Intersting Facts About Liverpool

    * Liverpool was founded in 1810 on the 7th November by Governor Lachlan Macquarie as his first ‘new town’
    * The three main Aboriginal tribes in the Liverpool area at the time were Daruk, Tharawal and Gandangarra.
    * Lurnea and Bringelly are Aboriginal names.
    * Six of the seven cattle brought out with the first fleet were found by a convict in the Cowpasture Road region. The six had increased to 60 and Governor Hunter visited the site in 1795 and named it Cow Pasture Plains.
    * In 1804 Captain Eber Bunker was given a land grant.
    * In 1805 Thomas Moore (boat builder) was granted 300 hectares.
    * The first recorded floods on the Georges River occurred in 1809.
    * The leader of the Wicklow Irish Rebellion, Michael Dwyer was given a 100 acre land grant south of Cabramatta Creek in 1809. This was known as Hargraves Park but later became Warwick Farm.
    * Collingwood House was built in 1810 by Captain Bunker, the leader of the colony’s first whaling expedition.
    * Thomas Tyrell was buried in what is now Apex Park in 1811.
    * Military Barracks were commenced in 1811.
    * Liverpool’s first school was built in 1811 and stood on the site now occupied by Liverpool Senior Citizens Centre, in Bigge Street.
    * William Lawson, explorer, was Commander of the forces at Liverpool in 1812.
    * Explorer, William Wentworth, lived in Greendale with his parents.
    * St. Luke’s Church was designed by Francis Greenway in 1817 and completed in 1824.
    * The first map to name Liverpool’s Macquarie Street is dated 1819 and came from the pen of the emancipist surveyor, James Meehan.
    * Robert Cartwright was the Chaplain at St. Lukes in 1820 and was buried in what is now known as ‘Pioneers' Memorial Park’ in 1856.
    * St. Lukes Church is the oldest Anglican Church still in use in Australia.
    * During the construction of St. Lukes a convict hanged himself in the unfinished tower.
    * Richard Guise was the first recorded burial in St. Lukes cemetery in 1821.
    * The first hospital, also designed by Francis Greenway, was started in 1822 and completed in 1830. This building became an Old Mens’ Home and Asylum as well as a hospital until 1960.
    * The courts of Liverpool were conducted near the circular tower in the hospital until the court house was built.
    * Richard Brooks, commander of brigs Rose, Spring and Alexander purchased land at Denham Court.
    * Bushranger ‘Jack Donohue’, who roamed from Windsor to Liverpool, was killed out near Bringelly in 1830.
    * Jack Donohue was the Robin Hood of early days, robbing the rich and giving to the poor Irish settlers.
    * The famous song ‘The Wild Colonial Boy’ tells of the exploits of Jack Donohue.
    * John Verge was commissioned to design and build a house for Richard Brooks.
    * Work started on St. Mary the Virgin Catholic Church, Denham Court in 1833.
    * Lansdowne Bridge, David Lennox’s masterpiece was opened by Governor Bourke n 1836.
    * Liverpool Weir was built in 1836 by Lennox and his ‘iron gang’ convicts for 100 pounds.
    * A wooden wharf (quay) was built on the Georges River and boats up to 50 tons could load and unload there.
    * The weir marks the half way point of the Georges River.
    * The top half of the Georges River is fresh water and the bottom is salt.
    * The foundation for the original ‘All Saints Church’ was laid in 1840.
    * The district of Liverpool was Incorporated in 1842, Samuel Moore was the warden and there were six councillors.
    * In the 1840’s Paul Edmond de Strzelecki passed through Liverpool on his expedition to the Alps.
    * Severe bush fires blazed in the area in 1845
    * St. Marks Church, Greendale was built in 1848-49 and designed by Edmond Blacket.
    * St. Marks Church stands on the land granted to Ellis Bent in 1811.
    * Holy Innocents Church, Rossmore was designed by Edmund Blacket and completed in 1850.
    * An obelisk was placed on the corner of George and Moore Streets to record the mileage from Sydney. The Liverpool obelisk is now in Discovery Park, Liverpool.
    * The second oldest Court House was established around 1855 and was in use until 1972.
    * There was to be a cricket match between the Liverpool Cricket Association and 11 railwaymen after the first sod of soil was turned for the railway line. There was a dispute and the match was cancelled.
    * Liverpool Railway station opened in 1856.
    * The Liverpool Abattoirs were completed in December 1856 after the closure of Glebe Island Abattoirs.
    * The bell shaped letterbox outside the technical college was brought to Liverpool in 1856.
    * Spanish dollars were discovered under the floorboards of the gallery in St. Lukes Church in which convicts sat apart, probably gambling.
    * The fine old homestead, Bernera, was built by Alan Macpherson in 1856.
    * A Telegraph link with Sydney was set up at Liverpool Railway Station.
    * ‘The Flying Pieman’ (William Francis Kling) became well known for his remarkable athletic skills in the mid 1800’s.
    * William Francis King was known to race the mail coach from Windsor to Sydney, on foot and won by seven minutes.
    * William also sold pies to passengers as they boarded the river-boat leaving Sydney then he would run overland so that he could sell them more pies on departure.
    * The first telegraph message in New South Wales was from Sydney to Liverpool on the 30th December, 1857.
    * Liverpool Public School commenced teaching in 1863.
    * Collingwood Paper Mill started production in 1868.
    * Richard Sadleir was Liverpool’s first Mayor in 1872.
    * William Francis King (The Flying Pieman) died in Liverpool Asylum in 1874.
    * In 1879 Martin Christiansen started a Brickyard at Liverpool.
    * The Homestead at Chipping Norton was built in 1880.
    * The winner of the 1880 Melbourne Cup, Grand Flaneur, was trained at Chipping Norton.
    * Liverpool’s first post office was built on the corner of Macquarie and Moore Streets and opened in 1880.
    * The property for the first post office was purchased for 200 pounds.
    * A railway goods shed was built in 1881.
    * Rosebank was designed by Varney Parkes (son of Sir Henry Parkes) in 1883 and later became Queens College, an exclusive school for girls.
    * The last member of the Georges River Tribe, ‘Black Tommy’ died in 1884 in a stable near St. Lukes Church.
    * In 1889 there was a record of early Aboriginal paintings in local caves which are still there today.
    * The first race meeting at Warwick Farm was held in 1889
    * The General Cemetery in Flowerdale Road was dedicated in 1892.
    * J.H. Atkinson established the abattoir and wool washery on the banks of the Georges River.
    * Glenfield Farm was named after Glenfield in Leicester, England.
    * Bigge Park was the area once used for public punishment. On at least one occasion gallows were built and the stocks were also there.
    * Glenfield Farm was part of a grant to Dr. Throsby.
    * In 1894 a fifteen foot wide timber bridge was built across the river.
    * Easter Encampments were held in Liverpool for part-time soldiers in 1906.
    * Lord Kitchner visited Liverpool in 1910 and selected Holsworthy as a natural Army Encampment.
    * Kitchner House was originally called Arpafelle and was built by the army in 1912 for visits of Lord Kitchner.
    * Aliens (mainly Germans) were held at Hammondville during World War 12 (1914-1918).
    * After drunken soldiers from Liverpool rioted in 1916, 6 o’clock closing was introduced.
    * A Boer War Memorial Lamp was erected at the top of the main street and is in Macquarie Street opposite the Memorial School of Arts.
    * At Clinche’s Pond at the beginning of this century, a milkman and his horse were believed to have had disappeared in the pond.
    * A railway line was built on concrete pylons leading from Liverpool to Holsworthy Army Camp in 1917.
    * This railway line was built by German P.O.W.’s.
    * After the Boer War in 1918 returned soldiers were given farming land at Chipping Norton and Lurnea.
    * The first Liverpool District Ambulance Station was established in 1923 in Macquarie Street.
    * Sports Clubs were many, swimming, tennis, football, cricket and bicycling. The Bicycling Club produced a competitor for the 1924 Olympics.
    * Dwyers land (see 8) at Hargrave Park became the site of an airfield for light planes in 1925.
    * Some of the best tobacco in Australia was grown in 1931/32 at Hoxton Park.
    * Tobacco leaves from these crops grew to lengths of 28 inches and were used to make cigars.
    * John Hurst Edmondson was raised in Liverpool and was the first Australian to receive a Victoria Cross Medal in World War 2.
    * Rossmore is one of the oldest agricultural districts in New South Wales.
    * Rossmore was once called Cabramatta but this Name was later transferred to an area now in Fairfield’s boundaries.
    * During restoration work on St. Lukes Church a musket ball was found in the face of the clock.
    * In 1953 the Liverpool Power House was built to cover Post War power shortages.
    * Liverpool was declared a city in 1960.
    * The original Liverpool Hospital was handed over to the Liverpool Tafe in 1961.
    * The ‘New’ All Saints Church was completed in 1964.
    * In 1972 Collingwood House was restored at the cost of $72,148.
    * The New Court House in George Street was opened in 1972.
    * There are 30 suburbs in the City of Liverpool area.