NSWPlanned settlement
Richmond (NSW)
Macquarie’s town on the high ground above the Hawkesbury floods.
1810Macquarie marks out a flood-safe town
WHAT STARTED IT
Settlers farmed the rich Hawkesbury river flats, but repeated floods kept destroying their crops and stores. In December 1810 Governor Macquarie ordered townships on the nearest high ground in each flood-prone district, and the one for the Richmond Hill district, named after a hill Governor Phillip had named in 1789, became Richmond.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Surveyor James Meehan laid out the streets, town lots and a large market square in 1811, and each allotment was meant to stay attached to a settler’s river farm. The town grew slowly as a farming centre until the branch railway from Blacktown reached it in 1864, giving the district a direct line to Sydney. Hawkesbury Agricultural College opened at Richmond in 1891, and the flying ground outside town, used by a state flying school from 1916, became a Royal Australian Air Force base in 1925.
TURNING POINTS
1789Governor Phillip names Richmond Hill near the end of his boat journey up the Hawkesbury River.
1810Macquarie names the town on 6 December, and a government order of 15 December sets out five townships on high ground above the Hawkesbury floods, one of them Richmond.
1811Surveyor James Meehan lays out the streets, town lots and market square, now Richmond Park.
1864The branch railway from Blacktown to Windsor and Richmond is officially opened on 29 November, with public trains from 1 December.
1891Hawkesbury Agricultural College opens at Richmond, its first students clearing and fencing the farm.
1925The first RAAF squadrons arrive at the Richmond aerodrome, which Defence had acquired in 1923.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A country town on Sydney’s north-western edge, with Macquarie’s square still kept as Richmond Park. RAAF Base Richmond and Western Sydney University’s Hawkesbury campus sit just outside the town centre.