Heritage
The Hawkesbury region was settled by the Dharug people and prior to 1788 it is estimated up to 3,000 Dharug people lived in the Hawkesbury valley.
In 1791, Captains Arthur Phillip, John Hunter and Watkin Tench explored the Hawkesbury and Nepean Rivers, and by 1794 there were 22 farms marked out along the south side of the river, downstream of the mouth of South Creek.
The earliest land grants around McGraths Hill were to Andrew Thompson and William Balmain. James Magrath purchased part of Thompson’s property and built the first road to Parramatta in 1813, as well as Windsor wharf in 1814 with John Howe. Magrath was an Irish convict transported to Australia aboard the Hercules in 1802 and died in 1833. Most sources claim the village was named after him due to his contribution to the region.
According to an article in the Windsor & Richmond Gazette by William Freame, McGraths Hill was named after his son, also named James Magrath, who had a farm there. Magrath died 30 May 1859 aged 35 years.
Either way, because of the long continuity of Magraths on the land, the southern uplift of Thompson's farm became known as Magrath's Hill.
One of the earliest residents in the area was Charles Sommers who arrived in 1816 as a free settler, bought much of Thompson’s Red House estate, and farmed the land for many years before subdividing it and creating the village of Sommers Town around 1843, which later became part of McGraths Hill. Sommers was the Master of the Windsor Church of England School and at some time also owned the estate now known as Spring Hill Farm. In 1850 the Wesleyan community of Windsor purchased land in Sommers Town to establish a burial ground, know known as the McGraths Hill Methodist Cemetery, with a direct line of sight to the church at Windsor.
The timing of the name change is currently unclear with some records showing the name in use as early as 1845 while others show the name Sommers Town still existed in 1876.
McGraths Hill was completely covered in the 1867 flood.
By 1977, McGraths Hill was developing as a residential area and now consists of more than 2,500 people. Council describes it as a “small village” and there are no plans to develop more land due to flooding impacts.
According to the Hawkesbury City Council Local Environmental Plan 2012, there are only 5 remaining heritage-listed sites in McGraths Hill:
A detailed Conservation Management Plan for the Spring Hill Farm is available here.
The NSW State Government has a listing of the cemetery at http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=1740039
The RMS makes reference to McGraths Hill in the Windsor Bridge Replacement Project documentation:
McGRATHS HILL
McGraths Hill is located within 30 acres of Andrew Thompson’s 120 acre West Hill Farm
purchased by contractor James McGrath around 1815. The land holding was subsequently
increased to 160 acres by 1819. The property south of Pitt Town Road remained in the McGrath family’s ownership over generations. The estate was subdivided in 1977 to form the McGraths Hill residential area.
A number of licensed hotels have graced the hill, sited around the important junction of the roads to Windsor and Pitt Town. While the locations of the early hotels are not precisely known, the licensing records note the operation of the Shamrock from 1846 and the Royal Oak from 1847. The survey of Windsor Road of 1885 plots the location of Edward Raper’s Killarney Hotel (first licensed in 1878) on the west side of the road as the only hotel in the precinct.19 The standing Australian Hotel was probably erected in 1895 (some, such as Helen Proudfoot, say 1878) by Thomas Maguire. The neighbouring general store was demolished in 1938 (probably owing to road widening) and the hotel was extended. The 1885 road survey also plots three cottages fronting the road to the north of the present day hotel in the occupation and ownership of W. Douglas, Thomas Aitkens and M. Vaughan.
It seems probable that subdivision for residential development was undertaken in the late nineteenth century at McGraths Hill between Wolseley Street and the Old Hawkesbury Road and demonstrated today by a handful of buildings of this era, the street names and their regular layout.
Council has no details of the heritage listing of any item.
