Macquarie Place is a small triangular park in downtown Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It is located at the corner of Bridge Street

Bridge Street

Bridge Street may refer to the following streets:* A street in the television soap opera EastEnders; see Walford#Bridge Street* Bridge Street, Aberdeen, Scotland* Bridge Street, Cambridge, England* Bridge Street, Dublin, Ireland...

 and Loftus Street, and is named after Governor Lachlan Macquarie

Lachlan Macquarie

Major-General Lachlan Macquarie CB , was a British military officer and colonial administrator. He served as the last autocratic Governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1810 to 1821 and had a leading role in the social, economic and architectural development of the colony...

.

History

Macquarie Place was the first formally laid out public space in Sydney (1810), functioning as the town square. Along with Hyde Park

Hyde Park, Sydney

Hyde Park is a large park in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Hyde Park is on the eastern side of the Sydney central business district. It is the southernmost of a chain of parkland that extends north to the shore of Port Jackson . It is approximately rectangular in shape, being squared at the...

 it is the oldest public park in Australia. Its size has been greatly reduced since colonial days.

An obelisk

Obelisk

An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...

 from 1818 and designed by the New South Wales Government Architect

New South Wales Government Architect

The New South Wales Government Architect is an officer of the New South Wales government. Historically, the government architect was in charge of the state government's public building projects....

, Francis Greenway

Francis Greenway

-References:* *...

, is located in the park and records the distance to various locations

Kilometre Zero

In many countries, Kilometre Zero or similar terms in other languages, is a particular location , from which distances are traditionally measured...

 in New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 along the earliest roads developed in the colony. Later an anchor from the Norfolk Island

Norfolk Island

Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...

 wreckage of the First Fleet

First Fleet

The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...

 flagship, HMS Sirius

HMS Sirius (1786)

HMS Sirius was the flagship of the First Fleet, which set out from Portsmouth, England, in 1787 to establish the first European colony in New South Wales, Australia. Sirius was wrecked off the coast of Norfolk Island in the Pacific Ocean in 1790....

, together with a cannon from the ship, were placed in the park.

Many important institutions have had establishments at Macquarie Place. In 1817 Australia's first bank, the Bank of New South Wales (later to become Westpac

Westpac

Westpac , is a multinational financial services, one of the Australian "big four" banks and the second-largest bank in New Zealand....

 in 1982) opened in Macquarie Place. The State Library of New South Wales

State Library of New South Wales

The State Library of New South Wales is a large public library owned by the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Macquarie Street, Sydney near Shakespeare Place...

 briefly had premises in the place during the 1830s. Opposite the place in Bridge Street is the original New South Wales Lands Department head office, which was the department responsible for surveying and mapping New South Wales.

In 1883 a statue of early Australian Industrialist, Thomas Mort

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort was an Australian industrialist responsible for improving refrigeration of meat. He was renowned for speculation in the local pastoral industry as well as industrial activities such as his Ice-Works in Sydney's Darling Harbour and dry dock and engineering works at...

 was unveiled in the park. In 1954 Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....

 marked the beginning of the Remembrance Driveway

Remembrance Driveway (Australia)

The Remembrance Driveway in Australia is a system of arboreal parks, plantations, and road-side rest areas -- a living memorial dedicated to those who served in the Australian Defence Forces in World War II, the Korean War, Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War, and who continue to serve around the...

 by planting two plane trees in Macquarie Place.

The Great North Walk

Great North Walk

The Great North Walk is a walking track which runs from Sydney to Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia. The main track, in length, runs between the Obelisk in Macquarie Place in Sydney to Queens Wharf Tower in Bicentennial Park in Newcastle and is well sign-posted. There are many "side tracks"...

 to Newcastle

Newcastle, New South Wales

The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...

starts/ends at the obelisk in Macquarie Place.

External links

• Heritage Office History and Statement of Significance Retrieved 2011-08-27
• City of Sydney: Macquarie Place Park, Sydney Retrieved 2011-08-27
• Anchor and cannon from HMS Sirius Retrieved 2011-08-27