Cecil Park is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, in the state of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

40 kilometres west of the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or ...

, in the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

of the

City of Fairfield The Fairfield City Council is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Greater Western Sydney, west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The council was first incorporated as the "Municipal District of Smit ...

. It is part of the

Greater Western Sydney Greater Western Sydney (GWS) is a large region of the metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia that generally embraces the north-west, south-west, central-west, far western and the Blue Mountains sub-regions with ...

region.

History

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 Simeon Lord ( – 29 January 1840) was a pioneer merchant and a magistrate in Australia. He became a prominent trader in Sydney, buying and selling ship cargoes. Despite being an emancipist Lord was made a magistrate by Governor Lachlan Macqua ...

. 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. 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. Prior to the construction of a church, religious services were held at a local creamery. In 1903, a church dedicated to

St Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

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. The post office operated until 1963, 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.

Demographics

At the , there were 815 residents in Cecil Park. 60.1% of people were born in Australia. The most common other countries of birth were Italy 6.9%, Iraq 3.6%, Iran 3.1%, Malta 2.6% and Fiji 2.2%. In Cecil Park 51.7% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Italian 9.8%, Arabic 5.0%, Croatian 3.4%, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic 3.2% and Maltese 2.9%. Common ancestries include,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

31.4%,

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

16.4%,

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Maltese ...

8.7%,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

7.6% and Croatian 5.2%. The most common response for religion was Catholic at 52.8%.

Recreation

The

Sydney International Shooting Centre The Sydney International Shooting Centre in Cecil Park, New South Wales, Cecil Park, New South Wales, Australia was built for the Shooting at the 2000 Summer Olympics, shooting events at the 2000 Summer Olympics. It has also been used for ISSF Wor ...

was built in Cecil Park for the shooting events at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

. It remains open to licensed shooters for recreational use. An Indigenous art installation titled 'Seven Spears' by Brook Andrew can be found outside the shooting centre. The nearby 'Wylde Mountain Bike and BMX' hub has more than 15km of

mountain bike A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling (''mountain biking''). Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in r ...

trails, a

BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the ea ...

track, and a

pump track A pump track is a purpose-built Track cycling, track for cycling. It has a circuit of rollers, banked turns and features designed to be ridden completely by riders "pumping"—generating momentum by up and down body movements, instead of pedaling ...

References

Suburbs of Sydney City of Fairfield City of Liverpool (New South Wales) {{Sydney-geo-stub