A compact area of only 6,500 square kilometres, District 9690 extends from the inner suburbs of Sydney - Australia's first and largest city which is also capital of the State of New South Wales, over the beautiful Blue Mountains (right) to Lithgow and as far west as the town of Portland-Wallerawang. The cities of Liverpool and Windsor, only 50 kilometres apart, provide the southern and northern extremities respectively.

Homebush, site of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, is located near the eastern end of the District, with their legacy being the many modern sporting facilities that are regularly used for both local and international events. There are many other top class sporting facilities within District 9690 - including Rosehill Gardens Racecourse (home of the famous Golden Slipper race for two year old horses), Parramatta Football Stadium and Eastern Creek Motor Raceway.

Sydney's western suburbs include many major residential areas, along with high density industrial and commercial complexes. West of major housing areas, there is a concentration of market gardens and small farming blocks. Across the Blue Mountains and west to Portland-Wallerawang, Lithgow and surrounds, there are larger farm holdings and several major coal mines.

Sydney is situated on Port Jackson (or Sydney Harbour) and is widely acclaimed as one of the world's most beautiful harbours. It was settled in February 1788, as a British penal colony. In November of that year, an estuary of the harbour now known as the Parramatta River was explored and a second town established at Parramatta - which is located in District 9690 - and is thus the second oldest settlement in Australia.

For a time in the early part of the 19th Century, Parramatta was the seat of government and Old Government House remains one of the oldest public buildings in Australia.

In the early days of the colony food was in short supply and farms were established at Strathfield, Rosehill, Parramatta and Windsor, all within the current boundaries of District 9690. The Blue Mountains were a beautiful but forbidding barrier to the fertile farming land of NSW's western plains, until a way was found across in 1815. Today, the Blue Mountains are a major tourist area only one and a half hours drive from Sydney.

The first railway in the colony was opened in 1855 and operated between Sydney and Parramatta. One of the intermediate stops at Homebush serviced the race course which was the headquarters of horse racing between 1841 and 1860.

NSW's major abattoirs were situated at Homebush from 1915 until recently, and since 1975, the Sydney Farm Produce Market has occupied part of the old abattoirs site at Flemington. Within the district is Rookwood Cemetery, the largest cemetery in Australia and the second largest in the Southern Hemisphere. St. John's Cemetery at Parramatta is the oldest public cemetery in Australia.