Richmond is a town in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, in the local government area of the

City of Hawkesbury The City of Hawkesbury is a local government area of New South Wales, Australia, part of which is at the fringe of the Sydney metropolitan area, about north-west of the Sydney central business district. Hawkesbury City is named after the Hawke ...

. It is located 19 metres above sea level on the alluvial

Hawkesbury River The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River, is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney. ...

flats, at the foot of the Blue Mountains on the

Cumberland Plain The Cumberland Plain, an IBRA biogeographic region, is a relatively flat region lying to the west of Sydney CBD in New South Wales, Australia. Cumberland Basin is the preferred physiographic and geological term for the low-lying plain of the P ...

. It is about 65 km by road from Sydney and about 78 km by road from Lithgow.

History

The

Darug people The Dharug or Darug people, formerly known as the Broken Bay tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian people, who share strong ties of kinship and, in pre-colonial times, lived as skilled hunters in family groups or clans, scattered throughout much ...

were the Aboriginal peoples to the area in 1788. The area was originally explored by British settlers in 1789 and the nearby eminence to the west of the Hawkesbury River was known by them as 'Richmond Hill'. The name was given by Governor Arthur Phillip, in honour of Charles Lennox, the third Duke of Richmond who was Master General of Ordnance in the Pitt administration. The local area was the third area to have European settlement in Australia after Sydney and

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

. The first 22 European settlers came to the area in 1794. They came to farm a total of in what is now Pitt Town Bottoms. They needed good farming land to help overcome the desperate need for food in the new colony. By 1799 this region was producing about half the grain produced in the colony. The '' Battle of Richmond Hill'' took place in May and June 1795 between the Darug people and British Marines. Around 1811 Macquarie established the five ''

Macquarie Towns Macquarie Towns or the Five Macquarie Towns is the collective term for the towns of Castlereagh, Pitt Town, Richmond, Wilberforce and Windsor, all located on and around the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales, Australia. All five towns were esta ...

'' in the area:

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

, Richmond, Castlereagh, Wilberforce and Pitt Town. One of the early settlers, James Blackman, built Bowman Cottage from brick nog, a common construction technique in the colony, using money borrowed from William Cox. The house was constructed between the years 1815 and 1818. James was unable to pay his debts and was forced to sell the property to George Bowman. The building was restored by the NSW

Public Works Department This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

and then became a Division of the Australian Foundation for the Disabled, providing employment for the disabled. During WWII the RAAF operated a top secret operations bunker from somewhere in Richmond. It was either half or completely underground. The location of this bunker is unknown but it has been reported that this bunker was identical to the Bankstown Bunker which is currently buried under a public park in

Bankstown Bankstown is a suburb south west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 16 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is located in the local government area of the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, hav ...

. It has also been reported that this bunker could still be intact.

RAAF Base Richmond RAAF Base Richmond is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base located within the City of Hawkesbury, approximately North-West of the Sydney Central Business District in New South Wales, Australia. Situated between the towns of W ...

is a

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

base at Richmond which was established in 1923. The air base is currently the home to the RAAF's transport squadrons. During the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

, logistic support and medical evacuations were supplied by the C-130 Hercules aircraft from RAAF Richmond.

Heritage listings

Richmond has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Blacktown-Richmond railway: Richmond railway station * 24 Bosworth Street: Seymours House * 49–51 Bosworth Street: New Inn * Bounded by East Market, Windsor and March Streets:

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of London's Royal Parks, and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I in the 17th century as a deer park ...

* 135 Francis Street: Clear Oaks * 22 Inalls Lane: Mountain View * Kurrajong Road: Hobartville * 126 Windsor Street * 157 Windsor Street: Toxana * 257–259 Windsor Street: Allison's Pharmacy * 286 Windsor Street:

Richmond Post Office Richmond Post Office is a heritage-listed former post office at 286 Windsor Street, Richmond, New South Wales, Richmond, City of Hawkesbury, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by New South Wales Government Architect, Colonial Architect ...

* 368–370 Windsor Street: Bowman House * 384 Windsor Street: St Peter's Anglican Church * Hawkesbury Agricultural College, now known as Western Sydney University, Hawkesbury Campus

Population

According to the 2016 census of Population, there were 5,482 people in Richmond. * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 3.8% of the population. * 74.8% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was England at 4.1%. * 82.4% of people only spoke English at home. * The most common responses for religion were No Religion 24.6%, Catholic 23.1% and Anglican 20.6%.

Education

Richmond has a range of educational facilities, from primary and high schools to

Technical and Further Education Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational cours ...

(TAFE), including a private Registered Training Organisation (RTO)
National Training Masters
and the Hawkesbury Campus of

Western Sydney University Western Sydney University, formerly the University of Western Sydney, is an Australian multi-campus university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, Australia. The university in its current form was founded in 1989 as a federated network ...

. There are three primary schools in Richmond (although there are many more in the Richmond/Hawkesbury area): Richmond Public School, Hobartville Public School and St Monica's Primary School, a comprehensive Catholic school. Richmond High School is the only High School in the town of Richmond, as Colo High School draws from the area west of Richmond and Windsor High School to the east.

Geography

The expansion of the Sydney suburban area has almost reached Richmond and it is now considered to be an outer suburb of Sydney. Bells Line of Road which leads into, over and across the Blue Mountains, finishing in Lithgow, starts in Richmond. Richmond railway station is the terminus of the Richmond branch of the North Shore & Western Line of the

Sydney Trains Sydney Trains is the operator of the suburban passenger rail network serving the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The network is a hybrid urban-suburban rail system with a central underground core that covers over of track and 170 ...

network. Richmond is surrounded by the 329 km²

Richmond Woodlands Important Bird Area The Richmond Woodlands comprise some 329 km2 of eucalypt woodland remnants close to Richmond, New South Wales, Australia. They lie at the foot of the Blue Mountains on the north-western fringe of the Sydney metropolitan area. Description T ...

, identified as such by BirdLife International because of the importance of the patches of remnant

eucalypt Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia: ''Eucalyptus'', ''Corymbia'', ''Angophora'', '' Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...

woodland it contains for

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...

regent honeyeater The regent honeyeater (''Anthochaera phrygia'') is a critically endangered bird endemic to southeastern Australia. It is commonly considered a flagship species within its range, with the efforts going into its conservation having positive eff ...

s and

swift parrot The swift parrot (''Lathamus discolor'') is a species of broad-tailed parrot, found only in southeastern Australia. The species breeds in Tasmania during the summer and migrates north to south eastern mainland Australia from Griffith- Warialda ...

Climate

Richmond has a humid subtropical climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: ''Cfa/Cwa'') with hot summers and cool winters. Due to its inland location, Richmond has hotter summer days than Sydney CBD, with temperatures sometimes reaching highs of . Richmond's extreme summer temperatures are also credited to föhn wind sweeping off the

Central Tablelands The Central Tablelands in New South Wales is a geographic area that lies between the Sydney Metropolitan Area and the Central Western Slopes and Plains. The Great Dividing Range passes in a north–south direction through the Central Tablelands ...

down into the foothills of the suburb. Winter nights are colder than Sydney CBD's and they can drop below with significant frost. Richmond has 91.5 days of clear skies annually, in contrast to Sydney CBD's 104 days. On 14 January 1939, Richmond recorded a temperature of , the highest in the Sydney region. Its lowest maximum winter temperature was , recorded on 6 July 1957. After

Mitchell, Queensland Mitchell is a rural town and locality in the Maranoa Region, Queensland, Australia. The town services the local area, a cattle and sheep farming district. In the , the locality of Mitchell had a population of 1,031 people. Geography Mitchell ...

, Richmond has the second largest overall temperature range recorded in Australia; to , a range of 56.1 °C.Climatic Extremes
by

Geoscience Australia Geoscience Australia is an agency of the Australian Government. It carries out geoscientific research. The agency is the government's technical adviser on all aspects of geoscience, and custodian of the geographic and geological data and knowle ...

from the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

Gallery

File:AUS NSW Richmond Bowmans Cottage.jpg, Bowman Cottage 1815–1818, built in the

Colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

style File:Richmond Court House, NSW.jpg, Richmond Court House File:St Peter's Anglican Church, Richmond NSW.jpg, St Peter's Church File:Park Mall Richmond.JPG, Park Mall, Richmond File:Windsor0006.jpg, Pugh's Lagoon

References

External links

Royal Australian Air Force

Hawkesbury City Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richmond, New South Wales Suburbs of Sydney Towns in New South Wales City of Hawkesbury 1810 establishments in Australia Populated places established in 1810