In the early days of the colony, the hill behind old Government House had been named ‘Rose Hill’ by GovernorArthur Phillip, before the suburb had been namedParramatta.
On 25 March 1789, Henry Dodd took charge of a farm established at Rose Hill.[2]James Ruse came to farm there in November of the same year.[3] In December 1790, a crop of corn (wheat), described as "exceeding good," was harvested at Rose Hill.[4] By 1791, 200 acres of land had been cleared and were in production.[5]
Nearly a hundred years later in 1883, 850 acres (3.4 km2) ofJohn Macarthur'sElizabeth Farm were subdivided for industrial purposes. Part of the estate was set aside for a recreation area, which becameRosehill Racecourse.
A public school opened here in 1886 and the railway station opened in 1888 on theCarlingford railway line, which was privately owned until it was taken over by the state government in 1904 and later closed in January 2020.[6]
At the2021 census, Rosehill recorded a population of 4,047. Of these:[12]
The age distribution was unusual, with a preponderance of younger adults compared to the country in general, but similar to the neighbouring suburb of Silverwater. The median age was 32 years, compared to the national median of 38 years. There was a large concentration of people between 20 and 34 years of age; they made up 35.5% of residents (the national average was 20.5%). Children aged 0–14 years made up 19.1% of the population (the national average was 18.2%) and people aged 65 years and over made up only 6.0% of the population (the national average was 17.2%).
The most common responses for religion includedHinduism 29.7%,No Religion 17.1%,Catholic 16.9%, andIslam 10.1%; a further 6.7% of respondents for this area elected not to disclose their religious status.
6.7% of the work-force was unemployed, above the national average of 5.1%.
Almost two-thirds (63.0%) of households were family households and 29.8% were single person households. 73.3% of occupied private residences were flats, units orapartments, 17.2% wereseparate houses and 8.6% weresemi-detached, 67.6% were rented, 20.0% were owned with a mortgage and 9.0% were owned outright.
Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) underCC BY 4.0licence.