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About Riverstone

Riverstone ( ) is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Riverstone is located 48 kilometres (30 mi) north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the Blacktown local government area and part of the Greater Western Sydney region. Originally settled in 1803 as part of a government stock farm, Riverstone is one of the oldest towns in Australia. As at the 2016 census, Riverstone had an estimated population of 7,248. == History == Prior to settlement and colonisation of Australia, the area that was to become known as Riverstone was inhabited by the Darug tribe. Most of these people died due to introduced diseases following the arrival of the First Fleet, and the remainder were largely relocated to government farms and a series of settlements. The Sydney Cove region originally settled in 1788 turned out to be unsuitable for farming, and after a number of years of near-famine in the colony, efforts were made to relocate food production inland to hopefully more climatically stable regions. In 1803 a government stock farm was established in what was to become the Riverstone/Marsden Park area, on the basis of the abundant water supply and good grazing land there. In 1804, the infamous Castle Hill convict rebellion broke out in nearby Castle Hill. Those who took part in the armed convict uprising who then tried to escape to the Hawkesbury would have traversed the Riverstone district.In 1810 Lieut-Col Maurice Charles O'Connell was granted 2,500 acres (10 km2) of land in the district, which he named "Riverston Farm", after his birthplace in Ireland.