1850 - 1899
1853 | Liverpool | Benevolent Society of New South Wales took over Liverpool hospital |
1855 | Auburn; Parramatta | Sydney to Parramatta Junction (Granville) railway opened |
1855 | Penrith | First bridge over Nepean River swept away by floods soon after construction |
1856 | Fairfield | Fairfield railway station opened - only one between Granville and Liverpool. |
1856 | Liverpool | Liverpool Railway station opened |
1856 | Southern LGAs | Construction of railway from Granville to Liverpool |
1856 | Liverpool | Railway from Granville to Liverpool opened |
1856 | Liverpool | Moore Theological College opened at Liverpool, established under the will of Thomas Moore. It moved to Camperdown in 1888 |
1856 | Parramatta | Hunt's Creek dammed to provide water supply (Lake Parramatta) |
1858 | Campbelltown | Railway station opened at Campbelltown |
1858 | Penrith | James Bennett established a wheelwright's shop behind his hotel at St Marys and his sons began building table top wagons. |
1859 | Parramatta | Subdivision of Government Domain |
1860 | Auburn | Newington estate purchased by William Dean & Co |
1860 | Hawkesbury | First bridge over Hawkesbury at Richmond built |
1860 | Blacktown | Railway extended from Parramatta to Blacktown |
1860 | Blacktown | Railway reached Blacktown |
1861 | Hawkesbury | John Tebbutt, local astronomer, discovered new comet |
1861 | Parramatta | Borough of Parramatta incorporated |
1863 | Auburn | Newington House leased by Wesleyan Methodist Church for a school. It later moved to Stanmore. |
1863 | Hawkesbury | Tebbutt built the first of four observatories at his home at Windsor, declined offer of Government Astronomer |
1863 | Hawkesbury | Construction started on railway from Blacktown to Windsor |
1863 | Southern LGAs | County of Cumberland wheat crop destroyed by rust, a fungus |
1863 | Camden | Impact of rust turned farming to haymaking, with the wheat and oats cut before rust developed. Hay sent to Sydney market |
1863 | Penrith | Railway reached Penrith |
1863 | Penrith | Railway yards at Penrith were largest outside the metropolitan area - a focus for engineering activity based around the route up the mountains. |
1864 | Hawkesbury | Railway line from Blacktown to Richmond opened |
1864 | Baulkham Hills | Railway reached Windsor, changing river traffic up stream |
1865 | Blacktown | Rooty Hill lands of Church and School corporation auctioned. |
1866 | Hawkesbury | School of Arts at Richmond opened by Premier, Sir Henry Parkes |
1866 | Blue Mts | The Fish River Caves (later called Jenolan Caves) officially recognised as a government reserve. |
1866 | Blacktown | The Barb, a horse trained by Judge Alfred Cheeke and Honest John Tait at Mount Druitt estate won the Melbourne Cup |
1867 | Auburn | Haslam's Creek Cemetery opened - otherwise known as the Necropolis |
1867 | Hawkesbury | Night services at St Matthew's Church of England at Windsor, lit by kerosene |
1867 | Hawkesbury | Major flood - highest ever recorded - at the Hawkesbury |
1867 | Blue Mts | Railway extended from Penrith to Wentworth Falls. |
1867 | Auburn | Land set aside near Haslams Creek for a general cemetery for Sydney and imposing funeral station built. |
1867 | Blue Mts | Western Railway opened to Weatherboard (Wentworth Falls) |
1867 | Penrith | Third bridge attempt over Nepean opened - Victoria Bridge, still in use. |
1868 | Penrith | Werrington railway station opened as Parkes platform, a private station for Sir Henry Parkes who was living nearby |
1868 | Liverpool | Paper mill, possibly first in Australia, opened at Collingwood. |
1868 | Liverpool | Henry Haigh's Wool Scour built at Liverpool |
1869 | Fairfield | Henry Whittaker of Orchardleigh estate, Old Guildford - prizes for red wine production. |
1869 | Blue Mts | Completion of Great Zig Zag and extension of railway to Bowenfels |
1870 | Fairfield | Thomas Ware Smart , businessman and politician, built Fairfield House near the railway station as a country retreat |
1870 | Fairfield | Cabramatta railway station opened at junction of road from Cabramatta to Woodville Road. |
1870 | Baulkham Hills | Darling Mills factory re-opened for cloth manufacturing |
1870 | Parramatta | Development of Granville as major industrial area during 1870s, with textile manufacture, metal works and engineering, tanneries, flour mills, brickyards. |
1870 | Blacktown | A horse tramway linked quarries on Prospect Hill with the main railway at Wentworthville. It was replaced with a railway link to Toongabbie station in 1910 |
1871 | Fairfield | Government sale of portions of Orphan School estate. Land sales encourage local orcharding and vineyards. |
1871 | Hawkesbury | Borough of Windsor incorporated |
1871 | Hawkesbury | Hawkesbury Race Club formed and held first meeting on old common at Clarendon |
1871 | Penrith | Penrith incorporated as a municipality |
1871 | Blue Mts | St Peter's Anglican church erected at Mount Victoria (the oldest church in the mountains) |
1871 | Penrith | Penrith proclaimed a municipality |
1872 | Fairfield | Canley Grange, home of Henry Parkes, built. |
1872 | Hawkesbury | Borough of Richmond incorporated |
1872 | Liverpool | Liverpool proclaimed a municipality |
1872 | Parramatta | Parramatta Gas Company formed |
1872 | Holroyd | A.T.Holroyd established Sherwood Tile Works |
1872 | Holroyd | Municipality of Prospect and Sherwood incorporated |
1874 | Hawkesbury | Great Fire of Windsor destroyed major part of town (53 buildings) |
1874 | Blue Mts | Astronomy station established at Woodford to observe the transit of Venus |
1875 | Blue Mts | Eccleston Du Faur purchased land at Mount Wilson |
1875 | Blue Mts | Eccleston Du Faur established artists camp in the Grose Valley |
1876 | Holroyd | Railway station established at Guildford |
1876 | Blue Mts | Charles Moore built Moorecourt at Springwood. |
1877 | Fairfield | Cambridge House, built for local entrepreneur William Stimson. Designed by Varney Parkes. |
1877 | Blue Mts | Henry Parkes moved to Faulconbridge |
1877 | Camden | Aboriginal reserve established at Burragorang Valley on land purchased by public contributions. Known as St Joseph's Farm |
1877 | Campbelltown | Horse racing at Menangle Park |
1877 | Blacktown | Native Institution building at Blacktown purchased by Sydney Burdekin, a wealthy pastoralist, who named it Lloydhurst. He was mayor of Sydney in 1890 and it remained with his family until 1906. |
1878 | Fairfield | Canley Vale railway station opened to assist Henry Parkes, living near by |
1878 | Auburn | Haslams Creek renamed Rookwood. |
1878 | Blue Mts | Coal mine established at Katoomba |
1878 | Blacktown | Benjamin Richards built meatworks at Riverstone to intercept cattle coming from the inland. |
1879 | All | Approval given to proceed with Upper Nepean Water Scheme. |
1880s | Fairfield | Township of Fairfield subdivided by A.F.Smart |
1880s | Fairfield | Tanneries along Prospect Creek at Smithfield |
1880 | Auburn | Newington House purchased by government |
1880 + | Penrith | Subdivisions of old estates in Penrith created oversupply of small town allotments |
1880s | Penrith | Emu Gravel Company worked the gravels opposite Bird's Eye Corner |
1880 | Penrith | Cleared land near major roads and railway became stock resting paddocks for animals on the way to the meat markets of Sydney |
1880 | All | Tanning and fellmongery trades related to presence of huge mobs of livestock on way to market and meatworks. |
1880 | Blacktown | Construction started on Prospect Reservoir and was completed 8 years later |
1881 | Campbelltown | State Nursery opened - part of Botanic Gardens |
1882 | Auburn | Powder magazine established at eastern end of Newington |
1882 | Camden | Tramway from Campbelltown to Camden opened |
1882 | Campbelltown | Municipal Council of Campbelltown formed |
1882 | Auburn | Site acquired on Parramatta River at Newington for naval armaments depot. |
1883 | Auburn | Newington House opened as asylum for aged and ill women who were moved there from Hyde Park Barracks. |
1883 | Parramatta | Construction of Rose Hill race track started |
1883 | Parramatta | Hudson Bros establish works at Granville |
1883 | Parramatta | Jeanneret's tramway built to link Parramatta town to the river closer to Duck Creek due to silting of river |
1883 | Camden | Major development of dairying at Camden to serve fresh milk markets rather than earlier butter and cheese production (impact of Fresh Food and Ice Company?) |
1884 | Fairfield | Township of Cabramattta offered for auction |
1884 | Hawkesbury | Streets of Windsor lit by gas |
1884 | Blue Mts | The Six Foot Bridle Track from Katoomba to Jenolan Caves opened. |
1884 | Penrith | Andrew Thompson established tannery at St Marys. by 1906 it was the larges in NSW. |
1884 | Blacktown | Clydesdale house (1827) purchased by John Hardie, mayor of Sydney for his country retreat |
1885 | Auburn | Subdivision of river lots of Newington as the Silverwater estate |
1885 | Auburn | Government built a reformatory for boys on land at Lidcombe. It was never used for this purpose (Brush Farm being used instead?) |
1885 | Parramatta | Granville incorporated |
1886 | Baulkham Hills | Opening of Hawkesbury railway bridge affected traffic through Wiseman's Ferry |
1886 | Auburn | Gas mains laid in Auburn |
1887 | Parramatta | Industrial School for Girls opened at Parramatta in buildings of Roman Catholic Orphan School |
1887 | Blacktown | Woodstock Fruit Cannery opened |
1887 | Blacktown | Woodstock cannery in north Rooty Hill started canning fruit from Tasmania and Fiji, the inspiration of Walter Lamb, who was a director of the Colonial Sugar Refinery. |
1888 | Southern LGAs | Completion of Upper Nepean Water Supply Scheme |
1888 | Fairfield | Incorporation of Municipality of Smithfield and Fairfield. |
1889 | Liverpool | Roman Catholic Girls Orphanage opened by Cardinal Moran. |
1889 | Blue Mts | Katoomba gazetted a municipality |
1889 | Blue Mts | Lilianfels, the country home of Sir Frederick and Lady Darley built at Katoomba |
1889 | Camden | Camden Municipal Council proclaimed |
1889 | Liverpool | First public horse race at Warwick Farm |
1889 | Penrith | G.H. Cox of Winbourne constructed a water reservoir to irrigate his estate. The scheme was continued by his nephew A.W.Stephen on the Littlefields estate as the Mulgoa Irrigation settlement |
1890 | Liverpool | Gas works opened in Liverpool and streets lit by gas. |
1890 | Baulkham Hills | Phylloxera extensively damaged vineyards |
1890 | Penrith | St Marys incorporated as a municipality |
1890 | Holroyd | Grape vines, apples and other fruit trees flourish but soil is to clayey for orange trees. |
1890 | Fairfield | Principal industries are tanneries, vineyards, orchards, market gardens and woodcutting (though less than in former years) |
1890 | Liverpool | Principal industries are tanneries, paper mill, woolwash, vineyards, racing stables, wood cutting, quarries |
1890 | Liverpool | Liverpool Council Gas works opened supplying gas for street lighting, shops, houses and churches |
1890 | Penrith | St Marys became a municipality |
1890 | Penrith | Electricity generator built at Penrith to supply town and district until connected to Sydney grid in 1931 |
1890 | Blacktown | James Angus purchased Minchinbury and developed it as a winery, selling to Penfolds Wines in 1912 |
1892 | Fairfield | Separation of Cabramatta and Canley Vale from Liverpool Municipality as new local government area |
1892 | Auburn | Creation of Borough of Rookwood (later Municipality of Lidcombe) |
1892 | Auburn | First council elected in Borough of Auburn |
1892 | Auburn | Sisters of Charity bought Duncraggan Hall for St Joseph's Hospital |
1892 | Liverpool | Cabramatta and Canley Vale separated from Liverpool to form a separate municipality |
1892 | Parramatta | Clyde Engineering works opened |
1893 | Auburn | Asylum for the Infirm and Destitute opened at Rookwood (later known as Lidcombe Hospital) |
1893 | Penrith | Municipality of Mulgoa broke away from Penrith |
1895 | Fairfield | Symons tile works opened, expanded into bricks, pipes. |
1895 | Penrith | Municipality of Castlereagh broke away from Penrith |
1896 | Campbelltown | Municipal Council of Ingleburn formed |
1896 | Parramatta | Clyde to Carlingford railway opened |
1897 | Camden | Silver mining in Burragorang Valley |
1898 | Blacktown | By time of death of Ben Richards in 1898, Riverstone meat works was one of the largest meat exporters in New South Wales, processing meat by salting and smoking. |