North Rocks

North Rocks is a suburb in the Hills District within Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, located 26 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district.

North Rocks is a suburb in the Hills District within Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, located 26 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district. Following the amalgamation of council areas in 2016, the majority of North Rocks falls into the council area of the City of Parramatta. Streets north of the M2 Hills Motorway are within The Hills Shire.

The name North Rocks dates back to the beginning of the settlement at Parramatta and is older even than the name of the city itself, which at first was called Rosehill. In 1789 Governor Phillip reserved large areas to the north and west of Rosehill for the use of Government stock - the present Northmead and Westmead. The reserve to the north was described as extending as far as 'the North Rocks'. The area was also known as Jerusalem Rocks.North Rocks (Hunts and Darling Mills Creeks) was originally occupied by the Burramattagal clan (burra - eels and fish, matta – place of fresh running water) who were part of the Darug nation.North Rocks was once considered as the haunt of convict bolters and bushrangers and regarded as an unsavoury area. One noted incident was the hold-up of Dr Sherwin in 1830 by John Macnamara and William Dalton, which resulted in the ex-convicts' demise.

The North Rocks were a massive sandstone outcrop, which terminated the ridge on the south side of Hunts Creek. These rocks so dominated the landscape and were such prominent features that they gave their name to the locality but were not preserved. In 1841 when it was decided to build a new gaol at Parramatta, a contractor bought the Rocks as they consisted of the best sandstone in the district - and were very conveniently situated. His tender was accepted, and much of the North Rocks became gaol walls and flagstones in 1844. Further inroads were made on what was left when the wall of masonry was erected in 1855-56 which held back the waters of Lake Parramatta. Much stone was needed for the dam, as the wall is about 240 feet (73 m) long and is fifteen feet thick at the base.A North Rocks Post Office first opened on 1 February 1894; it was renamed Forrester later that year, Maraylya in 1921 and closed in 1970. The current Post Office opened on 1 November 1921.Prior to North Rocks being rezoned around 1958, it housed around 40 farms, including peach and nectarine orchards, poultry farms and piggeries. When the area was rezoned, one of many new housing estates was named Lynwood Estate.