Prospect Creek is an urban watercourse of the Georges River catchment that is located in the western region of Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. Situated within the local government areas of Fairfield City and Canterbury-Bankstown Councils, the creek is long, starting at the Prospect Reservoir at the top of the catchment and flows south-east to the Georges River at Georges Hall, as its tributary. In the north, the creek forms the border between Cumberland and Fairfield City Councils. Running through a prominent open space corridor, Prospect Creek drains the encompassing floodplain.
The creek offers of recreational area and winds through a number of parks and reserves, including walkways and cycling paths that parallel the creek. As Prospect Reservoir forms a part of the Sydney metropolitan water supply, the flow of the creek is regulated in accordance with the operational requirements of Sydney Water. The creek's catchment area covers approximately and is predominantly urbanised, comprising industrial and residential areas as well as recreational open space.
For the first British settlers, the creek and the surrounds offered essential food and water resources, and thereby encouraged the development of local agriculture and industry. At time of its European discovery, Prospect Creek was a series of freshwater ponds, rather than an unbroken stream, particularly north of Carramar. During the early 20th century, the lower Prospect Creek was a large part of life for residents in the Fairfield LGA area with numerous pleasure grounds and recreation spaces, that included boating. The lower Prospect Creek (in the south) is affected by tides, and that part of the creek was referred to as a 'river' by the locals in the early 20th century.
History Indigenous
Prospect Creek was a traditional travel route that connected the Darug and D'harawal people. Early colonial evidence also indicates that the Bidjigal people lived closed to the creek. There have been Aboriginal camps along the creek and as well as other areas of Sydney through the late 19th century and to as late as the 1950s.
For the Aboriginal Australians, the creek and surrounding areas provided areas for hunting and gathering. Casuarina nuts were used in traditional medicine and basalt pebbles were used to create traditional axes. The Cabrogal people near the creek acquired tidal system plants and animals, including bankias ('cobra worms'), woodlands foods such as possum and freshwater fish. Around thirty sites with Aboriginal artefacts, such as stone tools, had been identified around Prospect Creek. The area near the Lansdowne Bridge at the creek, in what is now Shortland Brush, was a traditional sit down place for the Indigenous Australians as it featured ample aquatic and land foods.
Colonial era (1780s–1880s) In the late 1780s, William Bradley went on an expedition from Rose Hill to Prospect Creek to determine whether Prospect Creek led to Botany Bay. Bradley described a place on the Creek where the water changed from fresh to salt with a drop of . The presence of salt water confirmed Prospect Creek's connection to the sea.A Voyage to New South Wales – William Bradley NLA No.Aus 68-1986 p168 Prospect Creek provided a camp for Pemulwuy, a Bidjigal warrior leader who led in the resistance against the British during the early colonisation. In 1785, George Bass and Matthew Flinders began exploring the Georges River and went as far as Prospect Creek. In 1789, Governor Arthur Phillip probed the country between Salt Pan Creek beginning at Prospect Creek.
In July 1791, Tench and William Dawes travelled south from Rose Hill in search of a large river reportedly several miles to the south, which Tench wrote they expected might prove a "second Nile or Ganges". Instead, they reached what Tench described as a saltwater creek communicating with Botany Bay. Having expected to find fresh water, the party spent what he described as a "miserable night" on its banks without drinking water. Historian Robert Haworth identifies the watercourse encountered by Tench and Dawes as Prospect Creek, placing the site of their "second Nile" and overnight stay at its mouth near Georges Hall, where it joins the Georges River. Other accounts have placed the expedition near the present-day Lansdowne Bridge. In January 1797, Governor John Hunter examined Prospect Creek while tracing the Georges River for approximately , before travelling to Parramatta.
A feedlot for government cattle was constructed in front of "a fine chain of fresh water ponds", which was Prospect Creek around what is now Kenyon's Bridge in Smithfield, where of she-oak forest was cut and another burned down. In 1798, First Fleet Captain George Johnston received a land grant and constructed his first home located near Prospect Creek, close to Henry Lawson Drive and Beatty Parade. In 1800, just beside Prospect Creek, Lieutenant John Shortland from the First Fleet acquired an initial grant of over the northern part of Lansdowne Reserve which he increased to . In 1802, French explorer Francis Barrallier led an exploring team to the Gandangarra, where they sought passageway through the Blue Mountains in the southwest as they took a route that bypasses the marshy areas of Prospect Creek.
On January 1, 1806, two grants were made to James Gowan, one of them being on the northern bank of the creek. On January 1810, settlers Thomas Hanson and James Larra also received land grants just north of the creek, proximate to the Carramar railway station. In 1820s, Joseph Kenyon's Woodlands on the eastern bank of Prospect Creek were described as having "immaculate lawns", "ornamental gardens" and a "showplace of the district". In 1832 Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell commissioned David Lennox for a sum of £1,083 ($2,166) to build Lansdowne Bridge "at the intersection of Prospect Creek and Southern Street"; it was completed in 1836. Henry Whitaker purchased land near Prospect Creek in East Fairfield and established 'Orchardleigh', which is now part of Fairfield East.
In 1848, German explorer Ludwig Leichhardt and politician Sir Henry Parkes cooled their feet in Prospect Creek near Jacob Stein's vineyard (Sand Hill Farm) in Carramar. By the 1850s, there were numerous grand homes and estates beside the creek that became more accessible with the advent of the railways. By 1860, an industrial zone (that included tannery, flour mills, a brewery) also became established in the area near the Prospect Creek. In the 1880s, a woolwashing workshop was constructed on the creek at what is Fairfield Park Precinct today, with a brick weir to "keep a head of fresh water from the salt tides".
Recreational development (1900s–1950s) In the first half of the 20th century, Prospect Creek became one of South-western Sydney's principal recreational destinations. Attractions including Latty's Pleasure Grounds, the Butterfly Hall and Hollywood Park drew visitors with the area's rural character and proximity to the waterway. The first games of Rugby League football in Australia were trial matches held at Latty's Pleasure Grounds in Lansvale in early 1908. From 1925, the Widemere Quarry Line crossed the creek until its closure in 1945. Between the 1890s and around 1941, boating was a popular pastime, with visitors hiring boats from Latty's Boatshed in what is now Heiden Park at Carramar. During the early twentieth century, the creek was valued for its clear waters and bushland setting, and frequently featured in postcards and land sale advertisements, where it was often described as a river. Contemporary accounts praised its "sparkling clear" waters and referred to the surrounding landscape as "the loveliest spot in the Southern Districts". The shaded river frontage and natural swimming holes attracted between 200 and 300 bathers on busy weekends, with more than 1,000 people using that section of the river each week.
In the early 1920s, the New South Wales Government Railways operated special weekend excursion trains from Sydney CBD to Fairfield, bringing hundreds of visitors for picnics and other recreational activities at attractions including Latty's Pleasure Grounds, the Butterfly Hall, Lansdowne Reserve and Hollywood Park. Contemporary reports described the pleasure grounds and Prospect Creek as more crowded than ever before. Despite their popularity, local newspapers criticised the inadequate public amenities, calling for improved changing sheds and the replacement of a springboard that had been washed away in floods. The Lansdowne Bridge area became another popular recreation spot, where the Garden of Eden Picnic Grounds offered a boat hire service and refreshment rooms. Hollywood Park, near the confluence of Prospect Creek and the Georges River, was also a popular picnic destination.
In the early 1920s, a pedestrian bridge was constructed across the creek, linking the end of Haughton Street with Fairfield Precinct Park. It was later replaced by the concrete footbridge known as Alderton Crossing, named in honour of the Alderton family, who had a long association with the Fairfield area. During the mid twentieth century, Prospect Creek and the Georges River were popular for swimming, fishing and prawning. Residents remembered a number of informally named swimming holes, including "Pirate's Hole", "Rocky", "Sandy", "Lehmann's" and "Swinging Bridge", and some recalled diving from the Carramar railway bridge into the creek. At the time, the reach of the creek from Vine Street to its confluence with the Georges River was commonly referred to as the George River, Prospect River and Fairfield's River because of its width and navigability by small watercraft.
Decline and legacy (1940s–present)
Despite occasional reports of shark attacks in the Georges River and Prospect Creek, visitors continued to flock to the area on weekends aboard special "pleasure grounds" trains for picnics, organised sports and other outdoor activities. The Latty family sold the business in the 1930s, but the boatshed continued to bear their name until it closed in the late 1950s due to successive floods, siltation and pollution of the creek. With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, public access to the creek became restricted because of wartime security measures. Following the Japanese attack on Sydney Harbour in May 1942, the Royal Australian Navy stationed a flotilla of small boats at the popular swimming areas known as "Swingy" and "Sandy" on Prospect Creek, while their crews were accommodated in a houseboat at Latty's Boatsheds. During the 1950s, a few members of local Protestant congregations were baptised in Prospect Creek.
From the 1970s to 1990s, a small amusement park named Magic Kingdom operated in Lansvale on the banks of the creek and was a popular attraction for visitors. Over time the creek has also slowly lost its shine as successive governments and communities turned their backs on the waterway, coupled with industrialisation occurring upstream leading to the declining water quality, which is reflected in warnings today from authorities to avoid swimming in the catchment. In 2005, a chain of illustrative Indigenous artworks were placed on the banks of the creek to encourage awareness about the Indigenous identity of the creek's corridor. The project constituted of four groups of artworks and path markers, displaying the flora and fauna of Prospect Creek, as observed by the Darug people. The artworks include four stories passed down through generations of Darug people, such as, the Australian raven and crows, The Eagle Warrior, The Casuarinas, and The Story of the Local Wattles.