[1] Parramatta Road was first created in 1791, a vital land (rather than water) artery between Sydney Cove and Rose Hill's settlement and crops.

Commissioner Bigge recorded how valuable timber (ironbark) was cut and sawn on the spot, conveyed to Sydney in boats by the river.

He's believed to have built Burwood Villa in 1814 (perhaps on older (1797) foundations of Rowley's shepherd's cottage) and lived here until departing for England in 1817.

In 1824 Joseph Lycett described the estate in Views of Australia, as "a garden of 4 acres in full cultivation, containing upwards of three hundred Trees, bearing the following choice fruits, viz.

The Orange, Citron, Lemon, Pomegranate, Loquat, Guava, Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, Apples, Pears, the Cherry, Plums, Figs, Chestnuts, Almonds, Medlars, Quinces; with abundance of Raspberries, Strawberries, and the finest Melons.

Within the next 20 years these began to break up, attracting settlers and encouraging the growth of nascent villages at Burwood and Enfield.

Mansions of the 1870s such as The Priory were built here due to a firm belief in its health-giving climate, compared to the smog and crowding of the city suburbs.

[1] The 1880s was the era of the debates that led to Australia's fractious states combining into a single Federation, declared at Sydney's Centennial Park, in 1901.

[1][2] Rapid suburban growth brought increased interest in town planning and the British concept (Ebenezer Howard's 'Garden City') of the Garden Suburb, spurred on by the Federal Capital Competition of 1912.

1913's arrival from North America of winners, Walter Burley & Marion Mahony Griffin, saw formation of the Town Planning Association of NSW, with architect John Sulman as president.

Founding members Sulman and J. P. Fitzgerald were among witnesses at the 1900 Royal Commission into the Improvement of the City of Sydney and suburbs.

Some recommendations, such as introducing building regulations for the whole metropolitan area "to prevent the straggling of suburbs and to ensure development along harmonious lines" went into 1919's Local Government Act.

[1] Tree-lined streets such as Burwood Road, The Appian Way or The Boulevard in Strathfield were in marked contrast to most development in Australian cities of the late 19th century.

It features a three-storey elaborately decorated tower, a two-storey verandah with cast iron balustrades and an attractive bay window.

[6][1] It has an expansive garden - a rare survivor and evidence of Burwood's onetime prominence among Sydney's fashionable suburbs.

The mansion is well set back from Burwood Road with a semi-circular sweep of carriage loop in gravel, edged with recently replanted box hedges (Buxus sempervirens).

[1] The front garden's detailed plantings have recently been reinstated (gravel drive, box hedges, cast iron fountain).

A number of mature large trees line the front iron fence facing Burwood Road between the two drive entry gates: a Queensland /macadamia nut (Macadamia integrifolia), lemon-scented gums (Corymbia citriodora), Port Jackson figs (Ficus rubiginosa), a Canary Island date palm (Phoenix canariensis), camphor laurel (Cinnamomum camphora), brush box (Lophostemon confertus) and another species of fig (Ficus ?microphylla).