An advertisement appeared on the 18 January 1919 for the Auction Sale of St. Mary's Station Estate to take place on the 8 February 1919. This new subdivision was to become known as Oxley Park.

In 1919 Oxley Park was opened for returned servicemen. The new streets in the subdivision were named after Australia's warships, which had been given the names of capital cities (Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Sydney, Perth, Hobart). Australia Street was named after the battleship HMAS Australia. (Source: Eugene Stapleton: "Old Times Old Tales: St Marys' Story", St Marys Historical Society, 1984, pp35-41.)

HMAS Australia was the flagship of the first Australian fleet that came to Sydney in 1913 with HMAS Sydney.

She ended the war on service in the North Sea when the German High Seas Fleet surrendered, and she led the 2nd Battle Cruiser Squadron, with Vice Admiral Halsey in command, as they steamed to meet the German Fleet at Scarpa Flow on 21 November, 1918. On 12 April 1924 she was towed out of Sydney Harbour and sunk twenty four miles east of Sydney Heads in accordance with the terms of the Washington Agreement by which Australia was required to reduce its sea power. Many of her guns and artefacts are still held at Cockatoo Island dockyard. (Source: Eugene Stapleton: "Old Times Old Tales - St Marys Story", St Marys Historical Society, 1984, pp40-41.)

The suburb of St Marys is named after the parish church of St Mary Magdalene, consecrated in 1840. It was earlier known as South Creek.

(Brian and Barbara Kennedy, "Sydney and Suburbs: A History and Description", A.H. & A.W. Reed Pty Ltd, Sydney 1982. Pp. 107)

Australia Street, St Marys is a long straight street, intersected by at least two other streets. The street has mainly single dwellings with recent development including several large houses and two lots of home units. There is a cemetery a couple of streets away on the corner of Sydney Street and the Great Western Highway. On the corner of Sydney Street and Adelaide Street there is Oxley Park Public School.

Early History

The land now bounded by the Western Highway, the Western Railway, Ropes Creek and Queen Street was granted to John Oxley by Lieut. Governor Paterson in 1808. Many grants were made in this year as a reward for support given in the revolt against Governor Bligh, or as a bribe to obtain support after the "Rum Rebellion". Governor Macquarie didn't approve this South Creek grant and it wasn't gazetted until 1823.

John Oxley arrived in Australia as a member of the Royal Navy. He was involved in exploration and surveying in early NSW, as well as being a successful sheep breeder. He died heavily in debt in 1828. His land at South Creek was sold before and after his death to Governor King's son Phillip Parker King (part of the grant was conveyed to Philip Parker King in February 1821 although the crown grant not recorded until 1823). The area was known to locals for years as 'Kings Bush'.

St Marys developed because of the rich alluvial soil on the banks of the South Creek, the permanence of the water supply and its location on the Great Western Road which meant it became a convenient staging place for the passing road traffic. ("Place Names and Their Origins Within the City of Penrith", Penrith City Council, 1985)

Industrial Development

The coming of the railways in the early 1850s was to change the character of Western Cumberland almost immediately. Once the railway extended from Parramatta to Penrith, new avenues for earning livelihood became possible. St Marys was well situated being half-way between Parramatta and the mountains. There was the building of the railway itself, with the need for labour and products such as timber. Soon the timber-getting industry of the Western Cumberland became established: iron-bark was used for railway sleepers, the softer woods for firewood for Sydney's ever-increasing fireplaces and stoves. Saw-mills were established at most of the railway stations and sidings, including St Marys.

A number of other local industries were established in St Marys during the 19th century. In 1840 the first tannery opened, followed by several more in the 1850s, using bark from the mimosa and wattle trees which grew profusely in the area, and given impetus by the coming of the railway. Peak output was during WWI when seven tanneries employed over 400 men. Two cattle sale yards were established, to the north and south of the railway station. A wheelwright shop was established in 1858 to produce heavy transport wagons called table-top wagons, and which became famous throughout Australia. This industry flourished until 1954.

In the period after 1880, it became increasingly obvious that the land use of the Cumberland Plain was almost entirely governed by the functions and influence of Sydney .... it is during this period that Sydney begins to claim the western parts of the County as 'outer suburbs', and from this time, the influence of the metropolis, though important before, becomes even more pervading. (Proudfoot, pp 43, 47)

During World War II a large explosives factory was established with many buildings and ancillary roads and railway lines, employing up to 4500 people. A number of small "duration cottages" were built to house workers between Queen St and South Creek. In the post-war period, the munitions factory left buildings and sites for conversion for other industry.

From World War II Western Sydney began to attract an industrial base related to metropolitan industries:

Continuing to complement the metropolitan area by the ever-accelerating provision of new materials for the building process, the clay for bricks, the blue stone for roads, the sand and gravel for cement and aggregate, the western County became enmeshed in the great web of Sydney's expansion, bound to the city by innumerable links, economic, administrative, and social. (Proudfoot, p49)

Population

During the war years there was a sudden jump in the population of St Marys. The munitions works was set up here at this time (the factory has continued to operate in some capacity into the 1990s, but was made available for urban redevelopment in 1994).

St Marys' Population (from p44, "Exploring Sydney's West", Helen Proudfoot, Kangaroo Press, 1988):

Date - - Population
1861 - - - 444
1871 - - - 422
1881 - - - 608
1891 - - - 1823
1901 - - - 1840
1911 - - - 1800
1921 - - - 1900
1933 - - - 2800
1947 - - - 5400
(Source: Proudfoot, p 44)

Provision of Amenities

A feature of the rural fringe of metropolitan Sydney in the mid-20th century continued to be speculative subdivision of rural land without the necessary infrastructure for urban development being provided.

The provision of services in 1951 was lagging badly behind. Electrification was widespread, but not complete, water rarely extended beyond the then metropolitan area and the rural towns, sewerage was confined to the few larger towns, telephone services were below metropolitan standards and gas was not known. Shopping and entertainment facilities were generally poor, especially in the railway towns.

In the past three decades efforts have been made to redress the lack of infrastructure, but developers have had to contribute to the funding of these services and the cost of land west of Sydney has subsequently become "more expensive than in any other Australian city.

(Source: Helen Proudfoot: "Exploring Sydney's West", Kangaroo Press, 1987)

References:
Proudfoot, Helen, Exploring Sydney's West, Kangaroo Press, 1987

Powell, Dianne, OutWest: Perceptions of Sydney's Western suburbs", allen and Unwin, 1993