Sydney Olympic Park
Encyclopedia
Sydney Olympic Park is a suburb
in western
Sydney
, in the state of New South Wales
, Australia
. Sydney Olympic Park is located 16 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district
, in the local government area of Auburn Council
.
Originally part of the suburb
of Homebush Bay, the area was redeveloped for the 2000 Olympics. The facilities built continue to be used for sporting and cultural events, including the Sydney Royal Easter Show
, Sydney Festival
, Big Day Out
and a number of world-class sporting fixtures. The suburb also contains commercial development and extensive parklands.
lived in the area before British settlement. The area was called "The Flats" by a scouting party shortly after the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. It became part of the Newington Estate in 1807, which was acquired by John Blaxland
. The Government acquired some of the land for an aged women's home in the late 19th century. Much of the land was reclaimed from the river and wetlands by landfill.
In the mid-1980s, an area bounded by Australia Avenue and what are now Herb Elliott
Avenue and Sarah Durack
Avenue was promoted as a 'technology park' called the Australia Centre. However, apart from a few relatively high tech businesses like AWA
Microelectronics, BASF
, Philips
and Sanyo
, the idea did not catch on and the Australian Technology Park
is now in Eveleigh
. In any event, a decade later the entire area became the site for the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Before its transformation, a large part of Olympic Park was an industrial
wasteland after more than a century of industrial and military activities on the site. The site was once home to a brickworks
, abattoir and an armaments depot as well as being the site for eight of Sydney's rubbish dumps.
The parklands have undergone redevelopment with Blaxland Riverside Park (formerly Blaxland Common) being transformed into an urban park along Parramatta River
. The Park opened on 3 March 2007. In addition the Wentworth Common area was upgraded with significant adventure playground facilities for children aged 8–13 years.
Auburn Council
sought public comment on a proposal to rename the Homebush Bay area, to remove confusion with its namesake suburb Homebush
. The area encompassing Sydney Olympic Park
was given autonomy as a suburb, the waterfront residential area was renamed Wentworth Point
and the Carter Street industrial precinct was absorbed by the neighbouring suburb of Lidcombe
.
Currently there are more than 5000 events held at the park each year, including the Sydney Royal Easter Show
, Rugby Union
, National Rugby League
, Australian Football League
and Australian Rugby League
games at ANZ Stadium, and athletics
and swimming
events. It hosts the Big Day Out
music festival and has been the venue for free, open air performances as part of the Sydney Festival
such as Movies in the Overflow and Music by Moonlight.
The Newington Armory has in the past been the venue for the now-defunct "Great Escape" and "Acoustica at the Armory" music festivals, both of which were held over the Easter long weekend. Some venues function have changed from the original uses in the 2000 Olympics, such as the Baseball stadium shown on this map which has become the Sydney Showground, the former Sydney Superdome is now known as Allphones Arena and the Olympic Stadium has been renamed ANZ Stadium, following on from its prior sponsor Telstra
. The latter two venues are now very successful in their own right, with the stadium serving as the venue for 49 major sporting events in 2007 and the Arena being the world's second-highest grossing venue of its type in the world in 2005 - behind only New York City's Madison Square Garden
.
In August 2009, the funerals for the murdered Lin family
was held here.
In December 2009 and 2010, the V8 Supercar
event the Sydney 500
, was held through the streets of the Olympic precinct.
The Master Plan 2030 vision is that the Park will, by 2030, be home to a daily population of 50,000 residents, students and workers, in addition to 10 million visitors per year.
project of the Homebush Bay area, prior to the Olympic bid, so the renewal masterplan was altered to accommodate venues for the 2000 Olympics.
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
in western
Greater Western Sydney
Greater Western Sydney is a term used to describe the western region of the metropolitan area of Sydney, Australia. The University of Western Sydney defines Greater Western Sydney as comprising 14 local government areas...
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...
, in the state of 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...
, 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...
. Sydney Olympic Park is located 16 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district
Sydney central business district
The Sydney central business district is the main commercial centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It extends southwards for about 3 kilometres from Sydney Cove, the point of first European settlement. Its north–south axis runs from Circular Quay in the north to Central railway station in...
, in the local government area of Auburn Council
Auburn Council
Auburn Council is the governing body of a local government area in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, about 15 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district...
.
Originally part of the suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of Homebush Bay, the area was redeveloped for the 2000 Olympics. The facilities built continue to be used for sporting and cultural events, including the Sydney Royal Easter Show
Sydney Royal Easter Show
The Sydney Royal Easter Show, also known as the Royal Easter Show or simply The Show, is an annual show held in Sydney, Australia over two weeks around Easter.It is run by the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales and was first held in 1823...
, Sydney Festival
Sydney Festival
Sydney Festival is Australia's largest and most attended annual cultural event running every January since it was first held in 1977. Its program features around 80 events including contemporary and classical music, dance, circus, drama, visual arts and artist talks...
, Big Day Out
Big Day Out
The Big Day Out is an annual music festival held in several cities in Australia and New Zealand in late January. It started in Sydney in 1992, spread to Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth by 1993, with the Gold Coast and Auckland joining in 1994...
and a number of world-class sporting fixtures. The suburb also contains commercial development and extensive parklands.
History
The Wangal clan of Indigenous AustraliansIndigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
lived in the area before British settlement. The area was called "The Flats" by a scouting party shortly after the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. It became part of the Newington Estate in 1807, which was acquired by John Blaxland
John Blaxland
John Blaxland was a pioneer settler and explorer in Australia.-Early life:Blaxland was born in Kent, the eldest son of John Blaxland and Mary, née Parker, of Fordwich, Kent, England. He was the older brother of Gregory Blaxland. John Blaxland was educated at The King's School, Canterbury, later...
. The Government acquired some of the land for an aged women's home in the late 19th century. Much of the land was reclaimed from the river and wetlands by landfill.
In the mid-1980s, an area bounded by Australia Avenue and what are now Herb Elliott
Herb Elliott
Herbert James "Herb" Elliott AC MBE is a former Australian athlete, one of the world's greatest middle distance runners...
Avenue and Sarah Durack
Fanny Durack
Sarah Frances "Fanny" Durack was an Australian swimmer. From 1910 until 1918 she was the world's greatest female swimmer of all distances from freestyle sprints to the mile marathon.-Life and career:...
Avenue was promoted as a 'technology park' called the Australia Centre. However, apart from a few relatively high tech businesses like AWA
Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Limited
Amalgamated Wireless Ltd . Throughout most of the 20th century AWA was Australia's largest and most prominent electronics organisation, undertaking development, manufacture and distribution of radio, telecommunications, television and audio equipment as well as broadcasting services.After the...
Microelectronics, BASF
BASF
BASF SE is the largest chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Germany. BASF originally stood for Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik . Today, the four letters are a registered trademark and the company is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and Zurich Stock...
, Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
and Sanyo
Sanyo
is a major electronics company and member of the Fortune 500 whose headquarters is located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo targets the middle of the market and has over 230 Subsidiaries and Affiliates....
, the idea did not catch on and the Australian Technology Park
Australian Technology Park
The Australian Technology Park is a business and technology centre in Eveleigh, an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia...
is now in Eveleigh
Eveleigh, New South Wales
Eveleigh is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Eveleigh is located about 3 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney.- History :...
. In any event, a decade later the entire area became the site for the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Before its transformation, a large part of Olympic Park was an industrial
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
wasteland after more than a century of industrial and military activities on the site. The site was once home to a brickworks
Brickworks
A brickworks also known as a brick factory, is a factory for the manufacturing of bricks, from clay or shale. Usually a brickworks is located on a clay bedrock often with a quarry for clay on site....
, abattoir and an armaments depot as well as being the site for eight of Sydney's rubbish dumps.
Climate
After 2000 Olympics
With the successful completion of the 2000 Olympics, Sydney Olympic Park has undergone a significant amount of development work to support its conversion to a multipurpose facility with a number of businesses re-locating to the area. Commercial developments now sit alongside sporting facilities with tenants in office buildings such as Commonwealth Bank from September 2007. A five-star Pullman hotel and a two-star Formule 1 hotel were completed in mid-2008.The parklands have undergone redevelopment with Blaxland Riverside Park (formerly Blaxland Common) being transformed into an urban park along Parramatta River
Parramatta River
The Parramatta River is a waterway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson, along with the smaller Lane Cove and Duck Rivers....
. The Park opened on 3 March 2007. In addition the Wentworth Common area was upgraded with significant adventure playground facilities for children aged 8–13 years.
Auburn Council
Auburn Council
Auburn Council is the governing body of a local government area in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, about 15 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district...
sought public comment on a proposal to rename the Homebush Bay area, to remove confusion with its namesake suburb Homebush
Homebush, New South Wales
Homebush is an inner western suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Homebush is located 15 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Strathfield. Homebush West and Homebush Bay are separate suburbs...
. The area encompassing Sydney Olympic Park
Sydney Olympic Park
Sydney Olympic Park is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Sydney Olympic Park is located 16 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Auburn Council....
was given autonomy as a suburb, the waterfront residential area was renamed Wentworth Point
Wentworth Point, New South Wales
Wentworth Point is a suburb of western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Wentworth Point is located 16 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Auburn Council...
and the Carter Street industrial precinct was absorbed by the neighbouring suburb of Lidcombe
Lidcombe, New South Wales
Lidcombe is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales Australia. Lidcombe is located 14 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Auburn Council....
.
Events
Sydney Royal Easter Show
The Sydney Royal Easter Show, also known as the Royal Easter Show or simply The Show, is an annual show held in Sydney, Australia over two weeks around Easter.It is run by the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales and was first held in 1823...
, Rugby Union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
, National Rugby League
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
, Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
and Australian Rugby League
Australian Rugby League
The Australian Rugby League is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in Australia. It is made up of state bodies, including the New South Wales Rugby League and the Queensland Rugby League...
games at ANZ Stadium, and athletics
Athletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...
and swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
events. It hosts the Big Day Out
Big Day Out
The Big Day Out is an annual music festival held in several cities in Australia and New Zealand in late January. It started in Sydney in 1992, spread to Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth by 1993, with the Gold Coast and Auckland joining in 1994...
music festival and has been the venue for free, open air performances as part of the Sydney Festival
Sydney Festival
Sydney Festival is Australia's largest and most attended annual cultural event running every January since it was first held in 1977. Its program features around 80 events including contemporary and classical music, dance, circus, drama, visual arts and artist talks...
such as Movies in the Overflow and Music by Moonlight.
The Newington Armory has in the past been the venue for the now-defunct "Great Escape" and "Acoustica at the Armory" music festivals, both of which were held over the Easter long weekend. Some venues function have changed from the original uses in the 2000 Olympics, such as the Baseball stadium shown on this map which has become the Sydney Showground, the former Sydney Superdome is now known as Allphones Arena and the Olympic Stadium has been renamed ANZ Stadium, following on from its prior sponsor Telstra
Telstra
Telstra Corporation Limited is an Australian telecommunications and media company, building and operating telecommunications networks and marketing voice, mobile, internet access and pay television products and services....
. The latter two venues are now very successful in their own right, with the stadium serving as the venue for 49 major sporting events in 2007 and the Arena being the world's second-highest grossing venue of its type in the world in 2005 - behind only New York City's Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
.
In August 2009, the funerals for the murdered Lin family
Lin family murders
The Lin family murders were the 2009 killings of North Epping news-agent Min Lin, his wife Yun Lin, her sister Irene Lin and their two sons Henry , and Terry . The family were bludgeoned to death with a blunt instrument, which was never found...
was held here.
In December 2009 and 2010, the V8 Supercar
V8 Supercar
V8 Supercars is a touring car racing category based in Australia and run as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile regulations...
event the Sydney 500
Sydney 500
The Sydney Telstra 500 is a V8 Supercar motor racing event held annually at Homebush Street Circuit. The event is the last on the V8 Supercar calendar. The event is sponsored by Telstra and is officially known as the Sydney Telstra 500....
, was held through the streets of the Olympic precinct.
Culture
The suburb is home to a significant arts and cultural program including regular events, the largest single precinct public art collection in Australia, the Armoury Gallery which is the largest single room permanent art exhibition space in the Southern Hemisphere, a new theatre and an artist studio facility at Newington Armoury. The suburb is fully dedicated to environmentally and socially sustainable practices and has committed to 'Master Plan 2030': an opportunity to establish a best practice example of sustainable urban development for the next 20 years of the Park's growth.The Master Plan 2030 vision is that the Park will, by 2030, be home to a daily population of 50,000 residents, students and workers, in addition to 10 million visitors per year.
Management
Sydney Olympic Park is managed by the Sydney Olympic Park Authority. The site was previously intended for a massive urban renewalUrban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
project of the Homebush Bay area, prior to the Olympic bid, so the renewal masterplan was altered to accommodate venues for the 2000 Olympics.
- Prior to 1995 (Pre Olympic Site) - Homebush Bay Development Corporation
- 1995 to 2001 - Olympic Co-Ordination Authority
- 2001 to present - Sydney Olympic Park Authority
Sydney 2000 Olympics venues
- ANZ Stadium - Formerly Stadium Australia & Telstra Stadium (capacity: 110,000 at time of Olympics, now 83,500)
- Allphones Arena - formerly Sydney Superdome & Acer Arena (capacity: Concert 21,000; Basketball 18,000; Gymnastics 15,000)
- Sydney ShowgroundSydney Showground (Homebush Bay)The Sydney Showground is a purpose built venue used each year for the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Located at Sydney Olympic Park in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, it was opened in 1998, as a venue for the 2000 Summer Olympics and to replace the ageing old Sydney Showground at Moore Park...
- Home of Sydney's Royal Easter Show. Includes Skoda Stadium (capacity: 13,000 between 1998-2011, 25,000 from 2012). - Sydney Olympic Park Athletic CentreSydney Olympic Park Athletic CentreSydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre is a multi-use stadium in Homebush, Australia. The capacity of the stadium is 18,000 spectators. It also hosted the 1996 World Junior Championships in Athletics.-External links:*...
(capacity: Grandstand 5,000; Grass 10,000) - Sydney International Aquatic CentreSydney International Aquatic CentreThe Sydney International Aquatic Centre is a swimming venue in Sydney, Australia. For the 2000 Summer Olympics, it hosted the swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, the medal events for water polo, and the swimming portion of the modern pentathlon competitions...
(capacity: 17,500) - Sydney Olympic Park Tennis CentreNSW Tennis CentreNSW Tennis Centre is a tennis venue in Sydney, Australia. It hosted the tennis events for the 2000 Summer Olympics, and each year it hosts the Sydney International in January, before the Australian Open...
(capacity: 16,200) - Sydney Olympic Park Hockey Centre (capacity: 15,000)
- Sydney Olympic Park Sports CentreState Sports CentreThe State Sports Centre is a multi-use indoor arena in Sydney, Australia. It hosted the table tennis and taekwondo events for the 2000 Summer Olympics....
(capacity: 5,000) - Sydney Olympic Park ArcheryArcheryArchery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
Centre (capacity: 4,500) - Sydney Olympic Park Sports Halls
Non-Olympic facilities
- Sydney Olympic Park GolfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
Centre - Monster Mountain X - Mountain BikingMountain bikingMountain biking is a sport which consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially adapted mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.Mountain biking can...
- Monster BMX
- Monster Skate Park
- Armory Gallery
- Armory Theatre
Accommodation
- NovotelNovotelNovotel is a mid-scale hotel brand within the Accor group. Novotel has close to 400 hotels and resorts in 60 countries, situated in the business districts and tourist destinations of major international cities.-History:...
and Hotel IbisHotel IbisIbis is an international hotel company, owned by Accor hotels. It has 800 hotels in 40 countries around the world, with over 370 in France and most of the remainder elsewhere in Europe...
, Sydney Olympic Park - Pullman Hotel, Sydney Olympic Park
- Formule 1, Sydney Olympic Park
- Sydney Olympic Park Lodge - Newington Armory
- Former Olympic Village - now suburb of Newington, SydneyNewington, New South WalesNewington is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales Australia. Newington is located 19 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Auburn Council....
Transport
Sydney Olympic Park is served by the Olympic Park railway line and Olympic Park railway station. There are also regular ferry services to the nearby Sydney Olympic Park Ferry Wharf, at the end of Hill Road, serviced by Sydney Ferries to and from various points around Sydney Harbour.Parklands
- Bicentennial ParkBicentennial ParkBicentennial Park may refer to:In Australia:* Bicentennial Park, Homebush Bay in Sydney, New South Wales* Bicentennial Park, Rockdale in the Sydney suburb of Rockdale* Bicentennial Park South Football Stadium in the Sydney suburb of Rockdale...
- 40 Hectares of Parkland, opened in 1988 to celebrate Australia's BicentenaryAustralian BicentenaryThe bicentenary of Australia was celebrated in 1970 on the 200th anniversary of Captain James Cook landing and claiming the land, and again in 1988 to celebrate 200 years of permanent European settlement.-1970:... - Wentworth Common
- Archery Park
- Blaxland Riverside Park along Parramatta River
- The Brickpit
- 425 Hectares of parkland throughout the Sydney Olympic Park site
Restricted areas
- Newington Armory - Former ArmoryArmory (military)An armory or armoury is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...
Store for the Royal Australian NavyRoyal Australian NavyThe Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...
- limited public access related to events and Sunday open days - Newington Nature Reserve