Windsor, New South Wales

Windsor Sydney, New South Wales
The historic Tebbutt's Observatory (c. 1879)
Windsor
Coordinates	33°36′54″S 150°49′02″E / 33.61500°S 150.81722°E / -33.61500; 150.81722Coordinates: 33°36′54″S 150°49′02″E / 33.61500°S 150.81722°E / -33.61500; 150.81722
Population	1,803 (2011 census)
Established	1810
Postcode(s)	2756
Location	56 km (35 mi) north-west of Sydney CBD
LGA(s)	City of Hawkesbury
State electorate(s)	Hawkesbury
Federal Division(s)	Macquarie
Suburbs around Windsor: Cornwallis Cornwallis and Freemans Reach Pitt Town and Wilberforce Clarendon Windsor Pitt Town Bottoms South Windsor Mulgrave McGraths Hill

Windsor is a town lying west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Windsor is located in the local government area of the City of Hawkesbury. It sits on the Hawkesbury River, on the north-western outskirts of the Sydney metropolitan area. At the 2011 census, Windsor had a population of 1,803.

Windsor is the third-oldest place of British settlement on the Australian continent. Settlement at the location was first established about 1791, near the head of navigation on the Hawkesbury River (known as Deerubbin in Dharuk) and taking advantage of the fertile river flats for agriculture. The area was originally called Green Hills, but renamed Windsor (after Windsor in England). The town was officially proclaimed in a Government and General Order issued from Government House, Sydney, dated 15 December 1810, Governor Lachlan Macquarie having "marked out the district of Green Hills", which he "... called Windsor", after Windsor-on-the-Thames.

While in Windsor, Macquarie ordered the main institutions of organised settlement to be erected, such as a church, school-house, gaol and "commodious inn" (The Macquarie Arms). Of these new buildings, the most outstanding was Francis Greenway's Saint Matthew's Anglican Church, for which Macquarie himself chose the site. Samuel Marsden, principal chaplain of the colony, consecrated the church on 8 December 1822.

In 1813 a report was given to Governor Macquarie from Earl Bathurst detailing a proposed invasion of the Hawkesbury River by France. This planned invasion that did not eventuate, targeted the Windsor granary in order to cut off supply to Sydney, showing the relative importance of this new settlement on a global scale.

Windsor is approximately 60 kilometres north-west of Sydney, and the location was chosen because of the agricultural potential of the area and the location was accessible by coastal shipping from Sydney. It was known as the "bread basket", ensuring the survival of the starving colony. The extensive agriculture caused major silting in the Hawkesbury River, by the 1890s the river had become so blocked with silt, ships could not travel up to Windsor from the coast. By then the railway, in 1864, and the road, in 1814, had been built.