The City of Parramatta is the economic capitol of Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and Australia's sixth largest central business district. It sits on the bank of the Parramatta River, 23 kilometres west of the Sydney Central Business District (CBD). Parramatta is approximately at the geographical centre of its metropolitan area.

Since 2000, Parramatta has seen the consolidation of its role as a government centre with the relocation of agencies such as the NSW Police Force headquarters and Sydney Water in 2009.

Simultaneously, major upgrades have occurred around the Parramatta train station along with the expansion of Westfield Parramatta, the creation of a new transport interchange, and the ongoing development of the $1.4b Civic Place local government precinct.

Aboriginal culture

The Dharug people had lived in the area for many generations, and regarded the area as a food bowl, rich in food from the river and forests. They called the area Baramada or Burramatta which means "the place where the eels lie down". The eel has been adopted as the symbol of the Parramatta Eels Rugby League Club.

European settlement

Parramatta was founded in 1788, the same year as Sydney. The British Colony, which had arrived in January 1788 in the First Fleet at Sydney Cove, had only enough food to support itself for a short time and the soil around Sydney Cove proved too poor to grow the amount of food that 1,000 convicts, soldiers and administrators needed to survive. During 1788, Governor Arthur Phillip had reconnoitred several places before choosing Parramatta as the most likely place for a successful large farm. Parramatta was the furthest navigable point inland on the Parramatta River (ie furthest from the thin, sandy coastal soil) and also the point at which the river became freshwater and therefore useful for farming.

On Sunday, 2 November 1788, Governor Phillip took a detachment of marines along with a surveyor and, in boats, made his way upriver to a location that he called The Crescent, a defensible hill curved round a river bend, now in Parramatta Park. As a settlement developed, Governor Phillip gave it the name "Rose Hill" (now used for a nearby suburb) which in 1791 he changed to Parramatta, approximating the term used by the local Aboriginal people.

Heritage

Parramatta has many buildings on the Register of the National Estate, including: Elizabeth Farm House, Experiment Farm Cottage, Lancer Barracks, Parramatta Town Hall, the former Post Office in Church Street, Centennial Clock, Lennox Bridge, St Patrick's Cathedral, St John's Cathedral, St John's Cemetery, Parochial School in Elizabeth Street, Arthur Phillip High School, Macarthur House, Brislington in Marsden Street, Hambledon in Hassall Street, former King's School Group, Roman Catholic Cemetery in North Parramatta, Parramatta Psychiatric Centre, Parramatta Park, All Saints Church Group.