 Governor King included the area in... more info >>
Galston
Galston is located approximately 40 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Hornsby. A pleasant semi-rural suburb at the northern edge of Sydney, Galston was originally known as Upper Dural. In 1886, Alex Hutchinson suggested that... more info >>
Glenhaven
Glenhaven is located approximately 35 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. Glenhaven was originally known as Sandhurst, however, this caused some confusion with mail, as there was a suburb in Melbourne with the... more info >>
Glenorie
Glenorie is located approximately 40 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. Glenorie was originally known as North Dural. In April 1894 local residents offered the Colony's Postmaster General two names: Hazeldene and... more info >>
Kellyville
Kellyville is located approximately 35 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. Kellyville was originally known as ‘There and Nowhere’, followed by ‘Irish Town’, as a large number of Irish people lived in the... more info >>
Kenthurst
Kenthurst is located approximately 40 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. Kenthurst was originally known as Little Dural. Charles Gibb aroused interest to change the name to Kent Forest around 1886 (ironically much... more info >>
Lower Portland
Lower Portland is located approximately 80 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. Lower Portland was named after William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, and Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1783,... more info >>
Maraylya
Maraylya is located approximately 50 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. This locality, east of Windsor, was originally known as Forrester after an early landholder Robert Forrester who was granted 30 acres... more info >>
Maroota
Maroota is located approximately 65 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. According to Ruby Ramm in her recollections "Life at Lansdale", Maroota is an Aboriginal name meaning "much water". It was first used... more info >>
Middle Dural
Middle Dural is located approximately 45 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. The first European settler in the area of Middle Dural was Thomas Best, who began farming in 1819. When a road... more info >>
Nelson
Nelson is located approximately 45 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. Nelson is named after Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, the hero of the Battle of Trafalgar. Governor William Bligh served... more info >>
North Parramatta
North Parramatta is located approximately 20 kilometres west of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. The community of North Parramatta grew around the building of Lake Parramatta, a dam offering an alternative to the Marsden Street... more info >>
North Rocks
North Rocks is located approximately 25 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. The area of North Rocks was originally named Jerusalem Rocks, both names being derived from a massive sandstone outcrop in... more info >>
Northmead
Northmead is located approximately 45 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. Northmead is a hilly domain north of Parramatta. It was named after its location, the north "mead", or meadow of the... more info >>
Oatlands
Oatlands is located approximately 25 kilometres west of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. Oatlands was named after "Oatlands House", built by Captain Percy Simpson and later owned by his son Sir George Bowen Simpson,... more info >>
Pitt Town
Located approximately 60km north-west of Sydney is the Macquarie Town of Pitt Town, named after English Prime Minister William Pitt. Established by the then Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1810, the township overlooks to river flood plains trailing down to the... more info >>
Richmond
Richmond is another Macquarie town. It is located on the plains at the foothills of the Blue Mountains and at the beginning of Bell's Line of Road which passes over the mountains to Lithgow. Richmond is the home to many... more info >>
Rouse Hill
Rouse Hill is located approximately 40 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. Rouse Hill is named after the estate of a free settler, Richard Rouse, who arrived in the colony in 1801.... more info >>
Sackville North
Sackville North is located approximately 80 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. The area is one of 5 on the Hawkesbury River with heritage listed car ferries and is very popular with... more info >>
South Maroota
South Maroota is located approximately 65 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. The first European settler in the South Maroota area was Charles Williams, one of the first convicts to be released and... more info >>
St Albans
St Albans is located approximately 90 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the City of Hawkesbury. St Albans was originally known as Macdonald, but was officially gazetted in 1814 as St Albans. The village is believed to... more info >>
Vinegar Hill
This name was used originally for the area of Rouse Hill. In 1804 a battle took place in the locality between escaped Irish convicts and government-civilian troops. The area became known as Vinegar Hill after a place in County Wexford,... more info >>
West Pennant Hills
West Pennant Hills is located approximately 25 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. West Pennant Hills is the area west of the current suburb of Pennant Hills and was originally known as... more info >>
Windsor
Located on the eastern bank of the Hawkesbury River, Windsor was established in 1810 by order of Governor Lachlan Macquarie and is known as one of the Macquarie towns. Much convict labour was utilised in the early construction of the... more info >>
Winston Hills
Winston Hills is located approximately 30 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. Winston Hills was formerly part of Governor Macquarie's plan to make the area a ‘Model Farm’. The large migration of... more info >>
Wisemans Ferry
Wisemans Ferry is located approximately 80 kilometres northwest of the Sydney CBD, on the Hawkesbury River, in the Shire of Baulkham Hills. The Wisemans Ferry village was named after Solomon Wiseman, a convict sent to the colony in... more info >>
Local Town Guide Menu:
- Annangrove
- Arcadia
- Baulkham Hills
- Bella Vista
- Berowra Waters
- Berrilee
- Box Hill
- Carlingford
- Castle Hill
- Cattai
- Cliftonville
- Dural
- Galston
- Glenhaven
- Glenorie
- Kellyville
- Kenthurst
- Lower Portland
- Maraylya
- Maroota
- Middle Dural
- Nelson
- Northmead
- North Parramatta
- North Rocks
- Oatlands
- Rouse Hill
- Sackville North
- St Albans
- South Maroota
- West Pennant Hills
- Winston Hills
- Wisemans Ferry
- Pitt Town
- Richmond
- Vinegar Hill
- Windsor