Centenary Square, Parramatta
Features and history
To celebrate the colony's centenary, in 1888 the Parramatta Borough Council erected, at a cost of A£600, the Centennial Memorial, a Victorian Free Classically-styled elaborate clock and drinking fountain.
To mark the opening of the Church Street Mall in 1986 and the closure of through traffic on Church Street, a time capsule was buried under one of the square's gardens by Janice Crosio MP, NSW Minister for Water Resources. In order to mark the Australian Bicentenary in 1988, the Parramatta City Council commissioned the sculpture, Procession, by artist Richard Goodwin.
The Parramatta City Council reverted the square's name to Centenary Square on 24 September 2014.
The commercial buildings surrounding the square are mainly two-storeyed, with one of the Murray Buildings (alongside the Town Hall and farthest from St Johns) are three storeys. Murray Brothers erected the town's first department store in 1926; and other major stores soon followed. This was also the site where Rev. Samuel Marsden once lived. Outside St John's Cathedral stands a memorial to those who served in World War I. This takes the form of a stone arch and plaques; and was erected in 1917.
The square serves as the eastern terminus of the proposed 65-kilometre (40 mi) Great West Walk connecting Parramatta and Penrith via the Western Sydney Parklands.
See also
References
- ^ "Bicentennial Square and Adjoining Buildings". New South Wales Heritage Database. Office of Environment & Heritage. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ "Parramatta Centennial Memorial Drinking Fountain". The Sydney Mail. 28 January 1888. p. 11. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ Plaque in main garden.
- ^ Plaque on sculpture.
- ^ Morris, Cathy (25 September 2014). "Parramatta's Church St Mall is now Centenary Square with a new state-of-the-art fountain as centrepiece". Parramatta Advertiser. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ Kass, Terry (2008). "Parramatta". Dictionary of Sydney. Dictionary of Sydney Trust. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ Plaque on memorial.
- ^ Gorrey, Megan (13 October 2019). "Sydney's new 65km walking track stretches from Parramatta to Penrith". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
- ^ "About". The Great West Walk. n.d. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- "About Centenary Square". Heritage Centre. Parramatta City Council. n.d.
- "Parramatta : Centenary Square (Bicentennial Square)" (photos). Scott Bird Photography. Scott Bird. n.d.