Cedric Wyatt grew up at the Moore River Native Settlement and then at Sister Kate's Home in Perth. He attended the Christian Brothers' School and Aquinas College, after which he worked as a stockman and general hand on stations in rural Western Australia for two years.
Wyatt served in the Royal Australian Air Force before studying. He graduated from Teachers' College in 1963 as a Primary School teacher and spent thirteen years teaching at schools in Papua New Guinea. Returning to Australia, Wyat took a position as Executive Field Officer for the Aboriginal Legal Service.
In 1979, Wyatt joined the Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs as a Project Officer and was based at Laverton in the northeastern goldfields, Ceduna in South Australia, Kalgoorlie, Derby, and Perth in Western Australia, and Canberra. In 1984, Wyatt was appointed Regional Director for New South Wales and then later Regional Director of Western Australia.
