[1] A close examination of the documentation of Governor Phillip's first exploration of Parramatta's western hinterland in April 1788 reveals that the orthodox view that he went only as far as Prospect Hill or a little beyond is deeply flawed.
It is most likely that it was named after a hill of similar geological form on Norfolk Island where the Governor had been posted ten years prior to his appointment to New South Wales.
Captain J H Watson's version, he having been in India as a young man, derives the name from "ruti", the Hindustani word for bread.
Governor Macquarie as a young man had also been in India, and if the settlement at the hill had been devoted to agriculture there would have been a connection, but it was a stock yard.
[1][2] The district was used as a government stockyard, and in a lengthy list which Governor Macquarie prepared of the buildings and works erected during his regime between January 1810 and November 1821, we find the following: Macquarie seems to have forgotten that he had already carved a large slice off the reservation by giving Major Druitt in October 1821 a grant of 404 hectares 'out of the Rooty Hill Government allotment on Ross's Creek'.
The oak tree (also shown in a photo) would have been small in Macquarie's time, but is now a veteran, ... a sturdy sample of the genus' (sic).
A few months later he received an appointment as commissariat store keeper at Bathurst, and on April 5 set out from Sydney, at the head of a cavalcade of bullock wagons, carts, drays and belongings over the Blue Mountains to their new home.
Late that night the party reached Rooty Hill, a distance of 42 kilometres from Sydney, the Government House was ready to receive them.
[1] Rooty Hill became the second-most important of the government stock farms and was allocated an overseer's residence with accommodation for the Governor and other visitors.
[1] The Hill remained in private ownership from the time of McKay's purchase up until 1975 when the land was resumed by the Planning Department as part of the Eastern Creek Open Space Corridor.
It has been the site of "unofficial community activity" - a popular courting spot, a patch of bush for children's adventures, Empire night celebrations.
The Rooty Hill has had an important function as a meeting place and camping site for post contact Aboriginal people travelling between Penrith and Parramatta.
It functioned to provide an important reserve food supply for the colony during its establishment when it frequently faced crop failures, drought and other difficulties.
The stock farm also enabled the government to control livestock prices and so prevent exploitation of the market by private graziers and contributed to the establishment of colonial breeding herds.
The hill also has significance to the Aboriginal community as a post contact camping and meeting place for those travelling over the Blue Mountains and into Parramatta and Sydney.
Another important association is with James Angus who purchased many of McKay's holdings and including Rooty Hill and the Minchinbury Estate which he continued to successfully develop.
[1] The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.
In addition, the Hill and associated overseer's cottage provided a stopping point for colonial travellers on their way to the western areas of the state.
[1] The appearance of the hill as a balded topped peak has remained and provides a strong visual link to its historical function as part of a colonial pastoral grazing run.
The hill figures in locals' memories as a place of informal recreation and gathering as well as its historic role as a venue for community events which began in the 1890s at the instigation of its then owner, James Angus.