It was named in June 1792 after Governor Arthur Phillip asked the local Aboriginal people what they called the place.

[3] Boat travel was the fastest method of transportation in early Australian history for both the original inhabitants and the new settlers.

Using simple spades, hoes or their bare hands they uprooted local vegetation and grass to make way for crops and houses.

Superintendents often mistreated the convicts and there were reports of 7 or 8 persons per day dying on the job from overwork, malnutrition, heat stroke, the cold and possibly lack of sleep etc.

[5] The first post office in the area was opened after many years of campaigning by local residents in 1887 in a private house on Old Windsor Road and this arrangement continued until the 1960s.

The first post master was a Mr Birks wand he was paid 25 pounds a year to manage the office and bring the mail bag over from Seven Hills on horseback each day.

By 1922 the number of residents and businesses had grown sufficiently to support a second office in a weatherboard cottage in Wentworth Avenue, known as Toongabbie West.