Sydney Olympic Park

Aboriginal people have been associated with the Homebush Bay area for many thousands of years. When Europeans arrived in 1788, the Homebush Bay area formed part of the traditional lands of the Wanngal clan. The lands of the Wanngal clan extended along the southern shore of the Parramatta River between about Leichhardt and Auburn. The Wanngal clan would have had access rights to the resources of the Homebush Bay area, but would have routinely interacted with neighbouring clan groups.

Shortly after the British colonisation of Sydney several smallpox epidemics ravaged the local Aboriginal population, leaving many of the clans seriously depleted. By way of adaptation, members of neighbouring clan groups are known to have joined together to ensure their survival. Aboriginal people were still using the Homebush Bay area in the early 1800s even after their lands were granted to Europeans. Several encounters and conflicts between Europeans and Aboriginal people are documented for the Homebush Bay area throughout the 1790s, and in the early 1800s Aboriginal people (perhaps of the Wanngal clan) were working for and supplying fish to Europeans in the area.[4] No references have yet been located which describe Aboriginal people living in the Homebush Bay area for the period after the 1810s; however, this is the subject of ongoing research through the Aboriginal History & Connections Program, a long-term program aimed at documenting Aboriginal connections to the Homebush Bay area before and after the arrival of Europeans launched by the Sydney Olympic Park Authority in April 2002.

Today the Homebush Bay area is within the asserted traditional cultural boundary of the Darug language group, of which the Wanngal clan is said to have belonged. The descendants of Darug traditional owners of the Sydney area play a custodial role in the preservation of Aboriginal cultural heritage and are actively involved with archaeological and historical research in and around Homebush area. The area also falls within the administrative boundary of the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council which also plays a major role in the investigation and preservation of Aboriginal culture and heritage.[5]

The Sydney Olympic Park locality was first known to Europeans as "The Flats", as described by Lieutenant Bradley in his charting of the river in 1788. The name "Liberty Plains" was also given to the locality but referred to the higher and drier lands along Parramatta Road and referred to the first group of settlers who were free rather than convict, who established farms there in 1793.[6] The first European settler was Thomas Laycock (1756?-1809), who was granted 40 hectares between Parramatta Road and Homebush Bay in October 1794. He named his farm, Home Bush and ran sheep and cattle there. Laycock was Quartermaster of the NSW Corps and also held other government positions. D'Arcy Wentworth (c.1762-1827) purchased the 318 hectare holding from the Laycock family in January 1808. With additional grants Wentworth's holdings at Homebush Bay totalled 372 hectares by 1810. Wentworth established a horse stud and a private racetrack adjoining Parramatta Road and was influential among the early government officials and free settlers. He died at Homebush on 7 July 1827.[7]

Homebush was inherited by William Wentworth (1790-1872), who continued in his father's tradition of controversial public service. With his neighbour Gregory Blaxland, he was in the first exploration party to find a route through the Blue Mountains. He expanded and developed his father's bequest of properties, becoming one of the colony's richest men by his death in 1872. The property was let to numerous tenants throughout William's ownership, while he lived at Vaucluse House in Sydney. William, who was elected president of the Sydney Turf Club in 1832, gave permission for the existing racetrack to be upgraded for public race meetings. The racetrack included grandstands, stables and spelling paddocks which stretched over the Sydney Olympic Park site. The property was inherited by William Wentworth's son, Fitzwilliam.[8][5]

In 1907 367 hectares, most of the Wentworth estate, was resumed for the building of the State Abattoirs. Specifications for the general arrangement and layout of the site and drawings of the gatehouse, administration buildings, mutton, pork, beef and veal houses were completed in 1909 by the Department of Public Works under Government Architect Walter Liberty Vernon and construction completed in 1913. The gardens were also designed in 1913 by Joseph Maiden, Director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens, including the historic formal avenue of trees that is located on the eastern boundary of the Overflow. Consisting of Brush Box (Lophostemon confertus) and Spotted Gum (Eucalyptus maculata) this row of trees is referred to as "the allee".[9] The cauldron is located in the Overflow, a park just west of the former main abattoir administration precinct and allee, on land which formed a car park for the abattoir. By 1923 the State Abattoir employed 1,600 people and had a killing capacity of 25,000 animals a week, making it one of the largest abattoirs in Australia. The abattoirs continued to expand during World War II and into the 1950s with works provided for the treatment of offal, refrigeration, the preparation of tallow, fertilizers, meat for export and canning of pet foods (Godden & Associates 1989: 21ff). By the 1970s the facilities required rebuilding and a decision was taken not to upgrade but to redevelop surplus land for industrial use. The State Abattoir officially closed on 10 June 1988 and the Homebush Abattoir Corporation wound up on 30 June 1992.[10] Throughout the twentieth century, much of the current land of the site was reclaimed from the river and wetlands by landfill.[11]

State Sports Centre, built in 1984 it is Olympic Park's oldest venue

In the mid-1980s, an area bounded by Australia Avenue and what are now Herb Elliott Avenue and Sarah Durack Avenue was promoted as a 'technology park' called the Australia Centre. However, apart from a few relatively high tech businesses like AWA Microelectronics, BASF, Philips and Sanyo, the idea did not catch on and the Australian Technology Park is now in Eveleigh. In any event, a decade later the entire area became the main cluster venue for the 2000 Summer Olympics.

After 1992 the Abattoir precinct was occupied by a number of organisations that ultimately became the Sydney Olympic Park Authority (SOPA). Sydney won the right to host the Olympic Games on 23 September 1993, after being selected over Beijing, Berlin, Istanbul and Manchester at the 101st IOC Session in Monte Carlo, Monaco.[5]

These activities resulted in a highly contaminated site with little natural ecology and a fragmented stream corridor. Sixty-five percent of the soils were required to be excavated and contained on-site. The site did have some positive attributes that PWP Landscape Architecture enhanced in the design: 15 miles of continuous waterfront; various historic buildings and landscapes; an almost unspoiled 124-acre aboriginal forest; major areas of mangrove swamp; bird sanctuaries; and surviving endangered species like Golden orb spiders and the Green and golden bell frogs that resided in a 70-acre historic limestone quarry, the Brick Pit.[12] Millennium Parklands was and is a project that matches the scale of the city, dealing with landscape as the system that sustains urban life, the Olmstedian "lungs" known these days as "green infrastructure" a component of the urban condition rather than its native opposition.[13]

Apartment building at Sydney Olympic Park

With the successful completion of the 2000 Olympics, Sydney Olympic Park has undergone a significant amount of development work to support its conversion to a multipurpose facility with a number of businesses re-locating to the area. Commercial developments now sit alongside sporting facilities with tenants in office buildings such as Commonwealth Bank from September 2007. A five-star Pullman hotel and a two-star Formule 1 hotel were completed in mid-2008.

The parklands have undergone redevelopment with Blaxland Riverside Park (formerly Blaxland Common) being transformed into an urban park along Parramatta River. The Park opened on 3 March 2007. In addition the Wentworth Common area was upgraded with significant adventure playground facilities for children aged 8–13 years.

The former Auburn Council sought public comment on a proposal to rename the Homebush Bay area, to remove confusion with its namesake suburb Homebush. The area encompassing Sydney Olympic Park was given autonomy as a suburb, the waterfront residential area was renamed Wentworth Point and the Carter Street industrial precinct was absorbed by the neighbouring suburb of Lidcombe.[14][15]

• ANZ Stadium - Formerly Stadium Australia & Telstra Stadium (capacity: 110,000 at time of Olympics, now 83,500)[20]
• Qudos Bank Arena - formerly Sydney Superdome, Acer Arena and Allphones Arena (capacity: Concert 21,032; Basketball 18,200; Gymnastics 15,000)
• Sydney Showground - Home of Sydney's Royal Easter Show. Includes Sydney Showground Stadium (capacity: 21,500 from 1998 to 2011, 24,000 from 2012).
• Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre (capacity: Grandstand 5,000; Grass 10,000)
• Sydney International Aquatic Centre (capacity: 17,500 at time of Olympics, now 10,000)
• Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre (capacity: 10,000)
• Sydney Olympic Park Hockey Centre (capacity: 15,000 at time of Olympics, now 8,000)
• Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre (capacity: 5,006)
• Sydney International Archery Park (capacity: 4,500)
• Sydney Olympic Park Sports Halls

• Monster Mountain X - Mountain Biking
• Monster BMX
• Monster Skate Park
• Newington Armory Gallery and Theatre

• Novotel and Ibis Hotel, Sydney Olympic Park
• Pullman, Sydney Olympic Park
• Ibis Budget, Sydney Olympic Park
• Sydney Olympic Park Lodge - Newington Armory
• Former Olympic Village - now suburb of Newington

Sydney Olympic Park is served by the Olympic Park railway line and Olympic Park station. There are also regular ferry services to the nearby Sydney Olympic Park ferry wharf, at the end of Hill Road, serviced by Sydney Ferries to and from various points around Sydney Harbour.

During major events, Sydney Olympic Park bus routes operate.

The two-line Parramatta Light Rail project was announced in 2015. Original plans included a line between Westmead and Strathfield, passing through Sydney Olympic Park.[21] Plans for this line were redesigned and truncated in 2017. The redesigned line will terminate at Sydney Olympic Park instead of continuing to Strathfield.[22]

Sydney Metro West is a proposed metro line between the Sydney Central Business District and Westmead. The line was announced in 2016 and would include a station at Sydney Olympic Park.[23]

The shared path up the spiral mountain on Haslams creek in the south western corner of the park

• Bicentennial Park; 40 hectares (99 acres) of parkland, opened in 1988 to celebrate Australia's Bicentenary
• Wentworth Common
• Archery Park
• Blaxland Riverside Park along Parramatta River
• Narawang Wetlands and Louise Sauvage Pathway
• The Brickpit and Brickpit Ring Walk
• 425 hectares (1,050 acres) of parkland throughout the Sydney Olympic Park site

• Newington Armory - Former Armory Store for the Royal Australian Navy - limited public access related to events and Sunday open days
• Newington Nature Reserve

Located at Olympic Boulevard and adjacent to the netball arena the Quaycentre, the Tom Wills Oval (known for sponsorship purposes as the WestConnex Centre)[24] is the training ground and headquarters of professional Australian Football League club the GWS Giants. The Giants play home matches at the nearby Showground Stadium. The club moved into the facility in May 2013.[25] As well as featuring a full-size training field, the facility also has a high-performance centre for indoor training and administration.[26]

This Wikipedia article contains material from Olympic Cauldron at Sydney Olympic Park, entry number 01839 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales and Office of Environment and Heritage 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 29 May 2018.