Ryde

Ryde is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Ryde is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Ryde is located 13 km north-west of the Sydney central business district and 8 km east of Parramatta. Ryde is the administrative centre of the local government area of the City of Ryde and part of the Northern Sydney region. It lies on the north bank of the Parramatta River.

North Ryde, West Ryde, and East Ryde are separate suburbs from Ryde.

Ryde was named after the town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight. It may have been adopted from G.M. Pope, who came from Ryde on the Isle of Wight, who settled in the area and opened the "Ryde Store".Originally known by its Aboriginal name Wallumatta, it was named Eastern Farms when the first 10 land grants were made in 1792. Within a few years this had changed to Kissing Point. The road from Ryde to Parramatta was called Kissing Point Road until changed to Victoria Road in 1887. The name Ryde was used from the 1840s and adopted as the name of the municipality in 1870. The suburb contains the oldest settler's cottage in Australia, Addington, on Victoria Road. Addington was built by the emancipist James Stewart, circa 1800. James Shepherd bought the property in 1810 and added a six-room house to the original sandstone cottage. Addington House, also known as "New Farm", is included on the NSW Heritage Register and the National Trust of NSW.Other historic buildings in the area include the police station on Victoria Road and Willandra, Willandra Street. The police station, a simple sandstone structure, was designed by Colonial Architect Mortimer Lewis and built in 1837. Willandra is a two-storey Georgian home built by the Devlin family circa 1845, and more recently used as an art gallery and headquarters for the Ryde and District Historical Society. Both Willandra and the police station are listed on the Register of the National Estate.In 1892, the public school at 2 Tucker Street was opened. The building, which still survives, is the Infants Department, a two-storey, sandstone building which is heritage-listed.The cottage Riversdale, in Wade Street, was the home of a well-known riverboat captain by the name of Robert Gascoigne, who lived in the area circa 1900. In 1973 a Builders Labourers Federation organised a green ban to save Dunbar Park from becoming a rubbish tip.As Ryde was located at the top of the hill it also became known as 'Top Ryde'. Ryde Swimming Centre was demolished and rebuilt as Ryde Aquatic Leisure Centre, and hosted events of the 2000 Summer Olympics.

The majority of services operated from Fort Macquarie and Circular Quay down George Street to Broadway and Parramatta Road. In the peak hours and other busy periods, supplementary services operated from Railway Square.

Tram services to Drummoyne and Ryde were serviced by the Rozelle Tram Depot. The service, after departing the depot travelled along The Crescent and Commercial Road (now City West Link Road) in Glebe, turning left onto Victoria Road. It then crossed the Iron Cove Bridge and the former Gladesville Bridge before turning right onto Blaxland Road. It then wound its way along Blaxland Road, behind the site of the current council chambers, terminating near the intersection of Pope and Devlin Street in Ryde.