Richmond

Richmond Hill was named in honour of Charles Lennox, third Duke of Richmond, by the first governor of the colony of New South Wales, Captain Arthur Phillip, who camped with his exploration party on the bank of the Hawkesbury River in July 1789. On the 6 December 1810, the town of Richmond was one of five named by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, the others being Windsor, Wilberforce, Pitt Town and Castlereagh. The purpose of the towns was to provide safe residences for the farmers who had already settled on flood prone land on the banks of Hawkesbury-Nepean River.

In January 1811 the Richmond township was surveyed by James Meehan who marked out the principal streets, town lots, market square (now Richmond Park) and the church precinct. By 1820 dwellings had been constructed on twenty-four of the seventy-nine original allotments and by 1848 the town had increased in size to 746 people and 147 houses. The population had more than doubled by the end of the 19th century. Although the perimeter of the town has now spread beyond Hobartville to the southwest, the original layout is still very much as Macquarie envisaged.

Town of Richmond sign in Richmond Park. The sign was placed in memory of Samuel Boughton (1841-1910) by his family. Boughton was the author of the work ‘Reminiscences of Richmond’. Cathy McHardy September 2010

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Topographic Map: WILBERFORCE

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