Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 18 March 1857, 150 years ago, an act to provide for the disposal of the Parramatta domain obtained royal assent, with a parcel of 200 acres to be set aside for a park promoting the health and recreation of the inhabitants of Parramatta. Today, I rise to acknowledge the 150th birthday of one of Australia’s great city parks, Parramatta Park, and to acknowledge and thank the many people over the last century and a half who have fought for and protected the park for future generations. The Parramatta River meanders through Parramatta Park. It is a very special place, as anyone who has visited it will know, and it is in every way an oasis of open space in the heart of the Parramatta CBD.

Before white settlement, it was the core land of the Burramattagal clan of the Darug people. ‘Burra’ means eel and ‘matta’ means creek, and it was the river itself and the Burramattagal clan that gave Parramatta its name. Each clan of the Darug people consisted of between five and 60 people, and they had their own well-defined territory and their own traditional rights and responsibilities over the land. The territory of the Burramattagal clan extended along the tidal estuary between the crescent in the park and Duck River, and encompassed the present park and the centre of the city of Parramatta.

Governor Arthur Phillip created a government domain on Burramattagal land and the present site of the park, and he established the colony’s first farm within that domain to provide food for the fledgling colony. Governor Macquarie extended the government domain and all New South Wales governors lived at least part of the year there, until 1855 when the vice-regal residence was established at Sydney. Two years later in 1857, the 200 acres of the governor’s domain was set aside for a park promoting the health and recreation of the inhabitants of Parramatta, and the boundaries were surveyed and gazetted on 6 August 1958.

The movement to create Parramatta Park began in 1847—and it just might be our first green movement—when a popular movement by locals lobbied in 1847 for access to the domain for ‘exercise and recreation in open grounds and pure air’. Today, Parramatta Park continues to be used for that purpose, with cricket ovals, a golf course, a swimming pool, playing fields and open parklands for community use. The park is considered to be Australia’s pre-eminent colonial landscape, being home to two of the oldest buildings in Australia—the dairy cottage and Old Government House—containing rare and historic monuments, archaeological deposits and landscape elements from the earliest years of the colony.

Throughout its history, it has been used for activities of the time: boxing exhibitions, military parades, exhibitions, car racing, and at one time it even had a zoo—a deer park that was closed down this century and became the site of the current RSL club. It even had its own beach, a very popular one in the summer. People in my electorate tell me how they swam at that beach, Little Coogee. It was created in 1922 near the ranger’s cottage, complete with a sand beach that was created from sand dredged from the river bottom. Little Coogee also had dressing sheds, a kiosk, play and picnic equipment and a boatshed—all of which were demolished as swimmers deserted Little Coogee for the council swimming pool, built in the early 1960s on parkland on the eastern edge.

The people’s park has deep meaning for the community of Parramatta. As a place of recreation and play it engenders a strong emotional attachment and sense of place. Parramatta Park is listed on the National Heritage List, the New South Wales State Heritage Inventory and as a local heritage item. It is listed by the National Trust of New South Wales. Significantly, it is part of a nomination of 11 Australian convict sites for World Heritage listing by the Australian government.

Money has always been an issue for the park. From as early as 1887, the trust was faced with a reduction in its grant by nearly a quarter. Inadequate funding is a feature of Parramatta Park’s history and still is today. Through its history, the community found ways to raise money, which included things such as agistment, the sale of sand from dredging, the selling of hot water for billy tea and, in the early 1950s, they tried Formula 1 car and motorbike racing. It was very popular. Thousand of spectators attended, with notable drivers such as Jack Brabham and Stirling Moss participating. But, unfortunately, the events never made much money because, in true Parramatta style, people jumped the fence to avoid paying the fee. It is well and truly the people’s park, and for 150 years it has been so. Again, today, I salute the many people, past and present, who worked so hard so that we and future generations could enjoy the open spaces of Parramatta Park in the heart of our city.