Parramatta

Parramatta Park, Parramatta

Last Saturday we attended a family celebration at Lachlan Restaurant in the grounds of Old Government House in Parramatta Park.  This Restaurant, set within the grounds of the most important National Trust House in Australia, is a great place for special celebrations.  We sat at a table on the long vine covered verandah and enjoyed a delicious lunch overlooking the sandstone courtyards and low English hedges at the back of the old house.   

We took a walk after lunch to view some of the various historic landmarks in the Park.  The Park is over 160 years' old and was gazetted as a public park in 1858.  The Darug people were the traditional owners of the land before it was a park.  The present parklands comprise 85 hectares and straddles the Parramatta River on the western edge of the Central Business District.  It is a beautiful recreational space and a great place for the local Parramatta community to gather.  There are wide open spaces for picnics and play areas for games while there are gardens, waterways, remnant bushland and paths for walking and admiring the idyllic beauty of the parklands.  There is also an amphitheatre where concerts and music festivals are held.

Old Government House is the oldest surviving public building in Australia.  It is a two storey Georgian House built in 1799 and completed in 1818.  Little of an original sandstone cottage built in 1790 remains and what we see to-day are the later additions.   It was the country residence of the first ten Governors of New South Wales and the permanent home of Governor Lachlan Macquarie and Mrs. Macquarie.  This elegant Georgian House was built by convicts and is heritage listed

The Boer War Memorial was erected in 1904 to commemorate Australia's involvement in its first overseas military engagement.  The first of Australia's troops to arrive in Africa in 1899 to take part in the Boer War came from the Lancer Barracks, Parramatta.  There are two Georgian cannons standing alongside the Memorial   The Memorial comprises four fluted sandstone Doric columns bearing entablature blocks and cornice all standing on a sandstone base and paved area surrounded by a wrought iron fence.  There is a nine-pound field gun mounted on top of the structure.

The Bath House was completed in 1823 for Governor Brisbane.  It was designed by two colonial architects, Francis Greenway and Standish Harris.It contains archaeological remains related to a pumping system which brought water to the building from the Parramatta River and heated it as well.  

These gates (on the right) stand at the entrance to Old Government House.  We walked along the driveway taking a peek inside the entrance foyer of the house.  On this occasion we did not have time to do a tour of the house.

Old Government House is an elegant Georgian House overlooking the Parramatta River.  It is heritage listed and owned by the National Trust.  It contains furniture, textiles and homewares from the time of the Governors.  It is open again to the public from Tuesday to Sunday 10 am to 4 pm.

The Boer War Memorial stands in a prominent position on the ridgeline in the Park looking towards the CBD.    It is a comparatively rare Memorial to the Boer War which was the first overseas engagement of troops representing a federated Australia.  A symbolic broken column stands within the four Doric columns.  

The Governor's Bath House was built in 1823 for Governor Brisbane as he wanted a private place  to have warm baths to assist in the treatment of his war wounds.  He served under the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular War of 1812.  In 1886 the Bath House was converted into a Pavilion, as it stands today.

The high rise skyline of Parramatta.

I took this photo from Old Government House looking down the Park towards the CBD of Parramatta where there are many high rise buildings being erected.

The City of Parramatta is forging ahead in its development and the boundaries of the CBD are being expanded.   It is currently a construction hotspot with major infrastructure projects taking place.  The heights of residential and commercial buildings are being increased to enable the construction of an estimated 12,000 new dwellings over the next 40 years.  

It has changed a lot since we left the district twenty years ago.  

Acknowledgments

1.  council@cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au (information about development of Parramatta)

2.  warmemorialsregister.nsw.gov.au (information about Memorial)

3.  National Trust NSW (information about Old Government House)

4.  parrapark.com.au (information about Bath House)