Macquarie Place Park

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    Sydney (View suburb)
    ownership
    Park
    Historical, Visual,
    age class
    Mature
    setting
    Specimen
    listing
    State Heritage Register
    Year Planted
    mid 1860's
    Owner
    City of Sydney

    Scheduled Significant Trees

    Qty Common Name Species Locations
    2 Moreton Bay Fig Ficus macrophylla Find more locations
    3 London Plane Platanus x acerifolia Find more locations
    1 Holm Oak Quercus ilex Find more locations
    1 Cliff Date Palm Phoenix rupicola Find more locations
    1 Hills Weeping Fig Ficus microcarpa var. hillii Find more locations

    Description

    Macquarie Place Park, located in the City’s CBD between Macquarie Place, Bridge Street and Loftus Street is a small triangular parcel of public land which was once part of the gardens of first Government House.

    It is an historic remnant of early Sydney containing a number of important historic objects, monuments, structures and a small collection of significant trees.

    The park contains two mature Moreton Bay Figs (Ficus macrophylla), located on the Macquarie Place frontage, three London Planes (Platanus x acerifolia), on Loftus Street (2) and Bridge Street (1), a single Holm Oak (Quercus ilex), Hills Weeping Fig (Ficus microcarpa var. hillii) and a mix of exotic and native palms including the Cliff Date Palm (Phoenix rupicola), transplanted Kentia Palms (Howea forsteriana), Bangalow Palms (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana), Tree Ferns (Cyathea sp.) and a single large Riberry (Syzygium luehmannii).

    One of the two Moreton Bay Figs (Ficus macrophylla), (eastern) has now been heavily pruned and is in direct competition with a Hills Weeping Fig (Ficus microcarpa var. hillii), an Inter-War period planting. The other Moreton Bay Fig is a magnificent tree of dramatic scale and visual impact (22 metres in height/ 28 metres canopy diameter and 2 metres diameter base with extensive buttressing to 3.5 metres diameter).

    The London Planes have achieved substantial proportions (25 metres in height/ 25 metres canopy spread) and dominate the Loftus and Bridge Street frontages.

    Significance

    Macquarie Place Park is an historic remnant of early Sydney containing a number of important historic objects, monuments, structures and a small collection of significant trees.

    The park contains two mature Moreton Bay Figs (Ficus macrophylla), three London Planes (Platanus x acerifolia), a single Holm Oak (Quercus ilex), Hills Weeping Fig (Ficus microcarpa var. hillii) and a mix of exotic and native palms including the Cliff Date Palm (Phoenix rupicola). The collection of trees has group significance at the City/ LGA level in terms of aesthetic, visual, historic, cultural and social values

    Two of the London Planes (Platanus x acerifolia) were planted by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh in 1954 to mark the beginning of the Remembrance Driveway (Australian Heritage Database). These trees have significance in terms of aesthetic, visual and historic values.

    Historical notes

    Macquarie Place, proclaimed by Governor Macquarie in 1810 is one of the earliest and most significant colonial urban spaces in Australia. Initially fenced and effectively a semi-private space in the tradition of the town squares of London, its evolution, from 1828, to a publicly accessible town square reflected increasing recognition of the role of public parks and spaces in colonial Australia. It is an historic remnant of early Sydney containing a number of important historic objects, monuments, structures and a small collection of significant trees.

    The monuments and structures include an obelisk designed by Francis Greenway and erected by Governor Macquarie (1818), gate piers and kerbing (Walter Reny, Mayor, 1869), a statue of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort (1816-1878) (erected in 1883), the salvaged HMS Sirius anchor and canon (erected 1907) and examples of Edwardian civic design.

    An historic photograph, taken possibly soon after installation of the HMS Sirius monument in 1907, shows the park’s two Moreton Bay Figs, planted in the mid-1860’s, as substantial, older specimens in the pavement (refer to Figure B: Macquarie Place Park, no date, State Library of NSW – Small Pictures Files (Monuments).

    By the 1890’s the fig trees had begun to dominate the reserve and they were pruned under the direction of J H Maiden, Director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens in the period 1895-1901 (Casey and Lowe Pty Ltd, Conservation Issues The Obelisk Macquarie Place, Sydney,August 2003, p.33) One specimen (eastern) has now been heavily pruned and in direct competition with a Hills Weeping Fig (Ficus microcarpa var. hillii), an Inter-War period planting. In 1910 the park was remodelled and the fig trees on the Loftus and Bridge Street frontages removed to make way for flower beds (Casey and Lowe p.38). A photograph from 1928 shows that one of the figs is possibly a younger planting than a mid-1860’s date (source; Mitchell Library, GPO1-13115).

    Two of the London Planes (Platanus x acerifolia) were planted by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh in 1954 to mark the beginning of the Remembrance Driveway (Australian Heritage Database). Most of the palms and Tree Ferns are relatively recent additions.

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    Last modified: 5 March, 2014