NSWFarming
Baulkham Hills
Orange groves on the road from Parramatta to the Hawkesbury.
1794First land grant beside the Hawkesbury road
WHAT STARTED IT
The road from Parramatta to the Hawkesbury farms, now Old Windsor Road, ran over these hills, and the first grant beside it went to William Joyce in 1794. The ridges suited fruit, and George Suttor, sent out by Sir Joseph Banks with plants for the colony, took a grant here in 1802 and grew one of its early orangeries.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
The name Baulkham Hills was in use by about 1802 and is thought to come from Buckholm in Scotland. For a century the district was orchards and small farms. A government steam tram from Parramatta reached Baulkham Hills in 1902, and the shire was proclaimed in 1906. Large subdivisions from the 1960s turned the orchards into suburbs.
TURNING POINTS
1794William Joyce receives the first land grant, of 30 acres, beside the Hawkesbury road.
1802George Suttor receives 186 acres at Baulkham Hills, later known as Chelsea Farm.
1868Baulkham Hills Public School opens.
1902The steam tram from Parramatta to Baulkham Hills is officially opened in September, weeks after services began.
1906Baulkham Hills Shire is proclaimed in March.
1997The M2 motorway opens through the suburb.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A large residential suburb in The Hills Shire, cut through by the M2 motorway, with the old village centre on Windsor Road.