Secrets of Moore Park as we celebrates its 150th anniversary; Ita Buttrose shares her memories
MOORE Park, the epicentre of Sydney’s sporting heart, is celebrating its 150th anniversary this weekend and its trustee, Ita Buttrose, shares her memories.
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IF you live in the east then Moore Park is your park — so says one of the park’s trustees and Moore Park resident Ita Buttrose.
Sharing her passion for the park in the lead up to its 150th birthday this Saturday, December 10, Ita said the grounds and its multitude of entertainment precincts at Moore Park hold a special place in her heart, and has done so for decades.
“I used to play tennis here on a regular basis, every Thursday a group of us would come and play tennis from 7pm until 9pm and then we’d all go to dinner — we’d turn up to the restaurant in our tennis whites and they’d look at us in some horror,” she said.
“Of course I often walk across here to see things at the SCG, my brothers used to take me to the football, and this is a walking area for me, I’m always walking around Moore Park and I guess it’s always been a fixture in my life.
“If you live in the east, this is your park.”
Ita said she also walks her eight-year-old groodle (golden retriever and poodle cross) Cleo in the park once a week and she is planning on bringing two of her five grandchildren along to the celebrations on Saturday, which run from 10am to 3pm.
“In the afternoon they are putting on a kids movie in the Fox entertainment centre so we’re having a full day in Moore Park.”
A free family day will be held to mark the park’s special birthday and will include amusement rides, special guests from the Sydney Swans and rugby league and union teams, food trucks, live performances, behind-the-scenes tours, activities for children and a giant birthday cake cutting ceremony. There will also be pony rides, a petting zoo, showbags, face painting and a display featuring the NSW Fire Brigade.
The festivities will be held in the upper Kippax Field area opposite Allianz Stadium and organisers advise the best way to get to the event is by public transport as parking on-site is limited.
The event will recognise the fascinating evolution of the park from its inception as cow pastures in 1811 to the site of a zoo in the 1880s and the allocation of a cricket ground and gardens to compliment the military facilities at Victoria Barracks.
The park also once housed a cemetery on the site of the now Moore Park Golf Course. The cemetery was closed in 1861 due to fears it might contaminate Sydney’s water supply which was drawn from Lachlan Swamps in an area that now forms part of Centennial Park.
In 1866 the Sydney Common Improvement Bill passed the State Parliament and 378 acres (153 hectares) of land was transferred to the management of the Sydney City Council. The council then set aside the land for public recreation — although it was already unofficially used for sport and recreation.
On April 29, 1867 a council report recommended that the land be designated with the name Moore Park in honour of Charles Moore, the then mayor of Sydney. The park was officially opened with a ceremony on September 9, 1868.
Over the next two decades several additions were made to the park including the Moore Park Zoological Gardens and the Sydney Showground, which became the home of the Royal Easter Show for 115 years.
Sport was also becoming a growing feature of Moore Park as early as 1874 and in 1876 the old military cricket ground was upgraded and officially dedicated as the NSW Cricket Association Ground, renamed the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1894. The first cricket match on the rebuilt ground was played between the Government Printing Office and the Audit Office.
The first Royal Easter Show was held at the Moore Park Showground in 1882 and that year also saw the creation of a golf course that also heralded the birth of the Australian Golf Club, which is now Australia’s oldest golf club.
Moore Park Zoo opened in 1884, becoming Sydney’s first public zoo, and closed in 1916, when the animals and birds were moved to Taronga Zoo at Mosman.
By the end of the 19th century Moore Park was Sydney’s most popular sporting and entertainment precinct, it featured a cricket ground, sporting stadium, golf course, racecourse, agricultural society showground, a running track and sporting fields that catered for cricket in summer and three codes of football in winter.
The body of water near the SCG known as Nanny Goat Swamp was renamed Kippax Lake in 1888 in honour of William Kippax, an alderman on Sydney City Council from 1863 to 1889.
In the 1950s there was concern that Kippax Lake would be filled in to make way for more car parking space but instead the decision was made that a nearby sandhill, known as Mount Lang, was levelled to allow for more parking.
Trams also once looped around Moore Park and in 917 Randwick Rd was widened and renamed Anzac Parade. A ceremony was held and an obelisk constructed to honour the fallen at a solemn event on March 15, 1917.
Following the closure of Moore Park Zoo in 1916, the former zoo site was converted into Sydney Girl’s High School, which opened in 1921, and Sydney Boy’s High School which opened in 1928.
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