History of North Rocks 2151

Shire of Baulkham Hills, City of Parramatta Location: 26 kilometres north-west of Sydney on Pennant Hills Road.

Part of the Hills District, this suburb began its life in the 1880s as a farming and fruit growing area. It lies north of Parramatta and is semi-rural.

In the early 1960s the Royal New South Wales Institution for Deaf, Dumb and Blind Children (now the Institute for Deaf and Blind Children) bought land here on which it built spacious school buildings, leaving room for further expansion. The school opened on 5 June 1962 with thirty children. The Wahroonga School for the Blind and the Darlington School for the Deaf were also transferred to this pleasant, healthy area. The schools are today called the Central School for Deaf Children and School for Blind Children, and seventy-five children are enrolled.

North Rocks is a growing residential area. Improved bus services and subdivision of former rural land have opened up the district for housing, so the formerly quiet suburb is fast becoming a busy town.

Reference: The Book of Sydney Suburbs, Compiled & Edited by Frances Pollon, published by Angus & Robertson Publishers 1988