Parramatta was foundered in 1788 after Governor Phillip went looking for a better soil for growing crops as Sydney Cove's sandy soil was poor and the crops all failed.
He sailed up the river that ran into Port Jackson and came to a place that the local Aboriginals called "Barramada." He had named the area "Rose Hill" but later changed to Parramatta after the named used by the Aboriginals.
The soil was rich and Phillip was impressed with the land. He seriously considered moving the entire settlement to the area but chose to grant land to be used as farms to support the colony.
The freshwater river was to provide the farms with the water needed to sustain the farms.
The name Parramatta has had many corruptions from "Baramada" "Barramada" "Barramutta" "Barramatta" "Burramatta" and many others.
It is told that the name means "Place where the eels lie down" or "Place where the eels sleep" but further studies reveal a different meaning.
The Dharug peoples language records:
(prefix) burra- (swift moving)
(noun) bara(eel)
(suffix) -matta(headland, hill, mountain)
(noun) matta (hand)
The name could translate into various meanings depending on the original name that has been lost.
Baramatta – Eels caught by hand (as to imply the ease at which they are caught giving the sleeping eels element some recognition)
Burramatta – Swift moving (river) headland (head of the river)
The Aboriginals of this area called themselves "Burramattagal" after the river that sustained them for thousands of years.
Parramatta is located 23 kilometres west of Sydney and still has signs of pre-European occupation with rock hand-stencils, scars from trees where a canoe had been cut and other sites that disappeared with settlement construction.
