[7] The Sunbury area has several important Aboriginal archaeological sites, including five earth rings, which were identified in the 1970s and 1980s, and believed to have been used for ceremonial gatherings.

Records of corroborees and other large gatherings during early settlement attest to the importance of the area for Aboriginal people of the Wurundjeri tribe.

[12] Sunbury's connection with the history and development of Victoria is influential because of its most famous and powerful citizen, "Big" Clarke.

[13] His role as one of the biggest pastoralists in the colony, and his power and position within the Victorian Legislative Council, were highly significant in the early years of Victoria.

It was Council members, such as Clarke, who attempted to negate what they saw as the excesses of manhood suffrage, republicanism and Chartism, as embodied in the Assembly, in order to protect their own position.

[14] "Big" Clarke, as a member of the so-called bunyip aristocracy, also helped to frustrate legislative measures involving opening land to small farm selectors.

(Rupertswood railway station was closed as a result of the Regional Fast Rail project and is now only a disused platform).

Lady Clarke took one or more bails, burnt them, and put the ashes in a small urn, wrapped in a red velvet bag, which she presented to the English Captain, Ivo Bligh.

In the early 1970s, the area, which was then still largely rural, became famous in Australia as the site of the Sunbury Pop Festival, which was held annually from 1972 to 1975.