[2][3] One of Australia's major business districts, North Ryde is home to many multi-national corporations such as Hewlett-Packard, Oracle and Honeywell.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) also has a major site on Delhi Road in the Riverside Corporate Park.

The whole area between the Parramatta and Lane Cove Rivers was originally populated by Indigenous Australians and known by its Aboriginal name Wallumatta.

Contact with the first white settlement's bridgehead into Australia quickly devastated much of the population through epidemics of smallpox and other diseases.

The most substantial undisturbed area is the Wallumatta Nature Reserve in North Ryde, which is owned and managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The earliest settler to receive a land grant in the area bordered by the Field of Mars Common and Bridge/Twin and Badajoz Roads that is now North Ryde was Jane Wood in 1800.

[12] Amongst the earliest settlers was James Weavers, a farm labourer born in 1752, who was sentenced to death at 28 March 1787 Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk) Assizes.

James Weavers is thought to have been killed by Aborigines on 3 April 1805 and although his burial was registered at St Philips Church, his descendants believe that he was buried on his own land.

The earliest settlers to farm in the Putney district were often related by marriages and this included the Weavers, Wicks, Benson, Cox, Hicks and Heard families of North Ryde.

[13] Henry Heard came to Sydney from Devonshire and acquired four acres of land on Twin Road and planted an orchard.

Two of Heard's cottages survive to this day, the main house at 505 Twin Road and semi-detached Orchard House (1890) and Heards Cottage (1895) on the corner of Cox's and Wicks Roads, North Ryde and is listed on Ryde Council's Heritage List (No.

[14] Around 1868 Joseph Cox and his brother William, originally from Kent in England, purchased 21 acres of land in North Ryde for £1425.

These descendants of James Weavers were orchardists with properties bordering the Field of Mars Common in North Ryde.

As a boy he moved with his family from Dubbo, NSW, to the Sydney suburb of West Ryde where he finished his education.

[19] North Ryde remained rural until after World War II, with a small population whose main activity up until that time was farming.

[citation needed] During the postwar years the character of the district underwent a major change, from rural to suburban residential.

[citation needed] A large pig farm was located at the northern end of Wicks Road and was operational until the late 1960s.

[citation needed] An outdoor theatre had operated in Khartoum Road for many years showing silent and then "talkie" movies and was known locally as "the Shack".

[citation needed] In 1956, the North Ryde Skyline Drive-In Theatre was opened on the southern corner of Waterloo and Lane Cove Roads, on land that was previously an orange orchard.

It had capacity for 639 cars, a fully equipped restaurant with facilities which also housed the projection booths, and a large children's playground was located under the huge screen.

[21] and was originally sandstone-lined to make it easier to haul goods up and down from the wharf on the Lane Cove River to the top of the hill.

There is also another row of shops in Avon road which feature hairdressing salons, a cafe and specialist health providers.

The area has seen massive growth since the 1960s with the precincts in Macquarie Park and the Riverside Corporate Park now having the reputation as the leading high-tech industrial areas in Australia, attracting major information technology, communication, electronic, computing, scientific, medical, and pharmaceutical companies.

[27] The next stage of apartment towers, Lachlan's Line is also underway, with a pedestrian and cycleway bridge to be constructed over Delhi Road to give direct access to the North Ryde Railway Station.

[36] Macquarie Hospital is an important 195 bed specialist mental health facility offering acute admission, non-acute recovery and extended care programs for adults with a mental illness/disorder who reside within the Northern Sydney Central Coast Health catchment area.

The hospital works collaboratively with a range of community mental health and specialist non-government organisations and has a catchment population of approximately 1,110,000 residents.

New Horizons Enterprises, part of the Macquarie Hospital North Ryde Auxiliary, operates an acute aged care facility in Badajoz Road, on the site of the former New Horizons Service Station, with sheltered workshops and Head Office in Twin Road.

Arndell Special School (Disturbed Children's Ward) is located in the Macquarie Hospital campus, along with other specialist providers and an Education Centre for training and evaluation.

The cemetery is situated on 59 hectares of Crown land on Delhi Road directly opposite the entrance to the underground metro North Ryde railway station.

North Ryde Park received a major upgrade in 2009 with fully refurbished amenities block and a new children's play area.