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Old Toongabbie is a suburb of Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 29 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Parramatta.
Old Toongabbie is noted for being the third post colonisation settlement, chosen for its location on a main waterway.
“Old Toongabbie” became the name of the location of the original town (located next to Toongabbie Creek) as opposed to “Toongabbie” which was near to the Western Railway station. Part of the suburb later became known as Constitution Hill, Winston Hills and Pendle Hill.
In 1788 the Parramatta area was settled, then called Rose Hill, as a government farm for the colony.
In 1791 there were food shortages and David Collins referred to ‘new ground’ as the area chosen 2.4km from Parramatta, later to be known as Toongabbie.
Boat travel was the fastest method of transportation in early Australian history for both the original inhabitants and the new settlers. This area was chosen because of the location on the meeting of two waterways, Toongabbie Creek and Quarry Creek. The Aboriginal inhabitants were consulted and the ‘Toongabbie’ is thought to mean ‘a place near the water’ which became the name of the town.
Toongabbie was founded as a Government Farm to grow food for the colony in April 1792.
In 1860, the railway was extended to Blacktown but it took 20 years before any arrangements were made for trains to stop at Toongabbie. The first school in Toongabbie,http://www.toongabbie-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/ Toongabbie Public School opened on 3 May 1886. By April 1911, the school closed due to low enrolments. The school reopened February the next year and has stayed open ever since.Sargeant, Doris A. and others, The Toongabbie Story, Toongabbie, 1964 published by the Toongabbie Public School
The first post office in the area was opened after many years of campaigning by local residents in 1887 in a private house on Old Windsor Road and this arrangement continued until the 1960s. The first post master was a Mr Birks wand he was paid 25 pounds a year to manage the office and bring the mail bag over from Seven Hills on horseback each day. By 1922 the number of residents and businesses had grown sufficiently to support a second office in a weatherboard cottage in Wentworth Avenue, known as Toongabbie West. A purpose built office was opened in the main shopping area in Portico Parade in 1960 becoming Toongabbie Post Office whilst the old Toongabbie Post Office was renamed Old Toon Toongabbie, The Third Settlement, John Goode, The third settlement bicentennial committee, 1988, Published in Australia,
The area continued to be known as Toongabbie until the construction of the Main Western railway line and the building of the railway station of Toongabbie. Over time the location of the station and the shops around it became known as Toongabbie and the original settlement was called Old Toongabbie to differentiate the two.
From the 1990s part of this area was unofficially known as the locality of Constitution Hill. The suburb of Constitution Hill was officially recognised in 2007.
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