Penrith City Local History - Places - Suburb profiles - Erskine Park
Erskine Park
Erskine Park is located on the eastern fringe of the Penrith Local Government Area. The eastern boundary is Ropes Creek to the south where the southern boundary is located along the Sydney Water Supply Pipeline. The suburb’s western border runs along Mamre Road and the Erskine Park Road till the M4 Motorway and up to Ropes Creek. A new housing development during the 1990s has greatly changed this suburb. Its history has been largely rural with some extractive industries in recent years.
Erskine Park on Google Maps.
Erskine Park
Erskine Park was the name of a 3,000 acre grant made in 1818 to James Erskine (1765-1825). The grant covered an area east of the present Mamre Road to Rope’s Creek taking in what are now the suburbs of St. Clair and Erskine Park. James Erskine was born in 1765 in Ireland and was a career soldier who fought in the West Indies, Ireland and the Peninsular Campaigns. He arrived with his regiment in Sydney on the “Matilda” in August 1817. He was sworn in as Lieutenant-Governor on September 12, 1817. In recent times (1980-81), there were controversial moves within the community to change the name of this historic suburb to St. Clair – a name having no historical connection with the area. The matter was finally resolved in the latter half of 1981, when the Geographical Names Board created two separate suburbs, Erskine Park and St. Clair.
| 1818 | 8 May | James Erskine given land grant of 3000 acres located from Mamre Road to Ropes Creek |
| 1823 | 30 June | 1600 acres south Great Western Highway granted to John MacHenry |
| 1960 | Rick Pisaturo purchased 120 acres of an old dairy farm and named it Mandalong Park | |
| 1968 | Sydney Regional Outline Plan identified land at St Clair and Erskine Park for future residential development | |
| 1981 | Name of suburb officially recognised | |
| 1981 | A new breed of beef cattle developed from the Charolais breed at Mandalong Park called Mandalong Specials were officially recognised by the Royal Agricultural Society | |
| 1982 | 13 January | Erskine Park suburb declared by the Geographical Names Board |
| 1990 | 17 October | First Local Environmental Plan for Erskine Park Employment Area went on display |
| 1992 | 13 May | Second Local Environmental Plan for Erskine Park Employment Area went on display |
| 1992 | 21 September | Local Environmental Plan for Erskine Park Employment Area is gazetted |
| 1992 | CSR Readymix owners of Erskine Park quarry site plan to rehabilitate the site into parkland | |
| 1993 | April | Erskine Park Community Centre and Hall opened |
| 1993 | 12 July | Andrew Thompson Park named |