Fairfield East is located 28 kilometres from Sydney central business district. 

Fairfield east was also home to the Infamous Villawood Bronx which was plagued with crime and drugs and experienced gang related murders and other serious crimes for many years until the former public housing estate was knocked down in 1999 and redeveloped into townhouses and private homes.

Fairfield East gets its name from its neighbour Fairfield which in turn was named after the family estate of Captain John Horsley, an early settler. Prior to colonisation, the Cabrogal clan of the Dharug people inhabited the area around what is now known as Fairfield East. British settlers moved into the area in the early 19th century and used the land for farming.

By the 1870s, the area now known as Fairfield East was part of two large properties: Orchardleigh in the north which extended towards Guildford and Mark Lodge in the south which also included Villawood, Carramar and parts of the Fairfield town centre.

In 1876, Orchardleigh was subdivided for housing and when Mark Lodge followed suit in 1885, the area completed its transformation from farmland to suburbia. The name Mark Lodge was still used in the area for some time after although by the 1950s it had officially become Fairfield East.