Northmead, New South Wales

Northmead is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Northmead is located 26 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of the City of Parramatta and The Hills Shire. Northmead is part of the Greater Western Sydney region.

Northmead is a hilly suburb with low to medium density houses, townhouses and apartment buildings, and a large light industrial area. It is located to the northeast of the junction of Darling Mills Creek and Toongabbie Creek, which combine to form the beginnings of the Parramatta River.

History

With the British settlement of Parramatta, this area was originally part of the domain of Government House. What is left of this domain, including Government House, forms Parramatta Park. The name Northmead is derived from the location of the north "mead", or meadow, of the governor's domain. The land was subdivided between 1859 and 1889 and the Northern Meadow and Western Meadow of the domain were split off and called Northmead and Westmead. From this time, orchards were established by many new settlers, including some whose names were well known in the Parramatta area - George Oakes, Nat Payten and William Fullagar among them.