Parramatta

Introducing Parramatta

Twenty-four kilometres west of Sydney, Parramatta, a Dharug Aboriginal name meaning ‘the place where eels lie down’, was Australia’s second European settlement.

During the 1980s, the local Rugby League team the Parramatta Eels were unbeatable, their acid-wash-clad, mullet-proud fans perpetuating Sydneysiders’ view of Parramatta as little more than a lowbrow shopping-mall ’burb full of Neanderthals. But with the ’80s dead and buried, Parramatta has got on with the task of establishing itself as Sydney’s second CBD, injecting a healthy dose of culture and a nascent style of its own.

Modernity aside, Parramatta retains a small-town vibe and a clutch of precious colonial buildings. The helpful Parramatta Heritage Centre (8839 3311; www.parracity.nsw.gov.au; 346a Church St; 9am-5pm) can steer you towards the city’s attractions.

Old Government House (9635 8149; www.nsw.nationaltrust.org.au; Parramatta Park; adult/concession/family $8/5/18; 1hr tours 10am-4.30pm Mon-Fri, 10.30am-4.30pm Sat & Sun), established in 1799, was Parramatta’s first farm and housed successive NSW governors until the 1850s. It’s now a carefully maintained museum. Nearby on O’Connell St, between Argyle St and Campbell St, the open, paper-dry lawns of St John’s Cemetery (9686 6861; sunrise-sunset) comprise Austra­lia’s oldest cemetery (1870), the resting place of many an early settler.

Elizabeth Farm (9635 9488; www.hht.nsw.gov.au; 70 Alice St; adult/concession/family $8/4/17; 10am-5pm) contains part of Australia’s oldest surviving European home (1793), built by renegade ­pastoralist/rum trader John Macarthur. It’s now a hands-on museum – recline on the furniture and thumb voyeuristically through Elizabeth Macarthur’s letters.

Not far away, Hambledon Cottage (9635 6924; cnr Hassall St & Gregory Pl; adult/child $4/3; 11am-4pm Wed, Thu, Sat & Sun), built in 1824 for the Macarthurs’ daughter’s governess, was later used as weekend lodgings and almost became a car park in the 1980s.

An 1880s colonial bungalow, Experiment Farm Cottage (9635 5655; 9 Ruse St; adult/concession/family $6/4/14; 10.30am-3.30pm Mon-Fri, 11am-3.30pm Sat & Sun) was built by Governor Phillip in 1791 for emancipist farmer James Ruse as an experiment to see how long it would take him to wean himself from government supplies. Ruse subsequently became Australia’s first private farmer; his life is depicted in the musty cellar museum.

Last updated: Mar 2, 2009