NSWPlanned settlement
Liverpool
Macquarie’s first new town, laid out on the Georges River.
1810Macquarie chooses the town site
WHAT STARTED IT
On his first tour of inspection in November 1810, Governor Macquarie went up the Georges River by boat to view ground intended for a new township and found it fit for the purpose. He had surveyor James Meehan mark out the town with a square at its centre for a church.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Settlement was slow until the 1830s. A convict-built weir across the river in 1836 supplied water to the town and its farmers. The railway in 1856 and the telegraph in 1858 began Liverpool’s change into a regional centre, and the Housing Commission’s Green Valley estate followed in the 1960s.
TURNING POINTS
1810Governor Macquarie selects the site on 7 November and names it after the Earl of Liverpool.
1819The first service is held at St Luke’s Church on 18 October.
1836Liverpool weir is built on the Georges River.
1856The railway opens at Liverpool station in September.
1960sThe Housing Commission builds the Green Valley estate west of the town.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A major commercial centre for south-western Sydney. St Luke’s Church and the 1836 weir survive from the early town.