Macquarie Place

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Macquarie Place in the 1920s
Macquarie Place in the 1920s

Macquarie Place is a small, triangular park in downtown Sydney, Australia. It is located at the corner of Bridge Street and Loftus Street, and is named after Governor Lachlan Macquarie.

An obelisk from 1818 and designed by the New South Wales Government Architect, Francis Greenway, is located in the park and records the distance to various locations in New South Wales along the earliest roads developed in the colony. Later a cannon and anchor taken from the Norfolk Island wreckage of the First Fleet flagship, HMS Sirius, were placed in the park.

Many important institutions have had establishments at Macquarie Place. In 1817 Australia's first bank the Bank of New South Wales (later to become Westpac in 1982) opened in Macquarie Place. The State Library of New South Wales briefly had premises in the place during the 1830s. Opposite the place in Bridge Street is the original New South Wales Lands Department head office, which was the department responsible for surveying and mapping New South Wales.

Unveiling of the Thomas Mort statue in Macquarie Place, 1883
Unveiling of the Thomas Mort statue in Macquarie Place, 1883

In 1883 a statue of early Australian Industrialist, Thomas Mort was unveiled in the park. In 1954 Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh commenced the start of the Remembrance Driveway by planting Plane trees in Macquarie Place.

The Great North Walk to Newcastle starts/ends at the obelisk in Macquarie Place.

Macquarie Obelisk, Macquarie Place, Sydney
Macquarie Obelisk, Macquarie Place, Sydney