Home > Castle Hill, New South Wales
Suburbs of SydneyCastle Hill is a suburb in the northwest of Sydney in Australia, and is the seat of Baulkham Hills Shire (it also overlaps in jurisdiction with Hornsby Shire). It was the site of a convict station in the early years of the colony of New South Wales. The majority of the convicts there were Irish, many having been transported for agitation against British rule. In 1804, the convicts rebelled in the Castle Hill Rebellion (also known as the 'Battle of Vinegar Hill'), overpowering their guards and marching on Parramatta. However, they were vastly outgunned and outnumbered by British troops, who massacred about twenty of them and then hanged several others.
In later years the area became filled with market gardens and especially orchards which supplied Sydney with fresh produce. However, as Sydney has expanded, the orchards have disappeared and been replaced with a sprawl of suburban dwellings, retail and commercial establishments and light industry. However, Baulkham Hills Shire Council commemorates the shire's former status as an orange-growing area with the Orange Blossom Festival each year.
In the past Castle Hill was serviced by a rail line to Parramatta, to take the rural area's produce to the city. However, it was removed in the 1950s, due to competition with trucks and cars. This is now widely viewed as a mistake, and the NSW State Government has promised to construct a new subway line there from Epping. However, this must wait until the Parramatta Rail Link is completed, and the railway line is unlikely to be built until 2010-2015.
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