Barangaroo

People have been coming here for a long time, a gathering place for Aboriginals, who would of witnessed some of the first white European settlers arrive. Today many people are coming back to this special place.

In August 2016 there were sculptures to admire

 

Compare the Pear

The Crystal Ball

                                                 

On December 31st 2016 there were New Years Eve celebrations. 

Baby you're a Firework!

During January 2017 there was "The Beach" a sea of 1.1 million plastic balls, a part of the Sydney Festival.

The Beach with balls!

In Mid May it was the Finders Keepers Markets

And tonight it was Vivid

There's always a great reason to visit one of Sydney's newest attractions, Barangaroo Reserve. But you don't need these reasons to go and visit, the transformation to the landscape is reason enough to check out one of Sydney's most important revitalization projects in decades.

Before we look at the now, let's take a look back at the history of the site shall we? The area was named after an Aboriginal tribeswoman, who was a very important female leader to the Cammeraygal people at the time of European settlement.

In the beginning.....

Barangaroo was seen to have a presence and authority not only to her people but to the officers of the first fleet who met her in 1790. Her second husband, Bennelong, was an equally important figure in the history of Sydney, who subsequently had the area where Sydney Opera House is is named after him. Prior to the First Fleet's arrival, the area around Barangaroo was a very important to the Aborigine's for hunting and fishing.

As Sydney developed, the harbour became a very important shipping port and for the remainder of the 19th century it expanded quickly. This time in Sydney's history was also fairly infamous due to the burgeoning unemployment rates, illegal activities in the area and the onset of the bubonic plague that arrived in the very early 20th century. Due to the plague event, the NSW Government intervened and took control and became the authority of the habour port.

In 2003 the state government declared that Sydney Harbour's days as an operational port were over with all services moving to Botany bay. This announcement also signaled the potential future redevelopment of the Miller's Point area.

Fast forward a decade, after a significant planning process the first works on what would become a globally significant development had begun. Barangaroo Reserve was to be a recreation of a landscape that welcomed the first fleet way back in 1788. Turning the flat and lifeless concrete wharves into a raised, rocky outcrop that would encompass 6 hectares of parkland and open space available to the public for the first time in over a century.

Easy, right??? Even in theory it was going to be a massive task, an ambitious project the likes of Sydney had never seen. No landscaping project before had attempted to use 75,000 native plants, but this was no ordinary project. There were 84 Australian native species used through out the reserve, most of those species would have been there prior to European settlement.

The visual impact of the plant palette is emphasized by the use of large Cyathea tree ferns, Fig trees and Livistona palms scattered throughout the landscape. Many other species used were supplied in larger than commercially available sizes to give that established look.

That view though

 

The reserve is arranged in tiers, with plants of all shapes and sizes filling the the areas in between. Pathways lead up through and around the levels, so visitors get to see the park and surrounding headland from many different vantage points during their amble.

Choose your own adventure

The area at the top is very open and perfect for picnic's as you have a superb, almost 360 degree view from where you stand. It's a little bit of an effort to get up there though, so if you aren't a seasoned hiker (kidding - you don't need to be) there are also elevators for you.

Picnic anyone?

Aside from the wonderful plant display, the other major landscape piece you will notice is the immense use of standstone blocks used around the reserve to create retaining walls and man-made foreshores that link the old sea wall to the creation of a new cove.

Going up?

It is in fact one of a kind - no other project has ever used so much Sydney Sandstone before! In a city with many fine examples of sandstone such as the QVB building, The Australian Museum, Town Hall & Central Station. It's use at Barangaroo ties in well with the rich history using this material in the city landscape.

For sure you have to check out
the foreshore

The new 'man-made' cove

                                             

Like the planting undertaken in the reserve, the sandstone creation at Barangaroo was no walk in the park (pardon the pun). Overall, more than 10,00 blocks were used, a whopping 93% of this material was sourced on site during construction of the area know now as the 'cutaway'. The planning, design and engineering perspective is nothing short of amazing, here's some facts to wow you:

* The new headland follows the natural Sydney fault line

* Every grain of sandstone extracted from the site was returned back to the site, either as blocks or crushed up and mixed into the top soil

* It took a year to extract the sandstone used throughout the reserve

* Around 300 different sized blocks were used during the construction of the foreshore

* Each block was assigned a 'bar code' used to ID it through it's journey and final placement

*  A custom designed 12D modelling program designed to map the foreshore and cove and take those 'bar codes' and re-arrange the blocks like a giant 3D puzzle with almost seamless precision

Pretty cool huh? What is truly amazing is the transformation, its easy to forget what the area once looked like.

Before and After

If you have been to Barangaroo before you'll understand my enthusiasm about what is a wonderful public open space, that has been amazingly designed and painstakingly constructed. I have had immense pleasure have had a little part in it and always enjoy stopping in to say hello to my plants.

If you haven't been there, I say check it out! Especially before the new Casino drops in.

 Like I said at the beginning, there's something always happening - for more information check out What's on at Barangaroo and don't forget to say hi to my plants!