Astrolabe Park
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Astrolabe Park is a public park in the Eastern Suburbs of
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
,
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. Astrolabe Park is located in the heritage suburb of
Daceyville Daceyville (formerly Dacey Garden Suburb) is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Daceyville is 7 km south of the Sydney central business district and is now part of Bayside Council (formerl ...
, and the park is also part of the heritage listed
Botany Water Reserves The Botany Water Reserves are a heritage-listed former water supply system and now parkland and golf course at 1024 Botany Road, Mascot, Bayside Council, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by City Engineers, W. B. Rider, E. Bel ...
.


Features

Astrolabe Park is a public park with a half basketball court, walking track, and public toilets. The entire park is also an off-leash area for dogs. In the south-west corner of Astrolabe Park there is a viewing area of the Botany Dams, with a plaque illustrating the aquifer system which runs underground from Centennial Park to
Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...
.


History

Astrolabe Park was formally created as a public recreation reserve in 1934. In the 1910s, when Daceyville was initially being constructed, the parklands were a swamp. Astrolabe Park is named after the French ship
Astrolabe An astrolabe ( grc, ἀστρολάβος ; ar, ٱلأَسْطُرلاب ; persian, ستاره‌یاب ) is an ancient astronomical instrument that was a handheld model of the universe. Its various functions also make it an elaborate inclin ...
, which explored
Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...
in 1788, just a few days after the arrival of the
First Fleet The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...
. Astrolabe Park was partly used as a municipal landfill site for the
City of Botany Bay The City of Botany Bay was a Local government in Australia, local government area in the eastern region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The area encompassed the suburbs to the north of Botany Bay, such as Botany, New South ...
beginning in 1938 and continuing intermittently until 1978. The area was also mined for sand throughout the 1950s and 60s. In 1979, Botany Council constructed public tennis courts at Astrolabe Park and at Mutch Park. However, the tennis courts at Astrolabe Park were removed in the early 1990s and replaced with a half basketball court. In the 1980s and 1990s, Astrolabe Park had a BMX track.


Community

Friends of Astrolabe Park is a local community group formed to help protect and improve Astrolabe Park.


Controversies

In 1992, the NSW State Government wanted to perform sand mining at Bonnie Doon Golf Course, and a proposal was made to give all the land at Astrolabe Park to Bonnie Doon Golf Course so that they could build 6 more golfing holes there. Botany Council objected to this proposal, saying that "the permanent alienation of any section of Astrolabe Park clearly would adversely affect the recreational usage of the park by community and particularly the schools in the area". Botany Council also commented that Astrolabe Park should be protected and preserved as it was "well located to provide pedestrian access to residents of Daceyville without the necessity of crossing major roads". In 2015,
Football NSW Football NSW is the governing body for soccer in the Australian state of New South Wales, with the exception of the northern regions of NSW (the governing body for which is Northern New South Wales Football). Football NSW is a member of the nat ...
proposed building a synthetic field at Astrolabe Park to be used for soccer games. This plan was abandoned. In 2017, Sydney Water was considering transferring ownership of Astrolabe Park to Bayside Council, and the council was developing a new master plan for the park. However, a master plan was never publicly released, and Sydney Water has retained ownership of Astrolabe Park. In 2018, the
University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...
tried to redevelop Astrolabe Park into privately owned sporting fields, in a consortium with
Cricket NSW Cricket NSW (officially known as the ''New South Wales Cricket Association'') is an Australian sporting association that administers cricket in New South Wales. It is based at the Sydney Olympic Park. The New South Wales Blues, the New South Wa ...
and AFL NSW. This plan was abandoned after widespread opposition from the local community. Also in 2018, a separate proposal was made by the Sydney International Beach Volleyball Centre Consortium, to build a private volleyball stadium at Astrolabe Park. Meredith Wallace of Bayside Council describe this proposal as "unbelievably terrible", and this plan was also abandoned. In 2022, the
University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...
and
NSW Rugby The New South Wales Rugby Union, or NSWRU, is the Sports governing body, governing body for the sport of rugby union within most of the state of New South Wales in Australia. It is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. Within Austr ...
proposed using Astrolabe Park as a massive parking lot for sporting events held at the nearby, privately operated David Phillips Field.


Gallery

File:AstrolabePark.jpg, View from Astrolabe Park looking towards the Botany Dams File:Astrolabe_Park_001.jpg, A plaque in Astrolabe Park illustrating the aquifer system which runs underground from Centennial Park to
Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...
. File:Astrolabe_Park_003.jpg, A family playing in Astrolabe Park File:Astrolabe_Park_002.jpg, Zoomed view of
The Lakes Golf Club The Lakes Golf Club is one of Australia's premier golf courses, located in the Sydney suburb of Eastlakes in New South Wales. Founded in 1928, this prestigious private golf course is approximately a 10-minute drive from Sydney central business ...
from Astrolabe Park


References


External links

*
CC-By-SA A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright license A public license or public copyright licenses is a license by which a copyright holder as licensor can grant additional copyright permissions to any and all pers ...
] * * {{Parks in Sydney, state=autocollapse Parks in Sydney Daceyville