Sydney AttractionsArt Gallery of NSW Barangaroo Fort Denison – Muddawahnyuh Martin Place Queen Victoria Building – QVB St Mary’s Cathedral Sydney City of Escalators Sydney Harbour Bridge Sydney Hyde Park Sydney Monuments & Memorials Sydney Northern Beaches Sydney Opera House Sydney Tower Sydney Town Hall The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney Wynyard Park
Wynyard Park in the Sydney central business district is a 0.7 hectare urban park, surrounded by high-rise buildings and bound by York, Wynyard, Carrington and Margaret Streets. It is also a busy transport hub, with entrances to Wynyard Railway Station and bus services from and to the northern suburbs dropping off and pickup up passengers in streets bordering the park.
Shortly after the European colonisation of Sydney, between 1792 and 1818, on the eastern, southern and western sides of the area, military barracks were established, leaving a large open square in the centre. The site became known as Barracks Square or the Parade Ground. It was from here that the New South Wales Corps marched to arrest Governor Bligh in 1808, an event later known as the Rum Rebellion3.
With the completion of the new Victoria Barracks in Paddington in 1848, the area saw the subdivision of this area and the construction of private dwellings and shops. Provision was made for a square to remain on the higher part of the former Barrack Square. The park was named Wynyard Square after General Edward Buckley Wynyard, commander of British forces in Australia from 1848 to 1853.
The 1880s saw a bus terminus established for passengers from the southern suburbs, and although the building of a railway station here was first suggested in 1881, it was not until 1932 before Wynyard Station opened for business.
In the following photo hovering above the York Street escalators to the now heritage-listed Wynyard Station is the public artwork titled Interloop by artist Chris Fox (2017). The sculptural installation reuses the 1930s OTIS escalator treads in a kilometre of welding.
In 1875, the square was dedicated as a recreation ground, fenced and landscaped. This was the practice to similar squares in England, who confined the use of areas to residents who held keys to the gates. By 1907 the American trend of removing fences around parks was copied here in Australia.
In 1887 the square was dedicated as a public park and in the following year a bandstand was erected in the centre of the park. In 1893 Canary Island Palm Trees were planted and a memorial statue to John Dunmore Lang was erected.
There were some major changes to Wynyard Park in 1996 with the new entrance to Wynyard Station being built in the centre of the park, and in 1998 with a restoration program that included conservation of the statue and men’s lavatory.
Footnote & References
- Wynyard Park, City of Sydney, https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/parks/wynyard-park
- Wynyard Park, Sydney, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynyard_Park,_Sydney
- Rum Rebellion, Wikikpedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum_Rebellion
Sydney AttractionsArt Gallery of NSW Barangaroo Fort Denison – Muddawahnyuh Martin Place Queen Victoria Building – QVB St Mary’s Cathedral Sydney City of Escalators Sydney Harbour Bridge Sydney Hyde Park Sydney Monuments & Memorials Sydney Northern Beaches Sydney Opera House Sydney Tower Sydney Town Hall The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney Wynyard Park
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