Rochester Street is located in the suburbs of Homebush and Strathfield. Rochester Street once ran from Beresford Road to Parramatta Road, but the section between the railway and Parramatta Road is now known as Knight Street.
The is situated on land originally granted in 1793 by the NSW Colonial Government to a group of free settlers, including Frederick Meredith, Edward Powell and Thomas Rose, in an area known as Liberty Plains.
The intention of the land grants was to establish farms and food supply for the growing colony. The land proved difficult to farm and the settlers abandoned farming activity and moved from their land. Eventually, this land and other land located in the current day Homebush West and Homebush (both sides of the railway line) came under the ownership of James Underwood, Edward Powell’s son-in-law. The land became known as the ‘Underwood Estate’.
By 1878 when the section of the ‘Underwood Estate’ known as the ‘Village of Homebush’ was subdivided, residential development of the suburbs of Strathfield (then Redmire) had already commenced. The large ‘Redmire Estate’ commenced residential subdivision in 1867 and by the late 1870s, large homes for wealthy merchants and businessmen were being built in Strathfield. In 1877, a rail halt and later a station was established at Redmire.
A railway halt and later a station was established at Homebush in 1855, which was intended to service the Homebush Racecourse, sited north of the current railway line. There is little evidence of development on the south side of the Homebush Railway until the development of the ‘Village of Homebush’ estate from 1878 onwards.
‘The Village of Homebush’ estate is a section, measuring 306 acres, of the ‘Underwood Estate’. it is located south of the railway. The land was purchased by a group who intended to subdivide the land for residential development. The group included: William George Pennington, William Henry Mackenzie Snr, John Piper Mackenzie, Robert John King, and Charles Wye Weekes.
The ‘estate’ is deposited plan DP400, which created Burlington Rd, Abbotsford Rd, Bridge St, Coventry Rd, Meredith St, Homebush Crescent and Bellevue Street. A section of Coventry Road has been renamed Mackenzie Street. Bellevue Street has been renamed Homebush Road and Homebush Crescent has been renamed The Crescent.
Histories
5-7 Rochester Street Homebush
9 & 11 Rochester Street Homebush
‘Gold Lynn’ 61 Rochester Street Homebush
‘Greenwich’ 63 Rochester Street Homebush
‘Wentworth’ 103 Rochester Street Homebush
Strathfield Heritage 