Have you ever stopped to wonder what the name Ku-ring-gai means?

It comes from one of the areas Aboriginal tribes, the Gurringal (or Kuringgai) and can be loosely translated as meaning "belonging to the Aborigines".

In 1906, the first local government authority for the area, the Ku-Ring-Gai Shire Council, adopted the name.

Throughout the 19th century the settlements north of Sydney Harbour remained isolated rural communities, whose inhabitants were largely self sufficient, making their living form timber-cutting, fruit growing and market gardening.

The first white settler was William Henry, who established Millwood Farm on Lane Cove River.

In the 1820's, a former convict, Joseph Fidden, became a major force in the district's development, eventually becoming a ferryman after a brief attempt at farming.

Fidden delivered sawn timber from the government sawpits on the Lane Cove River to Sydney and dropped off supplies to settlements on his way home.

He also provided "sly-grog" at the infamous Fiddens Wharf, to attract rough-living sawyers and bushmen to the district.

Daniel Mathew later established two saw mills, one at Clanville (Roseville) in 1825 and another at Rosedale (Pymble) in 1838. Most of the sawyers moved on when the trees were felled, leaving cleared land for the farmers who followed.

One was Robert Pymble whose name is given to the suburb where he established the first north shore orange orchard. Other early settlers were Richard Archbold at Roseville and Robert Pockley at Killara.

Construction of the railway in 1890 and the introduction of local government succeeded in transforming a series of isolated farming settlements into a line of sought-after suburbs. The interwar period saw vast improvements in infrastructure and a period of urban consolidation.

The period between 1950 and 1980 was marked by a doubling of Ku-Ring-Gai's population from roughly 50,000 to 100,000. Growth has since slowed to it's current level of about 110,000.