Astrolabe Park

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Astrolabe Park
AstrolabePark.jpg
View from Astrolabe Park looking towards the Botany Dams
Astrolabe Park
LocationAstrolabe Road, Daceyville New South Wales, Australia
Nearest citySydney
Coordinates 33°55′46″S151°13′21″E / 33.92951319314129°S 151.22243355339094°E / -33.92951319314129; 151.22243355339094
Area9.17 hectares (22.7 acres)
Created1934 (1934)
Operated by Bayside Council and Sydney Water
Open24 hours
StatusOpen all year
Public transit access
  • TfNSW B.svg : Route #342
  • TfNSW L.svg : Juniors Kingsford

Astrolabe Park is a 9.17-hectare (23-acre) public park in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Contents

Astrolabe Park is located south-east of Sydney CBD in the heritage suburb of Daceyville, and the park is also part of the heritage listed Botany Water Reserves. [1]

Features

Astrolabe Park is a public park with a half basketball court, walking track, and public toilets. The entire park is also an off-leash area for dogs.

In the south-west corner of Astrolabe Park there is a viewing area of the Botany Dams, with a plaque illustrating the aquifer system which runs underground from Centennial Park to Botany Bay.

History

Astrolabe Park was formally created as a public recreation reserve in 1934. [2] In the 1910s, when Daceyville was initially being constructed, the parklands were a swamp.

Astrolabe Park is named after the French ship Astrolabe, which explored Botany Bay in 1788, just a few days after the arrival of the First Fleet.

Astrolabe Park was partly used as a municipal landfill site for the City of Botany Bay beginning in 1938 and continuing intermittently until 1978. The area was also mined for sand throughout the 1950s and 60s. [3]

In 1979, Botany Council constructed public tennis courts at Astrolabe Park and at Mutch Park. [4] However, the tennis courts at Astrolabe Park were removed in the early 1990s and replaced with a half basketball court.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Astrolabe Park had a BMX track. [5] Remnants of the track remain in the northwest corner of the park.

Community

Friends of Astrolabe Park is a local community group formed to help protect and improve Astrolabe Park. [6] [7]

Controversies

In 1992, the NSW State Government wanted to perform sand mining at Bonnie Doon Golf Club, and a proposal was made to give all the land at Astrolabe Park to Bonnie Doon Golf Course so that they could build 6 more golfing holes there. Botany Council objected to this proposal, saying that "the permanent alienation of any section of Astrolabe Park clearly would adversely affect the recreational usage of the park by community and particularly the schools in the area". Botany Council also commented that Astrolabe Park should be protected and preserved as it was "well located to provide pedestrian access to residents of Daceyville without the necessity of crossing major roads". [5]

In 2015, Football NSW proposed building a synthetic field at Astrolabe Park to be used for soccer games. This plan was abandoned. [8]

In 2017, Sydney Water was considering transferring ownership of Astrolabe Park to Bayside Council, and the council was developing a new master plan for the park. However, Bayside Council never released a master plan for Astrolabe Park, and Sydney Water has retained ownership of the park. [9]

In 2018, the University of New South Wales tried to redevelop Astrolabe Park into privately owned sporting fields, in a consortium with Cricket NSW and AFL NSW. [10] This plan was abandoned after widespread opposition from the local community. [7]

Also in 2018, a separate proposal was made by the Sydney International Beach Volleyball Centre Consortium, to build a private volleyball stadium at Astrolabe Park. [10] Meredith Wallace of Bayside Council describe this proposal as "unbelievably terrible", and this plan was also abandoned. [11]

In 2022, the University of New South Wales and NSW Rugby proposed holding public rugby matches with 5,000 attendees at the adjacent and privately operated David Phillips Field, and using the grass at Astrolabe Park as a parking lot for those matches. [12] Their application was refused by Bayside Council, and refused again on appeal. [13] NSW Rugby lodged another appeal in November 2023, this time to the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales.

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References

  1. ↑ "Plan of Management: Botany Wetlands 2018–2028" (PDF). Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  2. ↑ "Assignment of Names to Reserve Trusts". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales . No. 14. New South Wales, Australia. 10 February 1995. p. 752 – via Trove.
  3. ↑ Acworth, R.I.; Jorstad, L.B. (2006). "Integration of multi-channel piezometry and electrical tomography to better define chemical heterogeneity in a landfill leachate plume within a sand aquifer". Journal of Contaminant Hydrology. 83 (3–4): 200–220. doi:10.1016/j.jconhyd.2005.11.007. PMID   16412530.
  4. ↑ Robertson, Rosanne (24 September 1987). "No frills Mayor went to council by ute". The Eastern Herald. p. 32.
  5. 1 2 Horrigan, Darren (7 May 1992). "State Wants Golf Course". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 3.
  6. ↑ Friends of Astrolabe Park
  7. 1 2 James, Ben (4 September 2018). "Park plan scrapped". Southern Courier (New South Wales). p. 15.
  8. ↑ Meeting the Future Needs of Football in NSW: A Partnership Approach, May 2015
  9. ↑ "Bayside Council S7.11 Development Contributions Plan 2016 (PDF), 2016
  10. 1 2 Gorrey, Megan (27 June 2018). "Dog-friendly park under threat as sports teams weigh move from stadium". Sydney Morning Herald .
  11. ↑ "Residents in show of strength over Astrolabe Park". The Daily Telegraph (New South Wales). 23 July 2018.
  12. ↑ DA-2022/164 Development Application - Permit use of NSW Rugby Centre of Excellence by the general public, 3 June 2022
  13. ↑ S82-2023/3 S8.2 Review of Determination - Review of Determination of DA-2022/164, 21 October 2023
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