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.

 

 

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