NSWFarming
Concord
Early farm grants on the Parramatta River, later parks and hospitals.
1793First farm grants in the District of Concord
WHAT STARTED IT
Concord lies on the southern shore of the Parramatta River, beside the road to Parramatta. Lieutenant-Governor Grose began granting farms west of Sydney in 1793 to grow food for the struggling colony, and grants made that year were described as lying in ‘the District of Concord’, a name Grose took from the Massachusetts town where he had served.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Isaac Nichols received a grant here in 1797 that he named Yaralla, and merchant Thomas Walker bought it in 1840, later building a house designed by Edmund Blacket. Concord became a municipal district in August 1883 after a petition of 141 ratepayers. Walker’s will funded the Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital, designed by John Sulman, and his daughter Eadith’s Yaralla estate later became a convalescent hospital as well.
TURNING POINTS
1793Settlers’ farm grants west of Sydney are described as lying in ‘the District of Concord’.
1794Soldier-settler Samuel Crane is killed by a falling tree while clearing his 25 acres at Concord.
1797Isaac Nichols receives the grant he names Yaralla.
1840Merchant and banker Thomas Walker buys Yaralla from the Nichols family.
1883The Municipal District of Concord is proclaimed on 11 August.
1886Thomas Walker dies at Yaralla, leaving £100,000 to build a convalescent hospital at Concord.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A leafy residential suburb with many public parks. It has been part of the City of Canada Bay since Concord and Drummoyne councils merged in 2000.