NSWFarming
Dural
Ironbark ridges cleared for Sydney’s orange groves.
1819First land grant, to George Hall
WHAT STARTED IT
Dural sits on the high ridge north of Castle Hill, once covered in ironbark, blue gum and turpentine forest. Timber-getters and farmers came first, and the first land grant went to George Hall in 1819. Once the timber was cut out, the ridge soils proved best suited to citrus.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Surveyor James Meehan recorded the name as ‘Doora’ in 1817 and marked a road from Castle Hill, which stayed a bush track until work on the Great North Road began in 1825. St Jude’s sandstone church was built from 1846. By the 1890s Dural was an important fruit district being sold off in orchard blocks, and in 1907 the Department of Agriculture opened an experimental orchard on Galston Road.
TURNING POINTS
1817Surveyor James Meehan’s map marks the area as ‘Doora’, and he lays out a road from Castle Hill.
1819George Hall receives the first land grant at Dural.
1846Work begins on St Jude’s Church, a small sandstone building finished in 1848.
1890Land around the old Hall estate is offered as small orchard blocks on easy terms (sale plan dated c. 1890).
1902The local member urges the Minister for Works to build a railway from Castle Hill to Dural; it was never built.
1907The Department of Agriculture buys 40 acres on Galston Road for an experimental orchard.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A semi-rural suburb straddling The Hills and Hornsby shires, with large blocks, remnant forest and a small village centre on Old Northern Road.