History of Rouse Hill

Shire of Baulkham Hills, City of Blacktown Location: 42 kilometres north-west of Sydney on Windsor Road

This suburb, situated in the Hills District north-west of Castle Hill and Kellyville, was named a after the estate of a free settler, Richard Rouse (1774-1852), who arrived in the colony in 1801. He was given his first grant in 1802, and in 1816 received a second grant of 450 acres, near Castle Hill. Macquarie suggested the estate be called Rouse Hill, and the peaceful hamlet was born.

Rouse was made superintendent of public works for Parrarnatta, Richmond and Windsor, and is best known for building the tollhouse and turnpike at Parramatta in 1811, the inn known as the Australian Arms in Parramatta, and supervising the construction of Parramatta Hospital, completed in 1818.

Richard Rouse had occupied his grant in at least 1813, before it was made official, and began to build a house there soon after. Rouse Hill House was built by convict labour from stone quarried at Parramatta. Memories of the convict uprising must still have been strong, as the house was built with double protective shutters both inside and outside its windows.

Rouse was a horse breeder of note, and Rouse Hill House included stables with named horse boxes for the string of horses he bred. Names such as Jorrocks and Reprieve stayed on the stalls long after the horses had gone, and Reprieve was immortalised in a poem written by A. B. Paterson who had visited the house, inspired by the famous horses bred there. The breeding and training talent was apparently inherited by a descendant, Rodney Rouse Dangar, who bred Peter Pan, winner of the Melbourne Cup in 1932 and 1934.

Rouse Hill House is still standing on the main Windsor Road, 18 kilometres from Parramatta. Until 1966, it was the oldest home in Australia still occupied by members of the original family. Possibly the most historic event in this area was the convict uprising in 1 1804 culminating in the Battle of Vinegar Hill. The exact location of Vinegar Hill, site of the first serious uprising on Australian sod, is still debated, but it is likely to he the site of the present trig station at Rouse Hill, between the Old Windsor Road and Schofields Road. The uprising known as the Castle Hill Rebellion occurred in March 1804 (see Castle HIE) when convicts, armed with stolen rifles and makeshift weapons, planned to march from Castle Hill to Parramatta, rallying convicts on the way. The plot was betrayed and the convicts were overpowered at the site that became known as Vinegar Hill. Many Irish political prisoners were involved in the revolt, so the place where the authorities regained control was named after Vinegar Hill in County Wexford, Ireland, where the Irish and English forces had clashed in 1798. 

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