Sydney’s new headland park, Barangaroo Reserve has officially opened to the public. After two years of construction, the former concrete shipping container yard has been transformed into a natural reserve.
The six hectare headland park is located at the north-western tip of Sydney’s central business district. It involved mining almost 10,000 sandstone blocks from the headland to create a foreshore.
Paul Keating in full flight in a special Barangaroo #bairdseyeview, offering some leadership tips for politicians. https://t.co/TMcQu5jcCi — Mike Baird (@mikebairdMP) August 22, 2015
Former Prime Minister Paul Keating was the chairman of the design excellence review panel for the Barangaroo project from 2005 to 2011.
Mr Keating has long championed the project and said its completion marks an important achievement in a modern city like Sydney.
“This is a piece of fantasy,” Mr Keating said.
“They don’t build parks in the 21st century. They build buildings on things like this.”
The original space was destroyed decades ago by maritime development at Darling Harbour. The new headland has been inspired by what existed before 1836 and aims to restore the relationship with other headlands in Sydney Harbour.
“This will be more representative of any headland as it was before European settlement than any other,” said Mr Keating.
The designers of the park wanted to reconnect with the Aboriginal communities who originally lived on the land. The site is named after Barangaroo, an Cammeraygal woman early settlers described as powerful and strong.
“[Barangaroo] served Aboriginal people, my people, with honour, dignity and pride,” said Ann Weldon from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council.
“She embodies Aboriginal women and what we stand for today.”
Almost 75,000 native trees, plants and shrubs were planted to landscape the reserve. Most of the species were native to Sydney Harbour and were planted in January 2014.
The Reserve was designed by internationally renowned American landscape architect Peter Walker and built by Lendlease Engineering.
“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” said Mr Walker.
“Wait until these trees grow.”
