Set back a couple of hundred metres from Circular Quay, Macquarie Place is a delightful little oasis right in the centre of Sydney’s central business district and is a great place to get away from the hustle and bustle of Circular Quay and the Harbour, especially on a hot summer day.
Sydney’s original town square, it became Australia’s first public park established by the then Governor of New South Wales, Major-General Lachlan Macquarie in 1818. The Governor had a vested interest in setting aside this small triangular area (which was a bit larger when originally set up than it is today) as it kept lesser mortals from polluting the grounds of Government House which was adjacent to the new park. The Governor had grand visions for Sydney and Australia and ex convicts wandering around the lawns of Government House was not part of his plans.
While it no longer backs onto Government House (since moved) a sufficient number of classical Victorian sandstone buildings still surround it, such that it retains a tasteful and interesting backdrop, notwithstanding the more recent intrusion of a few commercial conglomerates with their ugly, high-rise, glass-faced edifices.
Macquarie Place is of great historic importance to the city of Sydney and the State of New South Wales and symbolises the place where Eora Aboriginal people first met with British settlers in 1788.
These settlers (mainly transported convicts from Britain) – the First Fleet – arrived into Sydney Cove (present day Circular Quay) and made ground at this point in 1788. It here that the Union Jack was raised and New South Wales proclaimed for His Majesty King George III. I should point out that the land on which the park is situated abutted the water’s edge in 1788 and land reclamation since has ‘pushed’ it back to its current location, a couple of hundred metres from the water’s edge.
Today, in addition to being a wonderful shaded escape with its large Morten Bay figs and two large plane trees, the latter planted by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in 1954 to mark the start of the Bicentennial Drive (a road linking Sydney to Canberra), the park is akin to small outdoor museum wherein you can trace the development of Sydney since its colonial foundation.
Within the square you will find the following on which I have written separate reviews:
The Macquarie Obelsik (marking the point from which distances from Sydney were measured for nearly 200 years)
The HMS Sirius anchor (pictured above) and cannon (The Sirius was the leading ship of the First Fleet)
A Walter Renny Drinking Fountain
Additionally in Macquarie Place you will also come across one of Sydney’s earliest (1907) underground public toilets and a fine example of Edwardian civic design; sadly now mothballed. Yes, Dear Reader, rather than demolish it, the toilet was filled in with sand such that one day it can be restored as an important historical relic or, indeed, reinstated as a toilet though, as was the fashion of the day, it was a male only facility. Do have a look at another of my Sydney reviews for a little more information on early public toilets in Sydney and details on the city’s last remaining Victorian pissoir. Riveting stuff!
The business and financial history of the area is represented by an 1887 statue of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort (overlooking Bridge Street and pictured), an eminent businessman, horticulturist, wool baron and frozen meat entrepreneur who emigrated to Australia in 1838. This statue replaced an 1820s public drinking fountain.
Also look out for the memorial gate pillars facing Bridge Street and the Department of Lands Building which commemorates Walter Penny a former Mayor of Sydney and a small fountain and pond commemorating Australian sculptor, Lieutenant John Christie Wright, who was killed at Bullecourt (France) in 1917, during World War 1.
The park is a popular lunch spot for local business people, so why not pull yourself away from the harbour, grab yourself a sandwich and join them. There are lots of nice cafes, food outlets and a McDonalds (!) in the area, though some are closed at weekends when office workers join visitors on the harbour.
Address: On the corner of Bridge and Loftus Streets
For my next SYDNEY – CITY – CIRCULAR QUAY / MACQUARIE PLACE review click HERE.
For other Sydney reviews click HERE.
The Rambling Wombat 