Most of these people died due to introduced diseases following the arrival of the First Fleet, and the remainder were largely relocated to government farms and a series of settlements.

In 1803 a government stock farm was established in what was to become the Riverstone/Marsden Park area, on the basis of the abundant water supply and good grazing land there.

[4] In 1810 Lieut-Col Maurice Charles O'Connell was granted 2,500 acres (10 km2) of land in the district, which he named "Riverston Farm", after his birthplace in Ireland.

(The "e" at the end first appeared on railway timetables in the 1860s, an apparent misprint that has become the accepted spelling, although in the Sydney region the name is still pronounced as though the "e" is not present).

Originally, beef cattle farmed in the area were driven overland to the Hawkesbury River for transport by sailing ship to the convict settlement at Sydney Cove.

In 1988, as part of a Federal Government programme to commemorate the 200th anniversary of European settlement in Australia, a heritage museum was established in the old Masonic hall.

Riverstone has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: Mary O'Connell, formerly Putland nee Bligh [8] died in 1864.

For many years the sight of a high density inner-city housing block situated in an empty country paddock remained a bizarre local landmark.

Riverstone remained a small country town until the beginning of the 21st century when the current housing boom swallowed it up as part of the urban sprawl.

Apart from the city stations, transfer to most other lines is easily made at Strathfield, Redfern or Parramatta, and other stops that offer fewer choices.

This view looking west onto the undeveloped flood-prone paddocks is popular with Sydney film and TV commercial makers as a stand-in for a small country railway station.

Riverstone and surrounding suburbs have a continuous motorway link to Sydney Airport via the Lane Cove Tunnel.