Belmore Park is a

public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to r ...

at the southern end of the Sydney central business district in the Australian state of

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 ...

. Adjacent to the Central railway station, the park is bounded by Hay Street,

Eddy Avenue Eddy Avenue is a street in the Sydney central business district of New South Wales, Australia. It runs west from Elizabeth Street to Pitt Street outside Central station. Description Eddy Avenue runs in a north-westerly direction for 200 metres ...

, Elizabeth Street and

Pitt Street Pitt Street is a major street in the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. The street runs through the entire city centre from Circular Quay in the north to Waterloo, although today's street is in two disjointed sect ...

. The area was previously known as ''Police Paddock'' and was part of a section of Crown land which included the Police Barracks,

Devonshire Street Cemetery The Devonshire Street Cemetery (also known as the Brickfield Cemetery or Sandhills Cemetery) was located between Eddy Avenue and Elizabeth Street, and between Chalmers and Devonshire Streets, at Brickfield Hill, in Sydney, Australia. It was con ...

, Female Refuge of the Good Samaritan, Benevolent Asylum and a common.

History

The area was landscaped and in 1868 it opened as a park dedicated to

Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore Somerset Richard Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore, (9 April 1835 – 6 April 1913), styled as Viscount Corry from 1841 to 1845, was an Irish nobleman and Conservative politician who served as Governor of New South Wales from 1868 to 1872. Backgrou ...

the then Governor of New South Wales. In 1901 the whole area was resumed for the construction of Sydney's Central railway station with the majority of excavated earth placed on the common, burying the original layout. During the 1908–09 Royal Commission for the Improvement of the City of Sydney and Its Suburbs major landscaping works for the area were proposed by commissioner

Norman Selfe Norman Selfe (9 December 1839 – 15 October 1911) was an Australian engineer, naval architect, inventor, urban planner and outspoken advocate of technical education. After emigrating to Sydney with his family from England as a boy he bec ...

. Due to its proximity to the city, and especially to Central station, the park has long been a place for groups to gather—for protests, markets, events or performances. For example, in 1878 in front of a large crowd,

Henri L'Estrange Henri L'Estrange, known as the Australian Blondin, was an Australian successful funambulist and accident-prone aeronautical balloonist. Modelling himself on the famous French wire-walker Charles Blondin, L'Estrange performed a number of tight ...

unsuccessfully tried twice to launch himself in a

gas balloon A gas balloon is a balloon that rises and floats in the air because it is filled with a gas lighter than air (such as helium or hydrogen). When not in flight, it is tethered to prevent it from flying away and is sealed at the bottom to prevent t ...

, while during the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

the park became one of five "live sites" where the games were publicly broadcast. In the late 1860s "Belmore Produce Markets" and Paddy's Markets were built in the area opposite the current park—now known as Haymarket. The park is a key public transport hub. The final section of above-ground railway track forms the eastern edge of the park before going underground as the

City Circle The City Circle is a mostly-underground railway line located in the Sydney central business district and Haymarket, in New South Wales, Australia, that forms the core of Sydney's passenger rail network. The lines are owned by the Transport A ...

Transdev John Holland Transdev John Holland Buses is a bus operator in Sydney, Australia. A joint venture between Transdev and John Holland, it operates services in Sydney Bus Region 9 in the Eastern Suburbs under contract to Transport for NSW. It is a separate comp ...

buses in the direction of the

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

including express buses to 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-intensiv ...

depart from Eddy Avenue along which the

CBD and South East Light Rail The CBD and South East Light Rail is a light rail line in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Construction commenced in October 2015, with services between Circular Quay and Randwick commencing on 14 December 2019 as the L2 Randwick Line, and ...

now runs. The western edge of the park is defined by a roadway ramp to the concourse level of the railway station. The terminus loop of the

Inner West Light Rail The Inner West Light Rail is a light rail line in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, running from Central railway station through the Inner West to Dulwich Hill and serving 23 stops. It is the original line of the Sydney light rail network ...

line forms a ring around the entire park using ramps on both eastern and western edges to access the train station concourse.

Gallery

Belmore Park Bandstand.jpg, A bandstand, now disused, was built in 1910 Belmore Park tram tracks, beside Elizabeth Street, Haymarket, 1920.tif, Belmore Park tram tracks, beside

Elizabeth Street, Sydney Elizabeth Street is a major street in the central business district of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The street continues south of the central business district (CBD), through the inner city suburbs of Surry Hills, Redfern and Waterlo ...

Haymarket, New South Wales Haymarket is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located at the southern end of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Haymarket includes much of Sydney's Chinatown, Thai ...

, 1920 Tram in Belmore Park, 1955.tif, Tram in Belmore Park, 1955 Climate Action rally in Belmore Park.jpg, A

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

rally in the park, 2011

References

Dictionary of Sydney The Dictionary of Sydney is a digital humanities project to produce an online, expert-written encyclopedia of all aspects of the history of Sydney. Description The Dictionary is a partnership between the City of Sydney, the University of Sydney ...

{{Parks in Sydney, state=autocollapse Parks in Sydney 1868 establishments in Australia Sydney central business district Parks established in 1868

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links