Windsor

Windsor is a historic town north-west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Windsor is a historic town north-west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is in the Hawkesbury local government area. The town sits on the Hawkesbury River, enveloped by farmland and Australian bush. Many of the oldest surviving European buildings in Australia are located at Windsor. It is 46 kilometres (29 mi) north-west of metropolitan Sydney, on the fringes of urban sprawl.

The Windsor area was originally inhabited by the Dharuk (also Darug) nation of indigenous aboriginal peoples.

Windsor is the third-oldest place of British settlement on the Australian continent. Settlement at the location was first established circa 1791, near the head of navigation on the Hawkesbury River (known as Deerubbin in Dharuk). European settlers utilised the fertile river flats for agriculture. The area was originally called Green Hills, but renamed Windsor (after Windsor in England). The town was officially proclaimed in a Government and General Order issued from Government House, Sydney, dated 15 December 1810. Governor Lachlan Macquarie "marked out the district of Green Hills", which he "... called Windsor", after Windsor-on-the-Thames.

While in Windsor, Governor Macquarie ordered the main institutions of organised settlement to be erected, including a church, school-house, gaol and "commodious inn" (Macquarie Arms Hotel). Of these new buildings, the most outstanding was Francis Greenway's St Matthew's Anglican Church. Governor Macquarie himself chose the site for the church. Samuel Marsden, principal chaplain of the colony, consecrated the church on 8 December 1822.Windsor was chosen during settlement because of its agricultural potential and accessible location. In 1813 a report was given to Governor Macquarie from Earl Bathurst detailing a proposed invasion of the Hawkesbury River by France. This planned invasion that did not eventuate targeted the Windsor granary in order to cut off supply to Sydney, demonstrating the relative importance of this new settlement on a global scale. Windsor is 56 kilometres (35 mi) north-west of Sydney, and easily accessible by coastal shipping from Sydney along the Hawkesbury River. It was known as the "bread basket", ensuring the survival of the starving colony. The extensive agriculture caused major silting in the Hawkesbury River; by the 1890s the Hawkesbury River had become so blocked with silt, ships could not travel up to Windsor from the coast. By then, a railway (in 1864) and road (in 1814) had been built to compensate.

On 1 January 1803, Daniel Egan was born in Windsor. He went on to become Mayor of Sydney in 1853.