Old Government House & Domain (Parramatta Park)
The National Trust of Australia (NSW) and Parramatta Park Trust acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land, waters and sky of western Sydney and pay our respects to all Elders past, present and emerging. We extend that respect to all Aboriginal people living in western Sydney today.
Between 1790 and 1856, successive colonial governors employed hundreds of convict workers on this sprawling agricultural estate. As farming operations expanded and certain governors chose to live at Parramatta rather than in Sydney, the initial single-storey cottage was transformed into a gentrified mansion. The house, its complex of outbuildings and several of the early-19th century improvements to the Governor’s domain, including an observatory, bathhouse and dairy, survive today overlooking the town of Parramatta.
Produced by Sarah Abad
Old Government House
The convict-built Georgian house was the country residence for the first ten governors of New South Wales. Standing in 200 acres of parkland overlooking historic Parramatta, the convict-built Old Government House and garrison buildings were built between 1799 and 1816, making them the oldest surviving public buildings in Australia. For seven decades Old Government House was the ‘country’ residence of ten early governors of the Colony, including Governor Lachlan and Mrs Macquarie, who, from 1810 to 1821, preferred the clean air and space of rural Parramatta to the unsanitary and crime ridden streets of Sydney Town.
The Dairy & Rangers Cottages
Located within Parramatta Park, the Dairy Precinct is a site of great significance. It contains rare and intact structures dating from the earliest years of European settlement in the colony of New South Wales. As a result, the Dairy Precinct has an extraordinary ability to demonstrate its entire history as well as the technology and materials used by early settlers.
A virtual tour of the Dairy & Rangers Cottages can be taken here.
Parramatta Park
Parramatta Park is one of Australia’s most significant cultural landscapes. It contains over 100 archaeological sites relating to Aboriginal and early colonial history, as well as monuments and buildings in a rare combination of cultural and natural landscape features.
Old Government House & Domain (Parramatta Park)
Address: Parramatta Park, Pitt Street Entrance, Parramatta, New South Wales 2150
Phone: (02) 9635 8149
