Park sights in Australia
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Victoria Park
The green gateway to the Inner West and the University of Sydney, Victoria Park is a 9-hectare grassy wedge revolving around pondlike Lake Northam and Victoria Park Pool. In February 75,000 people descend on the park for the Mardi Gras Fair Day: dog shows, live performances and the ‘Miss Fair Day’ drag competition (no, it doesn’t involve cars).
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Tumbalong Park
Flanked by the new Darling Walk development, this grassy circle on Darling Harbour’s southern rump is set up for family fun. Sunbakers and frisbee-throwers occupy the lawns; tourists dunk their feet in fountains on hot summer afternoons. There’s also an excellent children’s playground with a rubber floor (in case the kids don’t bounce) and a 21m flying fox.
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Everglades Garden
Leura, 3km east of Katoomba, is a gracious, affluent town, fashioned around undulating streets, unparalleled gardens and sweeping Victorian verandahs. in town is the National Trust–owned Everglades Garden, a magnificent 1930s garden created by Danish ‘master gardener’ Paul Sorenson. Fountains, waterfalls, terraced lawns, freestone walls, a museum, an art gallery and tearooms – Everglades is a must for green thumbs.
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Elkington Park
If Balmain’s endless photogenia doesn’t float your boat, head to Elkington Park, named in 1883 after a local politician. At the bottom of the escarpment, the magnificently restored late-Victorian (1884) timber enclosure at the tidal Dawn Fraser Baths picturesquely protects swimmers from underwater undesirables. Australia’s all-conquering 1956–64 Olympian Dawn Fraser sacrificed her youth here swimming laps.
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Balls Head Reserve
Scruffy, bushy Balls Head Reserve not only has great views of the harbour, the city skyline and the industrial relics on Goat Island, but also a wiggly waterline and inland paths, ancient Aboriginal rock paintings and carvings (although they’re not easily discernible), and barbecue facilities.
Like the Manly Scenic Walkway, it’s easy to shut yourself off amid the sandstone and scrub here and imagine how Sydney must have been before European settlement. From Waverton Station turn left and follow Bay Rd, which becomes Balls Head Rd. It’s a 10-minute walk.
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Hyde Park
It sounds like a cliche, but Hyde Park really is the city’s lungs. It’s a formal park with manicured gardens, ibises probing the undergrowth (and the rubbish bins), homeless hombres sleeping on benches and a giant chess set attracting nods and whispers from spectators. The tree-formed tunnel running down its spine looks particularly pretty at night, illuminated by fairy lights.
The park’s northern end is crowned by the richly symbolic art deco Archibald Memorial Fountain, featuring Greek mythological figures. At the southern end, the shallow Pool of Remembrance fronts the Anzac Memorial.
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Fitzroy Gardens
It’s testimony to the ‘cleaning up’ of the Cross that this once-dodgy park is now a reasonably safe place to hang out (probably helped by the austere police station in the corner). It still feels seedy, though: malnourished seagulls compete for scraps with pigeons who look like Keith Richards, while groaning, bearded homeless guys compile cigarettes from discarded butts.
Known locally as the ‘elephant douche’, the dandelion-esque El Alamein Fountain, built in1961, sends waves of chlorinated spray across the open space. An organic food market sets up here on Saturday mornings, while on Sundays a little flea market takes its place.
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Centennial Park
Scratched out of the sand in 1888 in grand Victorian style, Sydney’s biggest park is a rambling 189-hectare expanse full of horse riders, joggers, cyclists and in-line skaters. During summer Moonlight Cinema attracts the crowds.
Among the wide formal avenues, ponds and statues is the domed Federation Pavilion – the spot where Australia was officially proclaimed a nation (on 1 January 1901) – surrounded by the various state flags. If you're feeling peckish, Centennial Parklands Dining near the centre of the park encompasses a cafe, wine bar and kiosk. At the southern edge of the park is Royal Randwick Racecourse, while on its eastern edge it joins Queens Park and…
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Yurulbin Point
On the northern tip of the Balmain peninsula (technically Birchgrove), this narrow point stretches to within 300m of the North Shore. Once called Long Nose Point, it was a shipyard until 1971, when it became a public park, reverting to its indigenous name (meaning ‘swift running water’) in 1994.
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Green Park
Once the residence of Alexander Green, hangman of Darlinghurst Gaol, Green Park is a cheery space during the day, but as the many syringe-disposal bins attest, it’s best avoided nocturnally. At the top of the slope, the inverted pink triangular prism backed by black pillars is the Gay & Lesbian Holocaust Memorial.
It was founded by the late Dr Kitty Fischer, who as a young Jewish girl in Auschwitz was kept alive by food smuggled to her by a gay inmate forced to wear the pink triangle. In a lower corner of the park is the Victor Chang Memorial – before he was murdered in 1991, he was a famed heart surgeon who worked at neighbouring St Vincent’s Hospital.
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Herring Island
Once an unloved dumping ground for silt, Herring Island is now a prelapsarian garden that seeks to preserve the original trees, shrubs and grasses of the Yarra and provide a home for indigenous animals such as parrots, possums and lizards, as well as sculptures. Designated picnic areas, with barbecues, make for a rare retreat just 3km from the city centre. The island is theoretically open to visitors all year round, but can only be reached by boat. A Parks Victoria punt operates from Como Landing on Alexandra Ave in South Yarra.
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The Domain
Administered by the Royal Botanic Gardens, The Domain is a large grassy tract east of Macquarie St, set aside by Governor Phillip in 1788 for public recreation. Phillip’s intent rings true: today’s lunchtime workers use the space to work up a sweat or eat their lunch. Large-scale public events are also held here, including the Tropfest film festival.
Sculptures dot the park, including a reclining Henry Moore figure and Brett Whiteley’s Almost Once (1991) − two giant matches, one burnt − rising from the ground near the Art Gallery of NSW.
On the lawn in front of the gallery you can listen to religious zealots, nutters, political extremists, homophobes, hippies and…
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Moore Park
Part of the broader Centennial Parklands (a huge green swath that cuts from Surry Hills to Bondi), Moore Park covers 115 hectares south of Paddington. With sports fields, tennis courts, an 18-hole public golf course and a site for visiting circuses, there’s plenty here to keep you off the streets.
The broader precinct also includes the homes of the Sydney Swans Aussie rules team, the Sydney City Roosters rugby league team and the Sydney Mardi Gras party – the historic Sydney Cricket Ground, the Sydney Football Stadium and the Hordern Pavilion, respectively; try not to get them confused! The Entertainment Quarter spices up the mix.
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South Head
At the northern end of Camp Cove, the South Head Heritage Trail kicks off, leading into a section of Sydney Harbour National Park. It passes old battlements and a path heading down to Lady Bay, before continuing on to the candy-striped Hornby Lighthouse and the sandstone Lightkeepers’ Cottages (1858) on South Head itself.
The harbour views and crashing surf on the ocean side make this a very dramatic and beautiful spot indeed.
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Speakers’ Corner
Recline on a patch of lawn in front of the Art Gallery of NSW and listen to religious zealots, nutters, political extremists, homophobes, hippies and academics express their earnest opinions. Some of them have something interesting to say; most are just plain mad. Either way, it makes for an interesting afternoon. BYO soapbox.
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South Bank Parklands
This beautiful smear of green park, skirting the western side of the Brisbane River, is home to cultural attractions, fine eateries, small rainforests, hidden lawns and gorgeous flora. The standout attractions here are Streets Beach, a funky artificial beach resembling a tropical lagoon, and, behind the beach, Stanley Street Plaza, a renovated section of historic Stanley St, with shops, cafes and a tourist information centre.
On the eastern edge of the parklands is the Queensland Maritime Museum, which has a wide-ranging display of maritime adventures (and misadventures) along the coast. It's worth shelling out a little extra to tour the dry dock – the museum highlight is…
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Birrarung Marr
Featuring grassy knolls, river promenades and a thoughtful planting of indigenous flora, Birrarung Marr is a welcome addition to Melbourne's patchwork of parks and gardens. It houses the sculptural and musical Federation Bells, which ring according to a varying schedule.
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Flagstaff Gardens
These small gardens with an open lawn are popular with workers taking a lunchtime break. First known as Burial Hill, this is where most of the city's early settlers ended up. The hill once provided one of the best views out to the bay, so a signalling station was set up here; when a ship was sighted arriving from Britain, a flag was raised on the flagstaff to notify the settlers (it was also significant for the Wurundjeri for the same useful vista). The gardens contain trees that are well over 100 years old including Moreton Bay fig trees, and a variety of eucalypts, including spotted and sugar gums and river red gums.
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Botany Bay National Park
The 458-hectare national park straddles the heads of Botany Bay, 15km south of Sydney Harbour. Captain Cook landed here in 1770, naming the bay after the botanical specimens his naturalist Joseph Banks found here. Banks suggested it would be a good place to incarcerate a few crims, but when the First Fleet arrived in summer 18 years later, they weren’t inclined to agree; the scorched vegetation and limited water supplies were a far cry from Banks’ wintry paradise. They soon relocated to Sydney Harbour. Cook’s monument-marked landing place is on the southern side of the park in trailer-trashy Kurnell. The Discovery Centre conveys the impact of European arrival, and…
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