Kurrajong, New South Wales

Kurrajong is a small town in New South Wales, Australia. Kurrajong is located 75km north-west of Sydney, in the local government area of the City of Hawkesbury.Kurrajong is located to the west of the Hawkesbury River on the lower slopes of the Blue Mountains. It is 8km north-west of Richmond on the Bells Line of Road, with Kurrajong Hills and Kurrajong Heights further west on this road.HistoryKurrajong is a popular destination for tourists who enjoy the village's peaceful atmosphere and attractive natural surrounds.Kurrajong is an Aboriginal name for several species of Australian trees in the genus Brachychiton, which once grew in abundance in the area. The bark fibres were used to make fishing nets, ropes and baskets.The area was first settled around 1790, not long after Governor Phillip had travelled down the Hawkesbury River in search of suitable farming land for the struggling colony. As early as 1795 an attempt to find a route through the mountains had been made but it was not until 1823, that Archibald Bell, following Aboriginal women escaping from the Springwood tribe which had kidnapped them, discovered a suitable route. By 1841 the convict built road through Kurrajong, named Bell's Line of Road, was opened. The present road, with easier grades, was opened in 1901. William Lawson was given a grant of 500acre near Wheeny Creek in 1810, but never lived there. Together with Gregory Blaxland and William Charles Wentworth, Lawson made a successful crossing of the Blue Mountains in 1813, which is now the major road to the west – the Great Western Highway. The oldest settlement was along Comleroy Road, which from about 1819 had been the main road north from Sydney to the Hunter Valley. In 1827 it was described as nothing but a bridle track and used chiefly to drove cattle to the new settlements in the Hunter River Valley.