Fairfield City Council: History
For more than 30,000 years, Aboriginal people from the Cabrogal–Gandangara tribe have lived in the area.
European settlement began early in the 19th century and was supported by railway construction in 1856. One of Sydney's oldest trees, the Bland Oak, was planted in the 1830s in Carramar. At the turn of the 20th century the area had a population of 2,500 people and with fertile soils, produced crops for distribution in Sydney. The council was first incorporated as the Municipal District of Smithfield and Fairfield on 8 December 1888, becoming the Municipality of Smithfield and Fairfield from 1906. In December 1901, a major bushfire emerged from what is now Fairfield Heights through to the railway line at Canley Vale, where it destroyed many houses in its path as its crossed creeks, and also annihilated acres of vines and orchards between St Johns Park and Fairfield. On 26 October 1920, the council's name was changed to the Municipality of Fairfield, in recognition of the changing centre of business in the council area.
Although Fairfield itself experienced little direct military activity during the Second World War, the surrounding district contained several military installations. Troops guarded the Upper Canal water supply at Prospect, while a remount depot for horses was established on Wallgrove Road. Following the Japanese midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour in May 1942, the Royal Australian Navy dispersed part of its fleet, stationing a flotilla of small boats at popular swimming areas on Prospect Creek, with their crews accommodated in a houseboat at Latty's Pleasure Grounds.
The Cabramatta Civic Hall, completed in 1944 to a design by J. A. Dobson, was the Cabramatta and Canley Vale seat from 1944 to 1948 and the Fairfield Council seat from 1949. Rapid population increase after World War II saw the settlement of many ex-service men and European migrants. Large scale Housing Commission development in the 1950s swelled the population to 38,000. From 1 January 1949, under the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948, the 'Municipality of Cabramatta and Canley Vale' was amalgamated into the Municipality of Fairfield. In 1964, the Australian Oil and Gas Corporation drilled the Fairfield-1 exploratory well in Wakeley's Esperance Reserve, as part of petroleum exploration of the Sydney Basin. The well was located at a ground elevation of 22.3 m (73 ft), and reached a total depth of 855.3 m (2,806 ft) below ground level.
In the 1976 census, the population had reached 114,000 and was becoming one of the larger local government areas in New South Wales. On 18 May 1979, the Municipality of Fairfield was granted city status, becoming the City of Fairfield. In 1984, the Council established Fairfield City Farm (later renamed Calmsley Hill City Farm), which operated educational programs for schools and visitors. …