Parramatta is a major commercial suburb and centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 24 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta River. Parramatta is the administrative seat of the local government area of the City of Parramatta and is often regarded as the main commercial centre and the central business district for the broader Greater Western Sydney region. Parramatta also has a long history as a second administrative centre in the Sydney metropolitan region, playing host to a number of state government departments as well as state and federal courts.
Parramatta, founded as a British settlement in 1788, the same year as Sydney, is the oldest inland European settlement in Australia and is the economic centre of Greater Western Sydney. Since 2000, government agencies such as the New South Wales Police Force and Sydney Water have relocated to Parramatta from the centre of Sydney.