Original Names and the Letter V
Parramatta: A Dictionary of Place and Memory - O
To consider place names is to be conscious of an origin story.
The name Parramatta is based on Burramatta, the original name of this place and the home of the Burramattagal people.
Underneath the V building is a historical site.
European disease such as smallpox and measles killed over half of the Indigenous people after British settlement in 1788.
What I did not know is that the Spanish also came to Parramatta and there’s an archival drawing titled Vista de la Colonia de Paramata en la Nueva Gales Meridional by Fernando Brambila from 1793.
What I also did not know is that street names such as George, Hunter, Macquarie and Argyle are already on maps from 1844.
Excavations show four wells at this historical site.
Ceramics used here came from trade routes to China and India.
In the nineteenth century, a place was established to make ceramics.
It reminds me of a relative. He always lamented the closure of the last glass manufacturer in Lebanon.