The Darug people had lived in the area for many generations, and regarded the area as a food bowl, rich in food from the river and forests. They called the area Baramada or Burramatta which means "the place where the eels lie down".
Heritage listings
North Parramatta has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
The UrbanGrowth NSW Development Corporation is working on creating an aspirational place identity for the publicly owned and nationally listed Heritage Core. It will not have any residential developments, and the heritage buildings will be preserved with the help of repair and restoration work that will make them weatherproof and safe. The significant landmarks on the site which will be conserved include the Cumberland Hospital and the Norma Parker Centre.
Schools and recreation
North Parramatta is dominated by Lake Parramatta and The King's School, which together comprise almost 50% of the land area. Lake Parramatta is a 10-hectare reserve, based around a former reservoir. The catchment area for the lake is bounded by North Rocks Road, Pennant Hills Road and Hunts Creek. The entrance is from Lackey Street, North Parramatta. Lake Parramatta served as a recreational spot for locals who enjoyed swimming. It had been closed due to pollution, but was reopened in January 2015. Schools in the suburb include:
The nearest train station to North Parramatta is Parramatta railway station. The 609 bus route, run by Hillsbus, is the local access to bus transport. It circles around from Prince Street, to Gloucester Avenue, past Lake Parramatta, onto Iron Street and then to the Parramatta Bus Interchange. At the 2011 census, 21.9% of employed people travelled to work on public transport and 57.3% by car.
Demographics
At the 2016 census, North Parramatta recorded a population of 13,248. Of these: ; Age distribution : North Parramatta has a slight over-representation of young adults when compared to the country as a whole. This is most apparent in the range 25–34 years of age, who make up 20.4% of the suburb's population, significantly larger than the national average of 14.4%. North Parramatta residents' median age was 35 years, compared to the national median of 38. Children aged 0–14 years made up 17.7% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 11.0% of the population. ; Ethnic diversity : About half of North Parramatta residents were born in Australia; the next most common countries of birth were India 7.8%, China 5.5%, Iran 3.5%, Philippines 2.5% and Lebanon 2.2%. However, only 13.2% identify their ancestry as Australian, which is the largest group; the next most common self-identified ancestries were English 12.9%, Chinese 9.0%, Indian 7.9% and Irish 5.3%. Just under half of people only spoke English at home; other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 5.7%, Arabic 5.5%, Persian 3.4%, Cantonese 3.2% and Hindi 3.2%. ; Religion : The most common responses for religion were Catholic 23.7% and No Religion 21.4%. ; Income : The average weekly household income was $1,524, compared to the national average of $1,438. ; Housing : Most private dwellings were flats, units or apartments. Another 23.7% were separate houses, while 16.6% were semi-detached. The average household size was 2.5 people.
