Bicentennial Park, WatervieW Convention Centre

The WatervieW Convention Centre overlooks Lake Belvedere and hosts many events and functions in Bicentennial Park, in the western suburb of Homebush Bay.

Bicentennial Park education centre

The Bicentennial Park Education Centre at Homebush Bay is a place to learn about the parklands, the wetland ecosystem and the environment.

Bicentennial Park, entrance

This entrance to Bicentennial Park is along Australia Avenue, in the western suburb of Homebush Bay. It features a lattice clock tower and fence. The trees behind the clock tower are the ones that could be seen in my photo of the lake here.

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Bicentennial Park, Trelliage Tower

The Treillage Tower is located at the highest point of Bicentennial Park, in the western suburb of Homebush Bay. The tower sits at one end of an avenue of plane trees, with a fountain at the other end. It is a 3 storey, 17 metre high viewing tower constructed with trellis. Treillage is a French word for lattice, which was commonly used in gardens in the 16th century. The tower provides great views of Bicenttennial Park, Homebush Bay, Parramatta River and the Sydney city skyline.

Linked to: Skywatch Friday.

Bicentennial Park sundial

The Bicentennial Park Sundial at Homebush Bay is described as a Horizontal Sundial.

It was a bit late in the day so the shadows from nearby trees prevented me from showing its intended purpose, which is to display the time.

Bicentennial Park, Lake Belvedere

The picturesque Lake Belvedere at Bicentennial Park, in the western suburb of Homebush Bay, was previously a rubbish tip. 
Linked to: Watery Wednesday

Bicentennial Park, Peace monument

The Peace Monument is a contemporary sculpture in Bicentennial Park at Homebush Bay. It was commissioned to celebrate the International Year of Peace in 1996. The layout is based on a complex interplay involving the Earth’s axis and the trajectories followed by the planets in our Solar System. It illustrates what it might be like to be out in space looking back at earth to remind us of our fragile place in the solar system. Because we don't feel or see the earth turning, we are rarely conscious that we live on a sphere constantly spinning through space. Throughout history, bells have been rung to celebrate the achievement of peace. There are three bells here for The Earth, The Moon and Space.

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Bicentennial Park, Silent Hearts Memorial Garden

The Silent Hearts Memorial Garden in Bicentennial Park, Homebush Bay.

Bicentennial Park wetlands

Bicentennial Park sits on the shore of Homebush Bay, beside Sydney Olympic Park. It was created in 1988 to celebrate Australia's Bicentenary. It involved recycling over 40 hectares of a former rubbish dump into a regional recreation area and the conservation of 53 hectares of a wetland ecosystem on the Parramatta River. The wetlands feature boardwalks and viewing towers.
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Homebush Bay, Brickpit Ring Walkway

The Brickpit Ring Walk at Homebush Bay above the former brick pit. A monument to the brickworks made from machinery from the former brickworks can be seen here.

Homebush Bay, Brickpit Ring Walk

This pond was originally a brickpit which was going to be redeveloped as a tennis complex, as part of Olympic Park for the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. During construction, the endangered Green and Golden Bell Frog was discovered living here, so the development was moved and the habitat was protected. The Brickpit Ring Walk was built to allow visitors to view the habitat from above.  I featured this walkway here a couple of months back. On a return visit there were some great clouds above which were reflected in the pond below, so it was worth photographing again.

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Wolli Creek, palm trees

 These palm trees and flowers are a welcome new addition in Cahill Park beside the Cooks River, viewed from the Princes Highway in the southern suburb of Wolli Creek.

Tempe, Cooks River, wakeboarding

The unseasonal warm weather on the weekend brought out the wakeboarders on the Cooks River at Tempe.
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Pyrmont, school

The former Pyrmont Public School is a heritage listed building in John Street, in the inner west suburb of Pyrmont. It was designed by William Kemp and built in 1891 in the Victorian Italianate style.

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Dulwich Hill, high school

The Dulwich High School of Visual Arts and Design, features this historic building on Seaview Street, in the inner west suburb of Dulwich Hill. It was designed by William E. Kemp in the Romanesque style.

Dulwich Hill hotel

The Gladstone Hotel built in 1900 is on the corner of New Canterbury Road and Marrickville Road, in the inner west suburb of Dulwich Hill.

Earlwood, Cooks River

The Cooks River looking west between the inner west suburbs of Earlwood and Dulwich Hill. Marrickville Golf Course is located along the north bank of the river, while parkland and a bicycle track run along the south bank. This shot is a bit further upstream from yesterday's sunset photos.

Linked to: Weekend Reflections.

Undercliffe, Cooks River, sunset

A perfect mirror image of the sunset was produced on the Cooks River, between the suburbs south western suburb of Undercliffe and the inner west suburb of Marrickville. This view is from Undercliffe Bridge which carries Illawarra Road over the river. The change of sunset colours minutes later can be seen here.

Linked to: Skywatch Friday.

Botany Bay, coastal patrol

This coastal patrol boat was moored in Botany Bay, just off the beach at Brighton-Le-Sands. In the background, a plane is coming in to land on the Sydney Airport runway that extends into the bay and a ship that uses the port facilities at Port Botany can be seen between the heads.

Brighton-Le-Sands, First Fleet Bicentennial Monument

The Bicentennial Monument stands in Cook Park, on the foreshore of Botany Bay, in the southern suburb of Brighton-Le-Sands. Erected in 1988, it commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet in Botany Bay in 1788, the first Europeans settlers in Australia. The names of all those new arrivals are engraved on this monument flanked by a couple of old cannons.

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Pyrmont, Star City Casino

When the Star City Casino first opened in Sydney in 1995, as Sydney's only legal casino, it operated out of one of old wharves at Pyrmont. Later, it relocated to this purpose-built facility that features the casino, a hotel, theatre, nightclubs, bars, restaurants and a shopping arcade.

Pyrmont, wharves

The old wharves on Jones Bay, in the inner west suburb of Pyrmont. The view from the opposite direction can be seen here.

Balmain East, Peacock Point

An old boat anchor sits on Peacock Point, in the inner west suburb of Balmain East. The wharves on Jones Bay at Pyrmont and Johnstons Bay towards the Anzac Bridge can be seen behind it.

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Balmain East, ferry wharf

The Balmain East Ferry wharf sits at the end of Darling Street, in the inner west suburb of Balmain East. Also sometimes known as the Darling Street wharf, it provides brilliant views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Barangaroo and the city skyline.

MLC Centre

The MLC Centre, one of the tallest skyscrapers in Sydney, rises to 67 floors above Castlereagh Street between Martin Place and King Street. It contains an office tower, a retail precinct and the Theatre Royal. The MLC Centre was Sydney's tallest office building from 1977 to 1992. Sydney Tower has been the tallest structure in Sydney since it was built in 1981. The next tallest skyscrapers in Sydney, in order of height, are Chifley Tower 1992, Citigroup Centre 2000, Deutsche Bank Place 2005, World Tower 2004 and MLC Centre 1977.

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Barangaroo, Sydney skyline

Barangaroo is the new suburb along the western foreshore of the Sydney Central Business District. An urban renewal project will create new parklands, commercial and residential areas here. The name Barangaroo honours an indigenous woman from Sydney's early history who was a powerful and colourful figure in the colonisation of Australia. She was also the wife of Bennelong, another important indigenous figure after whom Bennelong Point is named which is the site of the Sydney Opera House, on the other side of the Central Business District.

Barangaroo, Harbour Control Tower, Harbour Bridge

The areas to the west of the Sydney Central Business District once contained the city's port facilities. A few years ago, the port facilities were moved from Sydney Harbour to Port Botany, but the Sydney Ports Harbour Control Tower remains here. The view above shows its proximity to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. During the Great Depression, the area had been nicknamed The Hungry Mile because harbourside workers would line up along the road opposite the wharves as foremen chose the casual labourers for the day and those without work were often left hungry. The nickname has now been officially recognised as a city locality and the suburb that will be developed here will be known as Barangaroo. The whole sandstone cliff can be seen here.

Linked to: Watery Wednesday

The Great Synagogue

 The Great Synagogue is located on Elizabeth Street, opposite Hyde Park, and stretches back to Castlereagh Street. This heritage listed building, designed by architect Thomas Rowe in the Victorian Free Gothic architectural style, was consecrated in 1878. We're right in the middle of winter and all the leaves have dropped off the trees, so at this time of year you get an uninterrupted view of some of these great buildings in the city. The Great Synagogue consists of two main sections: the original synagogue, house of worship with ladies’ gallery at the Elizabeth Street end, and a five storey modern section at the Castlereagh Street end.

St James Court

This view of the old St James Court is from Elizabeth Street. It sits behind the King Street Court. Hyde Park is to the right of this building, across St James Road.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

This scenic view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge is from Observatory Hill at Millers Point.

The sky was a bit overcast on that weekend when the Aboriginal flag was flown for NAIDOC week, beside the Australian flag on the bridge.
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Milsons Point, Luna Park (Theme Day: Night)

The entrance to Luna Park, an amusement park in the north shore suburb of Milsons Point, is lit up at night.
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