Sydney Parks 1
Photographic Travel Logs and Articles
Beautiful fountains inspire the kids to play
Sydney's Parks by Barbara Markus
..there, we met up with our Australian family members at the
Archibald fountain, a popular and easy to find meeting place,
as is the War Memorial found a short walk down a very
imposing tree lined avenue from the fountain. The trees are
large impressive fig trees that feed the thousands of famous
Sydney fruit bats from the Kuringai national park bat nursery,
that fly into the city each night to gorge on their offerings.
From Hyde parks' earliest days it has offered entertainment
for the residents of Sydney.
Sydney-siders playing chess
The parks have been used as a race course, cricket pitch, a rugby field and
a Common. The area once set aside for the exclusive use of the Governor
of New South Wales of the time, Lachlan Macquarie and his troops, is known
as The Domain and has now long been open to the general public to enjoy.
Within the park you will find many statues and monuments including the Water
Fountain, James Cook, the discover of mainland Australia, the ANZAC War
Memorial to fallen WWI soldiers, the art deco Archibald fountain and others.
You can sit and eat lunch on the grass, play frisbee, take a siesta or just watch
the world go by in the sunshine and warmth. However, reminders of a less
idyllic past are easily spotted, particularly within the former military area (now
a botanical garden) the Domain.
Pinch gut island near the Domain
Just off shore of the botanical gardens in the "Domain" sits
a small island known as "Pinch gut". In the past this was a
place of cruel punishment. Prisoners were chained to the
rocky island and left to starve to death fully exposed to the
elements.
But it is some of the offerings surrounding the park that are
also a great delight to historians and lovers of fine old
architecture alike. St Mary's Cathedral is the Roman
Catholic cathedral of the Diocese of Sydney and is classed
as a minor basilica.
