Riverstone, New South Wales

Prior to settlement and colonisation of Australia, the area that was to become known as Riverstone was inhabited by the Darug tribe. Most of these people died due to introduced diseases following the arrival of the First Fleet, and the remainder were largely relocated to government farms and a series of settlements.^{[citation needed]}

Riverstone has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• Riverstone railway station^[14]
• Station residence
• Riverstone Mosque Building
• St Pauls Building at New Light Anglican Church

Mary O'Connell, formerly Putland nee Bligh^[15] died in 1864. Her estate was eventually sold off including most of the original grant from Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Later a pattern of intersecting streets was laid out, mostly named after famous streets in London (e.g. Piccadilly Street, Gladstone Parade etc). When the railway line was extended from Blacktown to Richmond, a railway station was constructed at Riverstone, opening in 1864. Other infrastructure was constructed such as a school, churches, hotel and stores. The presumption was that Riverstone was set to become an important regional centre but this did not eventuate.

Most of the allotments were eventually taken up for suburban housing but a few of the original 1880s blocks remain vacant to the present day. Riverstone terrace, erected in 1883, is a curious relic of the anticipated 19th century population boom. It was meant to be the first of a row of high-density terrace housing units that would run the length of Garfield road. However this single block and the small unit next to it were the only ones ever built. For many years the sight of a high density inner-city housing block situated in an empty country paddock remained a bizarre local landmark.

Riverstone remained a small country town until the beginning of the 21st century when the current housing boom swallowed it up as part of the urban sprawl. Large areas of former farmland have recently (2014) also been released for housing in Riverstone and surrounding suburbs. On its northern side Riverstone still has a large and thriving industrial area.^[16] Poultry farming and intensive market gardening are also still important activities in the area.

According to the 2021 census of Population, there were 8,627 people in Riverstone.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 4.9% of the population.
• 65.9% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were India 6.8%, Philippines 3.0%, Nepal 2.1%, New Zealand 1.8% and Pakistan 1.5%.
• 66.1% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Punjabi 2.8%, Nepali 2.6%, Urdu 2.3%, Hindi 1.8% and Tagalog 1.6%.
• The most common responses for religion were No Religion 27.1%, Catholic 22.0%, Anglican 12.4%, Hinduism 8.3% and Not stated 6.5%.^[2]

There are currently two public schools in Riverstone: Riverstone High School (Est 1962)^[17] and Riverstone Public School (Est 1883).^[7] Originally the school operated on the site now housing the Museum. For many years the Infants Department and Primary School were in separate buildings but are now located on the one site in Elizabeth Street. Riverstone also has three private schools: St Johns Catholic Primary School (Est 1950), Norwest Christian College^[18] (1980) (formerly known as Coverdale Christian School) and^[19] Australian Christian College. ACC has two components: the on campus day school and the distance education school, which serves home educated students across New South Wales.

Riverstone is situated between the Richmond Road running from Blacktown to Richmond, and the Windsor Road running from Windsor to North Parramatta.

Riverstone railway station is on the Richmond branch. From dawn to about midnight, commuter trains to Sydney leave at approximately 30-minute intervals, in most cases coinciding with the arrival of a train from Sydney. They stay for two minutes because the next station, Vineyard, is single platform. After that they shift to an hourly schedule. Depending on the hour, train services running through Riverstone offer a varying number of "limited stops" to the Sydney CBD and the majority then continue over the Sydney Harbour Bridge to the North Shore line and Hornsby or Berowra. Apart from the city stations, transfer to most other lines is easily made at Strathfield, Redfern or Parramatta, and other stops that offer fewer choices. The peak-hour journey from Riverstone to Central takes a little over an hour, and another 20 minutes to the popular destination of Chatswood. Buses at Riverstone are run by Busways with route 757 that goes to Mount Druitt and 747 to Marsden Park and Rouse Hill.

Developments at the Garfield Rd traffic lights adjacent to the Railway Station have caused massive traffic disruptions.^[29]

Riverstone is one of the few suburbs left in the Sydney region with a level crossing with old-fashioned boom gates. This view looking west onto the undeveloped flood-prone paddocks is popular with Sydney film and TV commercial makers as a stand-in for a small country railway station. The final parting scene in the film Beneath Clouds was shot there.

The M7 Motorway can be accessed by the Richmond Road ramp to provide faster access from Riverstone to the city.

Tallawong Metro Station is located just 10 minutes by car from Riverstone's CBD.^[30]

Riverstone was named^[31] as one of the second release sites in the rollout of the optical fibre National Broadband Network. As of March 2014 most of the Riverstone residential streets were fitted with the NBN cable.