Cecil Park, New South Wales
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Cecil Park | |||||||||||||
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  Cecil Park Location in metropolitan Sydney | |||||||||||||
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| Coordinates: 33°52′23″S 150°50′18″E / 33.87297°S 150.83823°E | |||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | ||||||||||||
| State | New South Wales | ||||||||||||
| City | Sydney | ||||||||||||
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| • State electorates | |||||||||||||
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| Population | |||||||||||||
| • Total | 815 (2021 census)[1] | ||||||||||||
| Postcode | 2178 | ||||||||||||
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Cecil Park is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 40 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Fairfield. It is part of the Greater Western Sydney region.
Cecil Park was originally home to the Cabrogal people who occupied much of the greater Fairfield area. When European exploration of the area began in the early 19th century, a nearby range was named Cecil Hills and this in turn inspired the name Cecil Park. The first white settler in Cecil Park was Simeon Lord.[2]
Cecil Park was part of a large land grant made to Thomas Wylde in 1817, then known as 'Macquarie Park'. His son, Sir John Wylde inherited the land in 1821. The Wylde family continued to own the land until 1886, when it was sold and subdivided into large lots, and then smaller rural lots in 1906.[3] In 1896, a school building and accompanying teacher's residence was built, near the present-day location of the Elizabeth Drive-Wallgrove Road intersection. The first schoolmaster was Mr. William Flood, who also managed the Cecil Park Post Office opened on 16 July 1897.[4]
Prior to the construction of a church, religious services were held at a local creamery. In 1903, a church dedicated to St Paul was built, which also served as a community hall. Mr. Flood continued as schoolmaster until 1904, followed by various educators, with Alderman Wilf Davis being the last master until the school’s closure in 1940.[3]
The post office operated until 1963,[5] and the church closed shortly after its Golden Jubilee in 1953. All three buildings were demolished in 1965. Archaeological investigations in 2019 confirmed the remnants of the former school and church.[3]
