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The suburb of Concord is situated on the Parramatta River, half way between Sydney and Parramatta, and next door to the site of the 2000 Sydney Olympics and Paralympics at Homebush Bay.
Free settlers who arrived on the "Bellona" in January 1793 received grants in the area then named Liberty Plains, part of what is now Concord. In that same year grants were made to six non-commissioned officers in a ‘district to be distinguished in future by the name of Concord’.
Soon after the establishment of the Government Farm at Rose Hill (Parramatta), around the year 1792, an area of land (now known as Waratah Park, the home of Rugby Union in Sydney) was selected as a half-way station between Sydney and Parramatta. This became known as the Longbottom Stockade. It was here that prisoners were detained for a night on their 24 kilometre trek from Sydney to Parramatta (or vice-versa).
Convict road gangs were housed in the original buildings and a small detachment of mounted police was stationed there.
In 1840 it took on a new role as the detention centre for a group of French Canadian political exiles and so acquired a unique place in Australia’s history. Between 1843 and February 1844 free pardons were awarded to all the remaining prisoners (2 had died during their exile) and eventually all but one returned to Canada.
On 11th August, 1883 Concord was proclaimed as a municipality.
In the year 2000, Concord Council combined with the Drummoyne Council to become the City of Canada Bay Council, but the suburbs keep their own identity.
Concord municipality covered the suburbs of Cabarita, Concord, Concord West, Liberty Grove, Mortlake, North Strathfield and Rhodes.
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