NSWFarming
Pennant Hills
From convict sawpits to the orchard sidings of the north line.
1816Convict timber-getting camp set up
WHAT STARTED IT
The ridge north of Parramatta carried tall blue gum, blackbutt and forest oak. Macquarie set convicts to log it from a camp here in 1816, and once the best timber was gone by about 1830 the cleared land was taken up for farms and orchards.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
By the 1860s Pennant Hills orchards were known across the colonies for their fruit. The northern railway opened through the district in 1886, and a goods siding from 1898 let growers from as far as Dural send soft fruit to Sydney fresh. A hotel and shops grew near the station, and from 1912 a tall wireless mast here served as Australia’s principal wireless station.
TURNING POINTS
1816Convicts under superintendent carpenter Patrick Kelly set up a timber-getting camp in the Pennant Hills forest.
1830By about this year most of the best timber has been cut, and farms and orchards take its place.
1886The railway from Homebush to Hornsby opens in September; in October ‘Pennant Hills Township’ villa sites and orchard blocks go to auction.
1898A goods siding opens at Pennant Hills station for loading fruit from the district’s orchards.
1912The Pennant Hills wireless station begins work as the principal wireless station for Australia.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A leafy residential suburb in Hornsby Shire, centred on its railway station on the Northern line.