Macquarie Place Park

Macquarie Place Park
Macquarie Place in the 1920s.
Location Central business district
Nearest city Sydney, New South Wales
Coordinates 33°51′48″S 151°12′36″E / 33.8633°S 151.2100°E / -33.8633; 151.2100Coordinates: 33°51′48″S 151°12′36″E / 33.8633°S 151.2100°E / -33.8633; 151.2100
Created October 1810[1]
Operated by Sydney City Council
Open 24 hours
Status Open all year
Designation NSW State Heritage Register
Public transit access Circular Quay

The Macquarie Place Park is an heritage-listed[1] small triangular urban park located in the central business district of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The park is situated on the corner of Bridge Street and Loftus Street. It is named in honour of Governor Lachlan Macquarie.

History

Macquarie Place was the first formally laid out public space in Sydney in 1810, functioning as the town square.[1] Along with Hyde Park, it is the oldest public park in Australia. Its size has been greatly reduced since colonial days.

An obelisk from 1818 and designed by the New South Wales Government Architect, Francis Greenway, is located in the park and records the distance to various locations in New South Wales along the earliest roads developed in the colony.[2] Later an anchor from the Norfolk Island wreckage of the First Fleet flagship, HMS Sirius, together with a cannon from the ship, were placed in the park.[2][3] The Great North Walk to Newcastle southern terminus is at the obelisk in Macquarie Place.

Many important institutions have had establishments at Macquarie Place. In 1817 Australia's first bank, the Bank of New South Wales (later to become Westpac in 1982) opened in Macquarie Place. The State Library of New South Wales briefly had premises in the place during the 1830s. Opposite the place in Bridge Street is the original Department of Lands building, which was the department responsible for surveying and mapping New South Wales.[4]

In 1883 a statue of early Australian industrialist, Thomas Mort was unveiled in the park.[2] In 1954 Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh marked the beginning of the Remembrance Driveway by planting two plane trees in Macquarie Place.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Macquarie Place Including Road and Park Reserve, Obelisk, Canon, Anchor". Office of Environment & Heritage. Government of New South Wales. 21 December 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 "History of Macquarie Place Park". City of Sydney. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  3. ↑ Thompson, Stephen (November 2006). "790 HMS Sirius Anchor and Cannon". Migration Heritage Centre of New South Wales. Powerhouse Museum. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  4. ↑ Whitaker, Anne-Maree (2008). "Macquarie Place". Dictionary of Sydney. Dictionary of Sydney Trust. Retrieved 3 January 2017. [CC-By-SA]
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