When Europeans arrived in 1788, the Homebush Bay area formed part of the traditional lands of the Wanngal clan.

Shortly after the British colonisation of Sydney several smallpox epidemics ravaged the local Aboriginal population, leaving many of the clans seriously depleted.

Today the Homebush Bay area is within the asserted traditional cultural boundary of the Darug language group, of which the Wanngal clan is said to have belonged.

[6] The Sydney Olympic Park locality was first known to Europeans as "The Flats", as described by Lieutenant Bradley in his charting of the river in 1788.

[7] The first European settler was Thomas Laycock (1756?-1809), who was granted 40 hectares between Parramatta Road and Homebush Bay in October 1794.

Wentworth established a horse stud and a private racetrack adjoining Parramatta Road and was influential among the early government officials and free settlers.

The Home Bush Estate was inherited by William Wentworth (1790–1872), who continued in his father's tradition of controversial public service.

William, who was elected president of the Sydney Turf Club in 1832, gave permission for the existing racetrack to be upgraded for public race meetings.

The racetrack included grandstands, stables and spelling paddocks which stretched over the Sydney Olympic Park site.

Specifications for the general arrangement and layout of the site and drawings of the gatehouse, administration buildings, mutton, pork, beef and veal houses were completed in 1909 by the Department of Public Works under Government Architect Walter Liberty Vernon and construction completed in 1913.

Consisting of Brush Box (Lophostemon confertus) and Spotted Gum (Eucalyptus maculata) this row of trees is referred to as "the allee".

The abattoirs continued to expand during World War II and into the 1950s with works provided for the treatment of offal, refrigeration, the preparation of tallow, fertilizers, meat for export and canning of pet foods (Godden & Associates 1989: 21ff).

However, apart from a few relatively electronic businesses like AWA Microelectronics, BASF, Philips and Sanyo, the idea did not catch on and the technology park is now in South Eveleigh.

[3] After 1992 the abattoir precinct was occupied by a number of organisations that ultimately became the Sydney Olympic Park Authority (SOPA).

Sydney won the right to host the Olympic Games on 23 September 1993, after being selected over Beijing, Berlin, Istanbul and Manchester at the 101st IOC Session in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

[6] The industrial activities in the area resulted in a highly contaminated site with little natural ecology and a fragmented stream corridor.

The site did have some positive attributes that PWP Landscape Architecture enhanced in the design: 15 miles of continuous waterfront; various historic buildings and landscapes; an almost unspoiled 124-acre aboriginal forest; major areas of mangrove swamp; bird sanctuaries; and surviving endangered species like Golden orb spiders and the Green and golden bell frogs that resided in a 70-acre historic limestone quarry, the Brick Pit.

Commercial developments now sit alongside sporting facilities with tenants in office buildings such as Commonwealth Bank from September 2007.

In addition the Wentworth Common area was upgraded with significant adventure playground facilities for children aged 8–13 years.

Performers included Future, Rae Sremmurd, YG, Tyga, Playboi Carti, Gunna, Manu Crooks, Smokepurpp, Lil Uzi Vert, who was billed as a surprise guest, and a tribute set for the late XXXTentacion.

The Master Plan 2030 vision is that the Park will, by 2030, be home to a daily population of 50,000 residents, students and workers, in addition to 10 million visitors per year.

[36] Located at Olympic Boulevard and adjacent to the netball arena the Quaycentre, the Tom Wills Oval (known for sponsorship purposes as the WestConnex Centre)[37] is the training ground and headquarters of professional Australian Football League club the GWS Giants.

[39] The Olympic Park area has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) with slightly warmer summers than in coastal Sydney, and mild to cool winters.

This Wikipedia article contains material from Olympic Cauldron at Sydney Olympic Park, entry number 01839 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 29 May 2018.