City of Liverpool (New South Wales): History
It is one of the oldest urban settlements in Australia, founded in 1810 as an agricultural centre by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. He named it after Robert Banks Jenkinson, Earl of Liverpool, who was then the secretary of state for the Colonies and the British city of Liverpool upon which some of the city's architecture is based.
On 19 September 1843, the Liverpool District Council was established by charter, with Captain Samuel Moore as its first magistrate and warden, and Thomas Valentine Blomfield, Thomas Harper, David Johnston, Joshua John Moore, Richard Sadlier and Edward Weston as councillors. Its area also included most of Sutherland Shire. The new form of government was not popular and fizzled out by 1850.
After 148 local residents lodged a petition with the governor on 4 September 1871, the Municipality of Liverpool was proclaimed on 27 June 1872. At its first election on 27 August 1872, Richard Sadleir was elected Mayor.
On 1 January 1949, the Municipality absorbed Riding B of the abolished Nepean Shire.
On 9 December 1960, the Municipality was proclaimed by Governor Eric Woodward as the City of Liverpool.
Liverpool is at the head of navigation of the Georges River and combined with the Great Southern Railway from Sydney to Melbourne reaching Liverpool in the late 1850s, Liverpool became a major agricultural and transportation centre as the land in the district was very productive. A large army base was established in Liverpool during World War I, and exists to this day as the Holsworthy Barracks. There are a number of other military establishments in neighbouring Moorebank.
Until the 1950s, Liverpool was still a satellite town with an agricultural economy based on poultry farming and market gardening. However the tidal surge of urban sprawl which engulfed the rich flatlands west of Sydney known as the Cumberland Plain soon reached Liverpool, and it became an outer suburb of metropolitan Sydney with a strong working-class presence and manufacturing facilities. Liverpool also became renowned for its vast Housing Commission estates housing thousands of low-income families after the slum clearance and urban renewal programs in inner-city Sydney in the 1960s.
The City of Liverpool is home to one of the largest municipal libraries in Sydney.
Freedom of Entry
The City of Liverpool has bestowed Freedom of Entry just three times in its 150 years of local government. The Australian Army's Royal Australian Engineers were granted Freedom of Entry in 1959 and re-affirmed in 2018 as part of Liverpool's Centenary of Armistice commemoration. The Australian Air League's Moorebank Squadron were granted Freedom of Entry in 2022 marking 60 years in the Liverpool community and included a formation flypast over Bigge Park
The 2018 and 2022 occasions both occasions featured a parade through the Liverpool Town Centre, a formal challenge outside Liverpool Court House, and community activities at Bigge Park. Since opening in January 2018, the five-star William Inglis Hotel in Warwick Farm has become a notable tourism and accommodation destination within the Liverpool local government area.