Windsor Courthouse and St Matthews Celebrate 200 years!

This week, the Hawkesbury Mayor, Sarah McMahon, attended two ceremonies celebrating special 200th anniversaries.  She made the following statement:

“It has been a big couple of weeks in the Hawkesbury, as they celebrate 200th milestones for both St Matthew’s Anglican Church Windsor and the Windsor Courthouse.

It is not widely known that the Hawkesbury was actually the third colonial settlement of Australia, after Sydney Cove and then Parramatta, in 1794 (although discovered earlier). That is why they have centuries old buildings, steeped in history and local significance.

It has been an honour to have attended ceremonies for both buildings over the last two weeks, paying tribute to the architecture, as well as the people of importance, who commissioned and built them.

What was also lovely about each celebration, was attendance by local Indigenous leaders, who, despite the conflict of the past, acknowledged both occasions as part of our shared history.

For me, just standing there looking at the masterpieces that both buildings are, touching the bricks laid by convict hands and thinking about all of the lives that have come and gone inside their walls, is something very special.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – we really do live in a wonderful place. The deep history from Richmond to Kurrajong, from Wilberforce to Sackville and from Colo to St Albans, is especially unique to us. There are not many other places in Australia that have what we have – and as its current custodians, it is our duty to honour, commemorate and to share, so that future generations may be lucky enough to celebrate their 300th and 400th anniversaries.”