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Parramatta was Australia's first successful farming district and soon became a prosperous settlement with twice the population of Sydney. Early colonial governors chose to live there and so it has close associations with such people as Captain Arthur Phillip, Governor Hunter, Governor Macquarie, and Governor Fitzroy, whose use of Old Government House ended in grief in 1847 when his charming and popular wife, Lady Mary, was killed in a carriage accident in the grounds. Many of the early mansions, cottages, churches and other buildings can still be seen in Parramatta.
They include Elizabeth Farm House, built by MacArthur for his wife, Experiment Farm Cottage, St Johns, the first church to be consecrated in the infant colony, the Lennox Bridge (which is featured on the cover) and the Lancer Barracks.
For this book Tess van Sommers has chosen twenty-nine of the most interesting buildings and other features of Parramatta's early days, and told the interesting stories associated with them. Her text is beautifully illustrated by the exquisitely detailed drawings of Cedric Emanuel.
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