Monuments and memorials

Parramatta Park is one of Australia’s most significant historical areas. It is home to more than 100 archaeological sites relating to Aboriginal history and is one of the 11 Australian convict sites listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Register.

The park’s monuments and memorials offer a fascinating insight into the past.

There are 6 gatehouses in Parramatta Park at the entrances on:

• George Street (the Tudor Gatehouse)
• Ross Street
• Park Road
• Macquarie Street
• Great Western Highway at Mays Hill
• Queens Road.

The park’s gatehouses date back to the 1870s. They were strategically placed and have different styles, ranging from the grand, Tudor-style George Street Gatehouse and the Gothic-style Macquarie Street Gatehouse, to humbler and functional entrances.

The George Street Gatehouse is a key entry point to the park and an iconic landmark in Parramatta. It was built by the Parramatta Park Trust in 1885 on the site of Governor Macquarie’s small stone lodge. The architect was Scottish-born Gordon McKinnon. Local builders Hart and Lavors constructed the gatehouse and local blacksmith T Forsyth made the wrought iron gates.

Governor Brisbane built an observatory in the park in 1821, in keeping with the era’s spirit of discovery. The observatory’s transit stones – which originally supported a transit telescope – were used as the meridian mark for explorer Thomas Mitchell’s first trigonometric survey of Australia in 1828.

The observatory building fell into ruin and was demolished in 1848. Only the transit stones were left standing. Instruments from the observatory are now in the collection of the Powerhouse Museum.

The Bath House was completed in 1823 for Governor Brisbane. It has been associated with 2 colonial architects, Francis Greenway and Standish Harris.

The Bath House contains archaeological remains related to a pumping system that brought water to the building and heated it as well. In 1886, the Bath House was converted to a pavilion, which survives today.

The Boer War Memorial was erected in 1904. It commemorates the first overseas military engagement in which troops representing Australia, as distinct from Britain, took part.

Significantly, the first of the Australian troops to arrive in Africa in 1899 to take part in the Boer War came from the Lancer Barracks, Parramatta. A total of 100 Lancers from the surrounding districts took part in engagements.

William E. Hart was the first Australian to fly a plane and the first qualified pilot in Australia. This memorial commemorates an early, pioneering cross-country flight from Penrith to Parramatta Park on 4 November 1911.

The first such flight in Australia, it saw Hart competing against Wizard Stone of America. Hart won in 23 minutes after Stone lost his way and landed at Lakemba.

This memorial commemorates the place where Lady FitzRoy and the governor’s aide, Lieutenant Charles Masters, were killed when their carriage, driven by Governor FitzRoy, overturned and hit a tree in 1847.

The unfortunate event signalled a period of decline for the area, as Governor FitzRoy stopped visiting the site where the accident happened, and Government House and the area known as Government Domain fell into disrepair.

View also Rose Hill and Government Farm – significant historical sites within the park.