Old Government House, Parramatta

The original area of the Governor's Domain has been reduced from , and the area to the north and east of the river is now largely devoted to sporting facilities. The area contains over eighty items of cultural significance. These items include: buildings (such as Old Government House), relics (former observatory), historic plantings, archaeological sites (41 in all, including former roads, convict huts, stables, redoubt, lumberyard), vistas (across Parramatta and along George St to the former wharf) and natural items such as bushland. Evidence of Aboriginal use of this area includes stone artefacts and scarred trees (Rosen, S. 2003). The lodge is identical to another built on a pastoral property in the Western District of Victoria. Historically the gatehouse keeper's wife provided picnickers in the park with hot water for tea. Other buildings include(d): • Westmead Gatehouse • Governors' Bathhouse (now a gazebo/pavilion) • Governor's Stables (demolished to construct the 1855 railway extension from Parramatta to Penrith) • Dairy Complex and Salter's Cottage == Timeline ==

• 1788: Government Farm founded at Rose Hill, and wheat, barley, corn and oats were planted in June and July that year. Part of the farm was in the Crescent of Parramatta Park, a former anabranch of the Parramatta River. == Heritage listings ==

On 2 April 1999, the property was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register as a site of State significance with the following citation: The Old Government House and the Government Domain were included in the Australian National Heritage List on 1 August 2007. In July 2010, at the 34th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, Old Government House and Domain, as well as ten other Australian sites with a significant association with convict transportation, were inscribed as a group on the World Heritage List as the Australian Convict Sites. The listing explains that the 11 sites present "the best surviving examples of large-scale convict transportation and the colonial expansion of European powers through the presence and labour of convicts". Of the 11 sites the Hyde Park Barracks, Old Great North Road and Cockatoo Island are also within the Sydney region. At the time of nomination, on 12 January 2007, Old Government House was described as a "powerful symbol of the colony of New South Wales, the inter-connections with convict sites in other colonies, and the development of the nation." == See also ==