History
The Darug people of the Burramattagal clan were the original inhabitants of the land at the head of the Parramatta River. The southern riverbank was a vital source of their food and living resources. In their seasonal rotation of campsites around their territory, the clan would have found that the abundant fish, shellfish, birds, reptiles and marsupials contributed greatly to their daily quest for food. The agreed boundary between the Burramattagal country and their neighbours, the Wategora clan, is believed to have been the Duck River.
On 22 April 1788 Governor Arthur Phillip and his party of officers and marines journeyed inland by boat from Sydney Cove to find better farmlands for the new settlement. At the head of the navigable river they landed on the shore near Clyde of what he named Duck River due to the abundance of ducks in the area. They left their boats to explore the area but could not penetrate the thick bush.
In the early 1800s John Macarthur extended his land grants and his Elizabeth Farm holdings to gain the complete river frontage between the township of Parramatta and Duck River.
Early surveys and maps suggest the Duck River area downstream from the confluence with A'Becketts Creek was a wetland of saltmarsh, rushes and grasses. Upstream, the Eucalypt forest adjoining Duck River was cleared by the Australian Timber Company to supply railway sleepers and firewood during and after the construction of the Sydney to Parramatta railway in the 1850s.
In 1898 Clyde Engineering was built nearby to the river. In 1908 the Fells Oil Refinery, and in 1928 the Clyde Refinery was built on left hand bank where Duck River joins the Parramatta River.
Read more about this topic: Duck River (New South Wales)
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