The city has a population of approximately 18,000 people. About 56% of the residents were born overseas. 14.1 % of these residents were from India, and 12.8 % were from China. The most common languages spoke in Parramatta are English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Arabic, Hindi and Gujaratin.

The city lies on the banks of the Parramatta River. The Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbor. Parramatta is rich in culture and history defined by a unique blend of Aboriginal, British, Chinese, Indian, and Arabic cultures woven together to give the city its modern day charm.

Parramatta was originally settled by the Darug people, an aboriginal tribe of Sydney, were the first to have settled and lived in the area. The name parramatta means “head of the waters” or the place where eels lie down.” The area is noted for its abundance of eels and other sea life. The eels are forage on the high concentration of nutrients in the waters where the Port Jackson, an area of saltwater meets and mixes with fresh water from the Parramatta river. The Darug tribe was called “katungal” or “people of the sea.” They traveled by canoe, and primarily ate seafood such as eel, fish and shellfish from Sydney Harbor.

Parramatta was founded as a British colony by Governor Arthur Phillip in 1788. Sydney was also founded in the same year. Arthur Phillip was a British admiral and administrator of a colony. Phillip was appointed as the Governor of New South Wales, the first European colony on the Australian continent. The colony itself was founded with 1,000 British convicts, soldiers and administrators. He chose the area of Parramatta in that the nutrient rich soil was the most ideal location for farming. This point was where the water first became fresh water when navigating boats inland on the Parramatta river from the coast. As a settlement developed and grew, Governor Phillip named it “Rose Hill” then changed to Parramatta in 1971, echoing the name used by the Darug tribe