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Sydney Park is a recreational area in the inner-city area 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 Mountai ...
,
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 country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country b ...
. The parkland is located in the suburb of
Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
, sitting along the borders with Newtown and
Erskineville Erskineville is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 6 kilometres south west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. Erskinev ...
. Sydney Park is the third largest park in inner-city Sydney. The park comprises large open recreation spaces with distinctive hills that provide 360 degree views over Sydney, a children's playground, wetlands, a sports oval (Alan Davidson Oval), a children's bicycle track, sculptures, a heritage area featuring the remains of the brickworks that formerly occupied part of the site, and the AIDS Memorial Grove. The former brickworks area of the park is listed on the
City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, th ...
local government heritage list.


History

Prior to British settlement, the north-western part of the present park area would have been a forest of turpentine and ironbark trees, grading down towards the south-eastern area, situated on Botany Sands, which would have been swamp, marsh and heathland associated with the waterway that became known as Shea's Creek. The woodland area was first cleared by Thomas Smyth, a marine sergeant with 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 of ...
, who planted fruit trees and grain crops. The north-west part of the park is situated over a bed of Wianamatta shale which became a valuable source of brick-making clay. Brick manufacture on the site was a major industry by the 1870s when machine manufacture was introduced. Bricks made here were widely used around Sydney's suburbs for more than 100 years and the first batch of machine-made bricks was used for the construction of the Farmers' Building on the corner of Market Street, Sydney. Josiah Gentle opened the Bedford Brickworks in 1893. In 1933, it was taken over by Austral Bricks, who had a large brickworks in Cowper Street, Marrickville. They operated the site until the brickworks closed in 1970. Their Marrickville site was closed down in 1983. Other parts of the Alexandria site were used for a variety of industrial purposes including manufacturing, warehousing and gas storage. The brickworks are registered on the City of Sydney local government heritage-list. They are also used by homeless people. From 1948 to 1976, the massive clay pits that had been excavated were used as a municipal waste tip. After the closure of the tip, the area was reclaimed by placing layers of soil and building rubble over the refuse dump to create the present parkland profile.


Art and heritage

Sydney Park features public sculpture includin
Michael Snape's
"The Trail" 1990 which is displayed on top of the hill in the north-western corner of the park, the corner opposite to
St Peters railway station St Peters railway station is a heritage-listed railway station located on the Illawarra line, serving the Sydney suburb of St Peters in New South Wales, Australia. It is served by Sydney Trains T3 Bankstown line services. It was added to t ...
. This corner, where
King Street, Newtown King Street is the central thoroughfare of the suburb of Newtown in Sydney, Australia. The residents of the area, including a higher-than-average concentration of students, LGBT people and artists, are most visible on this street, sealing Newt ...
turns into the
Princes Highway Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former alignments of the hi ...
, features the remains of the chimneys and brick kilns from the old brickworks site. These chimneys have been kept as heritage items and are a dominating feature of this area.


Sports and recreation

The Alan Davidson Oval is located in the northern section of the park. The oval is used for
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by s ...
and
Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by ...
. It is the home ground of the South Sydney District Cricket Club and Newtown Swans Junior Australian rules football team. The park is also the home of the St Peters
Parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across six continents. Junior Parkrun (stylised as junior parkrun) ...
, a weekly free 5 km run, held every Saturday morning around the bike trails and paths of the park.


Culture and events

Sydney Park has played an important role in various youth subcultures since its redevelopment – generally without official approval. Throughout the 1990s and to the present day the park is used reasonably regularly for the 'Punks Picnic' – a gathering initially of
anarcho-punk Anarcho-punk (also known as anarchist punk or peace punk) is ideological subgenre of punk rock that promotes anarchism. Some use the term broadly to refer to any punk music with anarchist lyrical content, which may figure in crust punk, hardcore ...
s from Newtown and neighbouring suburbs. From 2006 to 2008, after organising a number Punks Picnics, Shaun South hosted the Summer Winds
DIY "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...
music festival at the brick works site, where a plaque now commemorates the events. From 1992 to 1994 the park was also used by the Vibe Tribe for a series of free open-air
rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mu ...
parties that formed an important part of the Sydney electronic music scene throughout the 1990s. The last of these Freequency was violently shut down by over 40 riot police. Since then, in an effort to avoid such "anti-social behaviour" and illegal gatherings, the South Sydney Council (and now City of Sydney Council) has allowed and promoted community arts festivals on the site. In recent years, the park has become home to Sydney's Earthdance event, joining simultaneous dance parties in more than 50 countries to mark the International Day of Peace each September. The park has also become the host for the touring Soundwave Festival having its first show there in 2007 and returning in 2008.


Flora and fauna

The park area has been extensively replanted with a variety of native trees and shrubs. Stormwater retention ponds constructed in the eastern section of the site have been transformed into wetland habitats, partially recreating the original character of the eastern part of the site, and this has attracted a wide variety of bird and animal life including dusky moorhens, Australian magpies and
pelicans Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before ...
. It has become a breeding place for
black swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon cl ...
s.


Gallery

File:Unnamed - panoramio (2970).jpg, Sydney Park wetlands File:Sydpark.11.jpg, Former brick works in Sydney Park File:Sydney Park chimneys.JPG, Sydney Park chimneys decorated at Christmas File:Sydney park....jpg, Sydney Park looking south File:SydneyParkWetland5.JPG, Wetland featuring a boardwalk and viewing platforms File:MichaelSnapeTheTrail1990SydneyPark.jpg, The Trail File:SummerWindsPlaque.jpg, Plaque commemorating the Summer Winds Festival at Sydney Park


References


External links

*
CC-By-SA A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyrics ...
] {{Parks in Sydney, state=autocollapse Parks in Sydney 1991 establishments in Australia Parks established in 1991 Alexandria, New South Wales Newtown, New South Wales