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European Settlement at Parramatta was begun by Governor Arthur Phillip in November 1788, just nine months after the First Fleet arrived in Sydney Cove. For a time in the early 1800s it was the seat of government of the colony of New South Wales (which at that time encompassed the eastern two-thirds of the Australian mainland). Afterwards the seat of government was moved back to Sydney, but the Governor's former residence, Old Government House, remains as an historic site and Museum and is Australia's oldest surviving public building.

Parramatta is the site of Australia's oldest farmstead, Elizabeth Farm . The property was named after the wife of the pioneer Australian farmer James RuseJames Ruse the convict James Ruse ( 1759- 1837), pioneer of agriculture in Australia, was born on a farm in Cornwall. In 1782 he was tried at Bodmin Assizes and sentenced to death for "burglariously breaking and entering the dwelling house of Thomas Olive, and is still a tourist attraction today.

The name Parramatta is derived from a local Aboriginal expression meaning "place of many eels". The area was at first named Rose Hill, later changing to the native name for the area. It is located at a portion of the nearby Parramatta River which was indeed a gathering place for native species of eelAn eel is any of the fishes in the order Anguilliformes. The flat and transparent larva of the eel is called a leptocephalus. Short movie of migrating glasseels: The fresh water eels unagi and marine eels ( Conger eel, anago are commonly used in Japanese. The eel has been adopted as the symbol of the Parramatta EelsThe Parramatta Eels are a team in the National Rugby League (NRL), the premier rugby league football competition in Australia. Based in Parramatta a suburb of Sydney, the Eels in 1947 were admitted to the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition, Rugby League club who compete in the prestigious NRLThe National Rugby League (NRL) is one of the most popular sporting competitions in Australia and, in recent times, New Zealand, consisting of fifteen teams playing Rugby League football against each other. The fifteen teams that currently comprise the NR.

The name was given to a fort north of WellingtonAlternative meanings at Wellington (disambiguation Wellington the capital city of New Zealand, has the country's second largest metropolitan area. Wellington has a reputation for its picturesque natural harbour and green hillsides adorned with tiered subu, New ZealandFor alternative meanings, see New Zealand (disambiguation). New Zealand is a country formed of two major islands and a number of smaller islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. A common Mori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa popularly translated as Land, in the 1840sEvents and Trends First signing of the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi) on February 6, 1840 at Waitangi New Zealand. The treaty between the British Crown and Maori made New Zealand a British colony and is considered the founding point of modern N. The remains of the fort are still visible on the Ngatitoa Domain in Porirua City, but the surrounding suburb name has been changed to " Paremata".

See also: Parramatta Rail Link