ABORIGINAL OCCUPATION

 

The Warmuli people, who were an inland clan of the Darug Aboriginal people, originally occupied the land now known as Prospect.

 

EUROPEAN EXPLORATION

 

Prospect was first discovered by Europeans on 26 April 1788,whenGovernor Arthur Phillip led an exploration party that went to the west as far as a hill that he named Belle Veue, the translation of which is ‘fine Prospect’. The area was known as Prospect by 1790, when Captain Hunter records visiting Prospect Hill with the Governor.

 

EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT

 

On 18 July 1791, Governor Phillip granted land at the foot of Prospect Hill to nine sentence expired convicts.

 

These convicts were:

§ George Lisk

§ William Kilbey

§ William Butler

§ John Nichols

§ John Silverthorne

§ Thomas Martin

§ Samuel Griffiths

§ James Castles

§ Joseph Morley.

 

This meant that the land was cleared and the Warmuli people found their traditional way of life was threatened, which resulted in frequent attacks on the farms.

 

THE VILLAGE

 

The Prospect Village reached its peak during the first half of the twentieth century. Facilities available to the local residents were:

 

§ Public school providing infant and primary education

§ Post Office with general store

§ Butcher shop

§ Garage selling six different brands of petrol

§ Petrol station with general store and tea room

§ General store

§ Hotel

§ Anglican Church and graveyard

§ Catholic Church

§ Police Station

§ Two dairy farms providing milk directly to the public

§ Blacksmith

 

The Police Station opened c1926 and had closed before the end of World War Two.  The butcher shop closed after the death of the owner in 1923, but the residents of Prospect then received meat deliveries twice weekly from a shop in Rooty Hill. When the Great Western Highway was realigned in 1968 the village of Prospect was greatly affected. The general store and the combination petrol station, store and tearoom were demolished. The garage and hotel were demolished and rebuilt in the same location but on the new road alignment. When the freeway was built in 1990 the original Great Western Highway was cut, and some of the houses demolished. The only services now available in the original village area are the hotel and service station, but these are not available to the people who live west of the freeway.