NSWFarming
Emu Plains
A convict farm at the foot of the Blue Mountains.
1819Government farm opens
WHAT STARTED IT
Emu Plains lies on the western bank of the Nepean at the foot of the Blue Mountains. In 1819 Governor Macquarie set up a 2,000-acre government farm here to take surplus convicts, where it could use the rich river land and watch convicts, settlers and stock crossing the mountains.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
In 1814 Macquarie had ordered a cart road across the mountains to begin at ‘Emu Plains (hitherto erroneously called Emu Island)’. When the convict farm closed in 1832, surveyor H. F. White laid out a village along the farm’s old roads and paddocks.
TURNING POINTS
1819The Emu Plains Agricultural Establishment opens on 11 September under superintendent Richard Fitzgerald.
1832The convict farm closes on 31 August.
1830sA town is surveyed on the former farm, following its roads and paddocks.
1851Work begins on Emu Hall for the publican and politician Toby Ryan.
1963Emu Plains is transferred to Penrith City Council.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A residential suburb of Penrith, transferred from the Blue Mountains council area in 1963. Colonial houses such as Emu Hall survive near the old Nepean crossing.