Parramatta (formerly Parramata), city in New South Wales, south-eastern Australia. Parramatta is a western suburb of Sydney and one of its main commercial areas with most of the local workforce employed, in approximately equal numbers, by the local government; in retail or wholesale businesses; and in finance, property, and business services. The important merino sheep industry of Australia started in Parramatta, and the city was an early grain port; it is now a rail junction. Other local industries include bicycle manufacture and leather and metal products.
Known as the Cradle of Australia, Parramatta contains many relics of colonial history and is the second-oldest settlement in the country after Sydney. Places of interest in Parramatta include Elizabeth Farm House (1793, Australia's oldest surviving domestic house), St John's Church, the first Government House, the observatory remains in Parramatta Park, Kings School (1832), the Parramatta Riverside Theatre, and Westfields Shoppingtown (the largest under a single roof in the Southern hemisphere). The Rosehill Racecourse is also situated here.
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