Sydney is well endowed with open spaces and has many natural areas. Many of these exist even within the compact city centre. These include the Chinese Garden of Friendship and Hyde Park (which is named after London's Hyde Park). [1] The metropolitan area contains several national parks, including the Royal National Park, the second oldest national park in the world (after Yellowstone National Park), which occupies an area of 132 square kilometres (51 sq mi; 13,200 ha; 33,000 acres). [2] Completing Sydney's wide array of green spaces, the leader is the Royal Botanic Garden, with its large amount of green spaces, lush plants and colourful flowers.
Although Sydney developed organically after the arrival of the First Fleet, the city parks and open spaces were a part of early town planning to provide relief from the bustle and monotony of the city streets. Hyde Park is the oldest park in the city.
Ordinal | Park name | Area | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
ha | acres | |||
1 | Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park | 15,400 | 38,054 | |
2 | Royal National Park | 13,200 | 32,618 | |
3 | Western Sydney Parklands | 5,280 | 13,047 | |
4 | Heathcote National Park | 2,250 | 5,560 | |
5 | Garigal National Park | 2,200 | 5,436 | |
6 | Lane Cove National Park | 600 | 1,483 | |
7 | Sydney Harbour National Park | 411 | 1,016 | comprising ten smaller parks |
8 | Georges River National Park | 340 | 840 |
Ordinal | Park name | Area | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
ha | acres | |||
1 | Centennial Park | 189 | 467 | |
2 | Moore Park | 115 | 284 | |
3 | Sydney Park | 45 | 111 | |
4 | The Domain | 34 | 84 | |
5 | Royal Botanic Garden | 30 | 74 |
The following is an incomplete list of parks and reserves in Sydney:
Hyde Park, Sydney, is an urban park, of 16.2-hectare (40-acre), located in the central business district of Sydney, in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest public parkland in Australia. Hyde Park is on the eastern fringe of the Sydney city centre and is approximately rectangular in shape, being squared at the southern end and rounded at the northern end. It is bordered on the west by Elizabeth Street, on the east by College Street, on the north by St James Road and Prince Albert Road and on the south by Liverpool Street.
Greater Western Sydney (GWS) is a large region of the metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia that generally embraces the north-west, south-west, central-west, far western and the Blue Mountains sub-regions within Sydney's metropolitan area and encompasses 11 local government areas: Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Camden, Campbelltown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Hawkesbury, Liverpool, Parramatta, Penrith and Wollondilly. It includes Western Sydney, which has a number of different definitions, although the one consistently used is the region composed of ten local government authorities, most of which are members of the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC). The NSW Government's Office of Western Sydney calls the region "Greater Western Sydney".
Moore Park is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney located 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from the CBD, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of local government area of the City of Sydney.
The Domain is a heritage-listed 34-hectare (84-acre) area of open space on the eastern fringe of the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. Separating the central business district from Woolloomooloo, The Domain adjoins the Royal Botanic Garden and is managed by The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, a division of the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. The Domain is used as a venue for outdoor concerts, open-air events, large political gatherings and rallies, as well as being used daily by the people of Sydney for exercise and relaxation. Along with the Royal Botanic Garden, The Domain was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney is a heritage-listed major 30-hectare (74-acre) botanical garden, event venue and public recreation area located at Farm Cove on the eastern fringe of the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia.
The geography of Sydney is characterised by its coastal location on a basin bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Blue Mountains to the west, the Hawkesbury River to the north and the Woronora Plateau to the south. Sydney lies on a submergent coastline on the east coast of New South Wales, where the ocean level has risen to flood deep river valleys (rias) carved in the Sydney sandstone. Port Jackson, better known as Sydney Harbour, is one such ria.
Centenary Square, formerly known as Bicentennial Square, is a civic square located in the heart of Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia. It faces the 1883 Parramatta Town Hall and St John's Cathedral. The square was listed on the Parramatta City Council local government heritage list on 20 August 1999.
Centennial Parklands is the name given to a group of three urban parklands located in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Comprising approximately 360 hectares, the lands encompass Centennial Park, Moore Park and Queens Park. The Parklands are listed on the New South Wales Heritage Register, with various components of national, state or local heritage significance. The parks are contained within the local government areas of City of Randwick, Waverley Municipal Council, and City of Sydney.
Bicentennial Park is a 40-hectare (99-acre) suburban parkland located 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) west of the Sydney central business district in the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park, in the local government area of City of Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia. Bicentennial Park is situated on the shores of Homebush Bay and is a part of the Sydney Olympic Park. The park is a natural heritage site featuring an important wetland ecosystem and parklands.
The metropolis of Greater Sydney in New South Wales, Australia, is informally subdivided into a number of geographic regions. The geographical definition of Greater Sydney spans across 33 local government areas and includes the Blue Mountains in the west, the Northern Beaches and the Hawkesbury in the north, the Royal National Park, the Wollondilly and Macarthur in the south, and Botany Bay in the east. These areas sometimes, but not always, roughly coincide with official boundaries of suburbs, local government authorities, or cadastral units, and some of the customary regions do not have well defined boundaries at all. Some commonly referred to regions overlap: for example, Canterbury-Bankstown is often referred to as a region, but it is also part of the South Western Sydney region. The regions themselves are not used as a formal jurisdiction, and generally do not have administrative or legislative bodies, although some regions are coterminous with a local government area, and in a number of regions that include multiple local government areas, Regional Organisations of Councils have been established that represent the councils in the region.
Bike paths in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, vary widely, with the majority either shared cycle and pedestrian paths or on road paths, and a small number of separated cycleways. In 2009 the Sydney Morning Herald reported that "Sydney's cycleways are not so much an organised network as a fragmented collection of winding paths and half-finished ideas. Most were built or designed when cycling was viewed as a pleasant pastime rather than a practical form of travel and are now poorly suited to commuting."
The Western Sydney Parklands is an urban park system and a nature reserve located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The NSW government has spent around $400 million for the park. The park is governed by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and is listed under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974. The Parklands begin in the north in the City of Blacktown, cross the City of Fairfield, and end in the City of Liverpool.
The Central Gardens Nature Reserve, also called Central Gardens, is a protected nature reserve and urban park located in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1976, the 12-hectare (30-acre) reserve, garden and fauna and wildlife park is situated in the suburb of Merrylands and is managed by Cumberland Council. The park is regionally important and it attracts visitors outside the Cumberland local government area. The bushland contains remnants of Cumberland Plain Woodland and is approximately 3.5 hectares.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Sydney:
The Woollahra Reservoir or WS022 is a heritage-listed underground reservoir at 5R Oxford Street, Centennial Park, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed and built by the NSW Public Works Department. The property is owned by Sydney Water. A sign attached to a building on the site states that this is known as "Centennial Park number 1 Water Reservoir Underground WS0022". The reservoir is adjacent to Centennial Park Reservoir. This reservoir is closer to York Street than Centennial Park Reservoir. The area is enclosed by a high fence and a sign on the main gate states: WARNING KEEP OUT" and that trespassers may be prosecuted.
The Centennial Park Reservoir or WS001 is a heritage-listed underground reservoir at 3R Oxford Street, Centennial Park, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed and built by NSW Public Works Department from 1896 to 1898. The property is owned by Sydney Water.
Prospect Nature Reserve is a nature reserve and recreational area that is situated in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, which incorporates the Prospect Reservoir, and also features picnic spots, lookouts, walking tracks and BBQ areas within the Australian bush. It is located within the Blacktown City local government area, but is also close to the boundaries of Cumberland Council and the City of Fairfield.
The Lennox River is the proposed name for a waterway located in Sydney's South-Western Suburbs. The existing waterway is the tidal reach of Prospect Creek, a tributary of the Georges River. A proposal has been made to upgrade and reclassify the waterway as a 'river'. The proposed river would be 6.5 kilometres (4 mi) long, starting at the confluence of Orphan School Creek and Prospect Creek at Fairfield and flowing to the Georges River emptying into Dhurawal Bay at Garrison Point.
The Grey Box Reserve, or Greystanes Grey Box Reserve, is a small nature reserve situated in the suburb of Greystanes, New South Wales in Western Sydney, Australia. A remnant bushland of the Cumberland Plain Woodland, it mainly features native vegetation. The reserve is so-named because of its abundance of Eucalyptus moluccana, reflecting the pre-European cultural landscape of the area.