The Hills District (alternatively the Hills Shire, or The Hills) is a region of Sydney, within the northern part of the Greater Western Sydney region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Stretching from the M2 Hills Motorway in the south to the Hawkesbury River in the north and Old Windsor Road in the west to Pennant Hills Road in the east, its constituent suburbs are located in the local government areas of The Hills Shire, and parts of Hornsby Shire and City of Parramatta. Geography The Hills District Historical Society restricts its definition to the Hills Shire local government area. More generously, the term Hills District is applied to the area generally west of Pennant Hills Road, north of Windsor Road, and extending as far as the western boundary of the Hills Shire. The region is so named for its characteristically comparatively hilly topography as the Cumberland Plain lifts up, joining the Hornsby Plateau; and the Hawkesbury Plain lifting up and joining the same Hornsby Plateau. Several of its suburbs also have 'Hills' in their names, such as Baulkham Hills, Beaumont Hills, Castle Hill, Rouse Hill, Box Hill, Pennant Hills and Winston Hills. History Aboriginal settlement Since circa 40,000 BC, Dharug People inhabited the Hills and surrounding areas, especially near water bodies. Rock dwellings found near the Darling Mills Creek are almost 12,000 years old. The Dharug would trade with adjacent clans like the Boorooberongal clan in the northwest. In 1789, a smallpox epidemic killed many of their numbers. European settlement Initial settlement Governor Arthur Phillip surveyed the district in April 1791. His party was in search of a new area for settlement and farming to support a struggling colony in Sydney. In 1794, Hawkesbury Road, later Windsor Road, was built from the Toongabbie Government Farm to the Hawkesbury. In the same year, William Joyce, a pardoned convict, received the first land grant in the area, east of Hawkesbury Road, in what is now Baulkham Hills. He opened an inn on the same road. William Joyce Reserve is a reminder of his property. Other early settlement In 1799, Joseph Foveaux was granted 300 acres of land in what is now the Bella Vista area of Baulkham Hills. He sold this land to John Macarthur, and his wife, Elizabeth, the two of whom pioneered in wool manufacturing, and are attributed to starting Australia's wool industry. Part of