Centennial Park opens in Sydney
- 1888 - Centennial Park - Sydney - Sir Henry Parkes - century of white settlement -
27 January 1888 - Centennial Park was handed over to the people of Sydney yesterday as one of the highlights of Anniversary Day celebrations.
The inaugural ceremony has fulfilled the dream of NSW Premier Sir Henry Parkes, who earmarked the land for public parklands when elected to office last year.
Though the Premiers original idea was to name it Queens Park, the park has been named Centennial Park as a monument to the beginnings of white settlement in this country a hundred years ago.
Formerly known as the Lachlan Swamps, the site was once used as the source of Sydney’s water supply.
Among the trees planted at the dedication ceremony were Port Jackson and Moreton Bay figs and Norfolk Island pines.
Australia turns 100
27 January 1888 - Australians everywhere saluted our first century of white settlement yesterday in a range of Anniversary Day celebrations. Fireworks, parades and a State Banquet were high points of the day, and thousands of proud Australians turned out to mark our first hundred years.
Thanks to the unrelenting toil of the pioneer settlers, explorers, businessmen and farmers, what began as a distant prison of Britain is now a free and prosperous nation on the brink of Federation. One hundred years after the Union Jack first unfurled on our shores, Australia’s six colonies are home to more than 4 million people.
Special cut-priced train fares were offered by the NSW Government in order to attract people from rural communities to the city to take part in the centenary celebrations. Celebrations in Sydney began last Tuesday when a statue of Queen Victoria was unveiled in King Street.
On Wednesday, the government distributed gifts of food to the poor in both the city and suburbs. By nightfall yesterday, almost 7,000 people had received the centennial offering.
Among the ceremonies which took place yesterday was the dedication of Centennial Park to the people of Sydney. The huge park, formerly known as the Lachlan Swamps, has been permanently reserved for public use.
Foundation stones of a Centennial Hall and a Trades Hall were also laid in Sydney.
NSW Premier Sir Henry Parkes was guest of honour at a State Banquet last night.
A special Centennial Exhibition in conjunction with the Agricultural Society of NSW was opened by His Excellency the Governor Lord Carrington yesterday. Around 10 000 people attended during the day.
Many participants in the upcoming Inter-colonial Band Contest performed in public parks and squares yesterday. The free concerts will continue throughout the weekend.
An ecumenical religious service representing most Christian faiths will be held in the Exhibition Building this Sunday, 29 January at 3.00 p.m.
A centennial Cantata will be held in the Exhibition Building at Prince Alfred Park on Monday, 30 January, in which nearly 2,000 singers and musicians are expected to perform.
Many businesses around the country have been closed at various times during the week- long holiday celebrations.
In South Australia, however, authorities refused to take part in centenary festivities. They said that, as a non-convict colony, the people there had no reason to celebrate the establishment of distant penal settlements.