Hyde Park, Sydney

At the time of European settlement in 1788, the local Aboriginal people hunted ducks in the swampy marshes that were to become Hyde Park. Until the mid-1820s, Aboriginal people travelled from all over Sydney and as far away as the Hunter and the Illawarra, to gather at a ceremonial contest ground to the south of the city. The exact location of this site of ritualized conflict settlement is unclear. Described as lying between the road to Botany Bay and the Brickfields, it was probably near Hyde Park South. Bloody fist fights involving up to 100 people, spearings and beatings were used to resolve conflicts at the Brickfields contest ground. These were observed and recorded by visiting Russian sailors in 1814, and again 10 years later by the French explorers Dumont d'Urville and René Lesson on their voyage of Coquille. Macquarie, on 11 February 1810, formally reserved it as open space, the first public park set aside in Australia. The park was used as Sydney's racecourse from 1820 to 1821. before its spires were added|thumb The eastern boundary was not sharply defined when the Macquaries departed Sydney in 1821. A map of that year shows a vegetable garden of 11 acres allocated to the Barracks and a site marked out for the Roman Catholic Chapel... "near the rubbish dump". The foundation stone for what would become St Mary's Cathedral was laid in 1821 on a site adjoining Hyde Park's north-eastern side, the first site granted to the Roman Catholic Church in Australia. Macquarie made no move to have the space planted. He probably had enough difficulty getting the Government Domain in order. However the formal nature of the Queens Square end of Hyde Park made it an appropriate place for Governor Brisbane's Commission to be read to the assembled populace on 1 December 1821. In 1830 Park Street was extended through the park. Also in 1832 College Street was built which divided off part of the park, in the area which became Cook and Phillip Parks. Also in 1832 Sydney College was built (later Sydney Grammar School). With the nearby Lyons Terrace (1851) and the Australian Museum (1849–51) the southern end of Hyde Park attracted significant and imposing buildings which increased its importance as a planned open space envisaged by Francis Greenway. In 1837 the first major planting in the park was undertaken by Superintendent of the Sydney Botanic Gardens, Alan Cunningham. In the 1850s civic monuments began to be erected in the park. The first in 1857 was the Thornton Obelisk. It is also irreverently known as 'Thornton's Scent Bottle' (1860 say Mackaness & Butler-Bowden, 2007, 72) on the advice of Director of the Botanic Gardens, Charles Moore. Despite removal of an earlier central avenue of Moreton Bay figs, other specimens of both of these species survive from this era. In 1879 (on the centenary of Cook's death) the Captain Cook statue was erected, on a stone base that had been erected in 1869. It stands on the highest point in the park. Its sculptor was Thomas Woolmer who was prominent in the English pre-Raphaelite movement and who spent several years in Australia. Baptist was an early and influential nursery proprietor in Sydney whose nursery "The Garden" in Surry Hills was successful. He was a generous benefactor, donating a fountain to Redfern Park. It also appears to be the earliest surviving ornamental (cf. drinking) fountain in Sydney. Elizabeth Bay House's fountain is believed an earlier import. Government House's and Vaucluse House's – almost identical – were installed in the 1860s. In c. 2007 the City of Sydney removed the sandstone pedestal (with three triton fish forming a tapering spout) for conservation and safekeeping. The base remains in situ. The current management plan proposes its reinstallation and repair. In 1914 the sundial was repaired (its date of erection is not known). In 1919 the bronze statue of scholar, patriot and politician William Bede Dalley was erected by public subscription in the park's north-east near Hyde Park Barracks. This necessitated massive excavations and vast disturbance over five years (1924–1929) involving a huge army of workmen and the moving of an enormous amount of soil, shale and sandstone. This was one of the major urban projects of the Depression years. As the crowd started to leave Hyde Park near St James, Public Order and Riot Squad officers equipped with batons and riot shields had already been stationed at the park exit. On 31 March 2015 a War Memorial to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander soldiers was unveiled in Hyde Park South, close to Bathurst and Elizabeth Streets. Designed by indigenous artist Tony Albert it features four tall, bullets and three fallen shells, representing diggers who returned and those who did not. The work was inspired by Albert's grandfather's story of survival and experiences escaping a German concentration camp in World War II. ==Sporting activities==

Many sports were played at Hyde Park, including cricket, rugby, horse racing, quoits and hurling. Sports people using the park grounds had to share it with the military, who trained on it and practised drill work, the general public, who cut paths across the playing fields, stray dogs, cattle, goats, sheep and other animals. Their activities sometimes clashed. The quoit players, in particular, used an area close to the cricket pitch and often damaged it. Cricket Although some research indicates that cricket was played before 1803 at the southern end of the Common near where the War Memorial is today, the first confirmed match took place on the Common in 1803. The players were the civilians and officers from the supply ship Calcutta. The cricket ground was laid out in the north-western section of the park (just behind the current entrance to St James railway station) and all major games were played there until 1856. The first fully recorded match took place in Hyde Park between the 17th and 39th Regiments on 7 May 1832. However, by the 1850s running problems with other users of the Park, the public, the military and players of other sports, ultimately caused cricket matches to be moved to the Domain, where similar problems were also encountered. Boxing Organised bareknuckle fights were probably common in the early colony and officers of the NSW Corps were known to have arranged fights between convicts. The first recorded fight took place on the road to Botany about half a mile from the Racecourse in 1814. This would put it near the current location of the War Memorial. As if the boxing bout was not enough, the combatants, John Berringer (also known as John Parton) and Charles Sefton, were first required to run a mile. Both Berrenger and Sefton has been sentenced to death in Britain but had their sentences commuted to transportation to NSW. The fight lasted 56 rounds and was won by Berringer. Rugby On 17 June 1865 the first known rugby match to be played in Australia took place in Hyde Park between members of Australia's first rugby club, the Sydney Football Club, which had been established that month. In the July that year, the Sydney Club played the Australian Club in Hyde Park, in the first inter-club game. In 1856, Hyde Park was turned into public gardens and sporting activity all but ceased. Cricket and football clubs had to find other places to play. Cricket was played at the Domain and both sports were also played at Moore Park and the Garrison Ground (now the Sydney Cricket Ground). == Description ==

{ "type": "ExternalData", "service": "page", "title": "Hyde Park, Sydney.map" } Hyde Park is in the City of Sydney's south-centre, lying broadly on the ridge that runs south–north to Bennelong Point and forming the city's eastern "edge". The park is broadly flat, though sloping slightly east and west to the adjacent streets (College & Elizabeth Streets). Hyde Park is broadly rectangular with a rounded northern end. It is bisected east–west by Park Street and ringed by other major city streets (Liverpool and College Streets, Prince Albert Road, St.James' Road, Elizabeth Street) and stands in strong contrast to the closely built-up and intense environment of the city beside it. Its landscape design offers shady avenues, green sward areas and colourful vistas. Its layout and monuments offer a sense of the city's and nation's history and its design reflects certain aspirations which have found expressions in its vistas, layout and monuments. The park is centred on its great shaded promenade under magnificent mature Hill's figs (Ficus microcarpa var. Hillii). Dense and lacy, these trees have grown tall and now dominate the planting and design, despite some having to be removed due to fungus attack in recent years. A climax at each end of the park is provided by the two major monuments of the Archibald Fountain at the northern and most populous end and by the solid bulk of the Anzac Memorial at the southern end. These two monuments are of essential importance to the park's design and character. • William Bede Dalley statue (1919, sculptor?) • Fort Macquarie Cannon (opp. St.Mary's Road)(1810s) • British Lawn (1932) • Sandringham Gardens & Memorial Gates (1951 Ilmar Berzins, SCC) • Pool of Remembrance (1934, Dellit?) ;South-east (Park-Liverpool Streets) • Captain Cook Statue (1879 on 1869 base, Thomas Woolmer (UK) • Frazer Memorial Fountain (1881, John F.Hennessy, as assistant to City Architect, Charles Sapford)(moved three times since, in the park) • Emden Gun (1914, a 1917 gift from the Commonwealth Government). Condition As at 9 June 2011, much of the park was dug up in the 1920s to install the City Underground Railway including Museum Station in the park's south-western quarter (with two exits to the corner of Liverpool and Elizabeth Streets and to near Bathurst Street) and St James Station north of the Archibald Fountain with two exits, one to Market Street, the other under St James' Road to its northern side outside the park boundary. As an open space area, Hyde Park has been subject to various attacks by contending uses: residential, active recreation, passive recreation, infrastructure, etc.). Various encroachments have appeared from time to time, buildings for particular purposes, outlets for Sydney water supply, road widening around and through it and, most dramatically, the huge upheaval of the City Underground Railway construction with massive excavation through its length and breadth (1916 fencing, 1922+ excavation). Even though it evolved during a period when informal landscape planning dominated the English-speaking world, and even though some informal elements have been introduced to its design, it has remained Sydney's major formal urban landscape. It is this formal quality which gives it its strength and memorability. Much of the park reflects its 1926 competition design with some modifications between 1927-c.1930. Recent (1990–2010) changes have been relatively minor – one more noticeable one being removal of 13 Hill's fig trees from the northern end (around the Archibold Fountain) due to fungal attack. Another change of note has been removal of the s day care/women's rest centre building in the late 1990s and re-grassing of that north-western corner of the southern half of the park. Changes to Gallipoli Gardens plantings around the Anzac Memorial, minor pathway upgrades and recent works to install cycle lane along the park's eastern side on College Street have meant minor incursions and changes there. Modifications and dates • 1788–1810clearing for firewood, grazing • 1810fencing; racecourse (originally roughly 22ha/56 acres, including Elizabeth and most of College Street, i.e. 30% larger than today) • 1830sextension of Park Street • 1832Macquarie Street extended south through the park • 1837elevated pipe outlet for Busby's Bore water supply • 1849zoo • 1851Macquarie Street extension closed again, "Lovers" Lane' walk created • 1854+pressure for passive recreation/improvement, planting, walks; Park Street created bisecting park and four "quarters" formed • 1857sewer vent/obelisk erected on Bathurst/Elizabeth Street side • 1862Moreton Bay (Ficus macrophylla) and Port Jackson (F.rubiginosa) figs planted on Charles Moore's advice. Despite 1920s upheavals, and removal of the original central avenue of Moreton Bay figs, some of these still remain elsewhere in the park • 1916–26major upheaval and recreation of the park after creation of the underground railway loop. St James & Museum stations/entries • 1927hills fig avenue created along central axis • 1930–34Anzac Memorial and Pool of Remembrance constructed • 1932Archibald Fountain and surrounds created • 1951demolition of bandstand, creation of Sandringham Gardens • 1955demolition of women's toilet, creation of Long Day Childcare and Women's Rest Centre • 196Nagoya Gardens created • 1990–1999various modifications to pathways, entries, plantings, creation of cafe in former toilet part of St James Station entry • 2000demolition of Long Day Childcare/Women's Rest Centre • 2006removal of 13 Hills figs due to fungus and soil problems • removal for safe-keeping/conservation of sandstone pedestal of the John Baptist Memorial Fountain (still yet to be reinstated) • changes to south-east corner (Liverpool/College Sts) • 2010changes to eastern side to accommodate road/cycle path works ==Monuments==

The centrepiece of Hyde Park is the Archibald Fountain. The fountain was designed by François-Léon Sicard and bequeathed by J. F. Archibald in 1932 in honour of Australia's contribution to World War I in France. The fountain features in the notable Australian B-grade horror film Howling III: The Marsupials (1987). Also at the northern end are the Nagoya Gardens featuring a giant outdoor chess set and the entrance to the underground St James railway station. Adjacent to College Street and the Australian Museum lies the Sandringham Garden. This colonnaded, sunken garden was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as a memorial to Kings George V and George VI. At the park's southern end is the ANZAC War Memorial behind the Pool of Reflection and the entrances to the Museum railway station. A monument consisting of a gun from the German light cruiser stands at Whitlam Square, at the south-eastern, Oxford Street entry of the park. It was built as a memorial to the Australian Imperial Force of World War I. Fund raising for a memorial began on 25 April 1916, the first anniversary of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landing at Anzac Cove for the Battle of Gallipoli. It was opened on 24 November 1934 by His Royal Highness Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester. Close to the ANZAC Memorial in the southern end of the park is Yininmadyemi – Thou didst let fall, a public artwork that acknowledges the service of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women in the Australian Defence Force. The artwork by Indigenous Australian artist Tony Albert was unveiled on 31 March 2015 and was commissioned by the City of Sydney as part of its Eora Journey public art initiative. The western, or Elizabeth Street side, at the Bathurst Street entrance of the park sits beside the Obelisk decorated with Egyptian features. It was erected in 1857 and unveiled by the then Mayor, George Thornton. However, the monument is actually a sewer vent, and soon the joke around town was to call it Thornton's Scent Bottle. Further south from here is another Middle Eastern inspired monument by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows dedicated to the fallen Sydneysiders of the Great War. In the northeastern sector, of the southern half of the park, there is a monument to Captain James Cook, erected to commemorate Cook's discovery of the east coast of Australia in 1770. The sculptor was Thomas Woolner (17 December 1825 – 7 October 1892) and the statue was cast by Cox & Sons, at its Thames Ditton Foundry, Surrey, England. ==Vegetation==

An expansive avenue of Hill's Weeping Figs (Ficus microcarpa), which are the predominant trees in the park planted from the 1930s, run from St James Road to Park Street (Hyde Park North) and continue on to the Pool of Reflection (Hyde Park South). There are a number of Moreton Bay figs and Port Jackson figs. Minority tree species found in the park include: Following investigations a significant proportion of the trees were found to be infected with three different fungi. In 2006, a Tree Management Plan recommended the removal of about 230 diseased trees to be progressively replaced over time, and aimed to keep the majority of the park's trees for as long as possible by increasing the ratio of examinations and mending. == Heritage listing ==

As at 17 August 2011, Hyde Park has State significance as public land (the Australian colony's first common) that has influenced the development of Sydney's layout from as early as 1789, occupying approximately the same site since that time. Proclaimed by Governor Macquarie, it is Australia's oldest designated public parkland (1810), and has been continuously used from 1788 for public open space, recreation, remembrance, celebration and leisure. Hyde Park has contributed to the cultural development of the city as a recreational space encapsulating the principles of a Victorian parkland through the use of a hierarchy of pathways and the strategic siting of monuments, statues and built items. It is of State significance as a demonstration of the international spread of the English public parks movement originating in the mid-19th century. It provides evidence of the influence of transport infrastructure on urbanisation by its upheaval and re-creation after construction of the city underground railway in the 1920s. It was site of some of Australia's first sporting events, and remains the prime open space in Sydney for special events, protests and festivals as it has been since 1810. The Park contains a collection of monuments and sculptures which mark key events and personalities in the history of the State including war memorials and significant artistic works. Hyde Park, Sydney was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 13 December 2011 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales. Hyde Park has State historical significance as Australia's oldest public park. It is a surviving part of the nation's first public common on land consciously set aside as public open space in the urban context. It has been continuously used from 1788 for public recreation, remembrance, celebration and leisure. Its historical development provides evidence of the spread of the public parks movement which saw the emergence of deliberately designed public parks in the mid- to late 19th century, while the influence of transport infrastructure on urbanisation is demonstrated in its upheaval and recreation after construction of the city underground railway. The site of some of Australia's first sporting events, Hyde Park remains the prime open space in Sydney for special events, protests and festivals as it has been since its gazettal in 1810. It also provides a record of some of Australia's earliest involvement in war through monuments such as the Emden Gun. '''The place has a strong or special association with a person, or group of persons, of importance of cultural or natural history of New South Wales's history.''' Hyde Park is associated with the Aboriginal people of the Sydney Region for its believed use as a contest ground. Hyde Park has State significance for it associations with a number of influential men responsible for the creation, design and development of Hyde Park. Governor Phillip, Governor Macquarie and Colonial Architect Francis Greenway all contributed to activities which contributed to the declaration of the Commonl and its eventual gazettal in 1810, as well as the earliest although unrealised design concepts for the park. Several key personalities in Sydney and NSW landscape design and architecture played key roles in both the design and implementation of the park throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Among these were the early Directors of the Sydney Botanic Gardens Alan Cunningham (1837) and Charles Moore who provided planting advice that would shape the early development of the park. In the twentieth century designer Norman Weekes, the 1926 design competition winner and competition assessors Sir John Sulman (architect), Alfred Hook (architect) and Town Clerk W.G. Layton were instrumental in the implementation of the redesign and beautification of Hyde Park following the massive excavations and disturbance of the park associated with the construction of part of what later became the City Circle Railway line from 1922. The monuments and sculptures in Hyde Park not only create a visually interesting outdoor gallery, but bring with them important associations with artists and designers. Among them are French sculptor Francois Sicard and Bulletin magazine editor Frank Archibald (1932 installation of Archibald Fountain), architect C. Bruce Dellitt and sculptor Raynor Hoff (Anzac Memorial), and landscape architect Ilmar Berzins (Sandringham Gardens). The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales. Hyde Park has State significance as Australia's premier example of a formal public park in a highly urban situation. It is an early example of a park whose design was based upon a public open space design competition with adjustments made by the judging panel. It contains a number of significant memorials, which make important contributions to the aesthetics of Hyde Park. Of these, the ANZAC Memorial and the Archibald Fountain also have independent heritage values. The memorial and the fountain have significant design influence on the layout and physical character of the Park and the City of Sydney, with the Anzac Memorial positioned on a major axis linked to the Archibald Fountain. The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. Hyde Park has State social significance as the setting of the Anzac Memorial which has special association with the families of servicemen and women killed in the Anzac Gallipoli campaigns of the First World War. Additional memorials have smaller scale significance of this nature, such as the Emden Gun Hyde Park has State social significance to the people of Sydney and NSW as a site of ongoing public recreation and major events, parades and celebrations that have continue to be held there since the park's inception. This significance is emphasised by the fact that these events take place in the state's oldest public park which has been in continuous use since European settlement in 1788. The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales. Hyde Park has State significance as one of only two public open spaces, the other being Macquarie Place, dating to 1810 under Governor Macquarie. It is rare as a formally structured Australian urban park, created in an age when informal park layouts were more common. It contains rare design work in a public space by architect and landscape architect Norman Weekes, while the work of landscape architect Ilmar Berzins is one of only four known surviving works by Berzins in NSW. The other three examples are Arthur MacElhone Reserve, Elizabeth Bay; Fitzroy Gardens, Kings Cross and Duntryleague Golf Course, Orange. Sculptural and monumental work in the park also have State rarity values. The John Baptist Fountain created and erected in Hyde Park in 1888 is the oldest surviving ornamental fountain in Sydney. The Archibald Fountain is possibly the only example of the master work of French sculptor Francois Sicard in Australia. The Emden Gun has state significance as the first naval trophy of World War One from the Royal Australian Navy's first ship to ship battle and one of only four salvaged from the SMS Emden. It is also believed to be the first gun to be utilised for memorial purposes in NSW and the first naval war trophy of World War One. The Emden Gun has national significance as one of only a small number of war trophies captured by Australia prior to 1916 and the battles of the Western Front due to both the outcomes of those early battles and the inability of soldiers to take much with them when they withdrew from those campaigns. The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural or natural places/environments in New South Wales. Hyde Park is an influential public park and open space, much used, loved and copied in other urban spaces in Australian cities and towns. ==Gallery==

File:SydneyGS1842.jpg|Hyde Park by John Rae (1842) File:Hyde Park Sydney Obelisk.jpg|The Obelisk (early 1900s) File:Hyde Park Obelisk.JPG|The Obelisk (2007) File:Hyde Park, Sydney.jpg|Captain Cook statue by Thomas Woolner File:Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park, Sydney from The Powerhouse Museum.jpg|The Archibald Fountain (1932) File:ArchibaldFountainHydePark.JPG|Archibald Fountain (2006) File:SydneyAMPTowerArchibaldFountain gobeirne.jpg|Archibald Fountain (2012) File:Hyde Park water fountain.JPG|Water fountain File:HydeParkSandringham gobeirne.jpg|Sandringham Gardens File:Hyde Park Water Fire Earth sculpture.jpg|Water, Fire and Earth sculpture at the northern end of Hyde Park. Gerard Havekes 1961 File:ANZAC Memorial Sydney Australia - June 2007.jpg|ANZAC War Memorial at night (2007) File:Hyde Park Sydney..jpg|Looking toward Elizabeth Street (2009) File:Where Oxford Street meets Hyde Park (6603522925).jpg|Looking from Oxford Street toward Hyde Park (2013) File:Hyde Park South, Sydney - Art installation - 2013.jpg|A mirror art installation in the southern end of Hyde Park (2013) == See also ==