The Domain is a heritage-listed area of open space on the eastern fringe of the Sydney central business district, Australia. Separating the central business district from Woolloomooloo, The Domain adjoins the Royal Botanic Garden and is managed by The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, a division of the Office of Environment & Heritage. The Domain is used as a venue for outdoor concerts, open-air events, large political gatherings and rallies, as well as being used daily by the people of Sydney for exercise and relaxation. Along with the Royal Botanic Garden, The Domain was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
History Early colonial use (1788–1809)
By July 1788, six months after the First Fleet had landed in Sydney Cove, Governor Arthur Phillip had established "a farm of of corn" by a stream which still flows through the present palm grove into appropriately named Farm Cove. Phillip set the land aside for the Crown but did not determine what its purpose would be. He said it should be free of leaseholds but then allowed people to use it anyway, as did subsequent Acting Government and Governors. The site received the first plants and seeds brought by Phillip from Rio de Janeiro and the Cape of Good Hope. Further up the valley of the stream that flowed into Farm Cove, Governor Phillip set aside an open area for the Governor's exclusive use known as the 'Phillip Domain'. It covered the area east of the Tank Stream to the head of Woolloomooloo (Walla Mulla) Bay. By September 1788 were cleared for crops. By 1789 agricultural activity had been mainly relocated to Rose Hill (Parramatta) due to much greater crop success there, and poor soil/results at Farm Cove. The Farm Cove (Woccanmagully) area was then leased out for private farming for the next twenty years. Between 1800 and 1807 grants of land were made under Governors Paterson and others to private farmers in Farm Cove's east (Anson's Point). The main botanic garden function was transferred to Rose Hill (Parramatta) between 1800 and 1810 under Governor King.
Despite a ditch being dug to define its boundary in 1792, the Domain was gradually encroached upon by others in subsequent years. Governor Bligh determined it should be the Governor's Domain in 1807 and the boundaries, especially the southern boundary, were changed. From 1807 Bligh resumed as The Domain, cancelled and converted former private farm grants on the eastern side of Farm Cove to public land incorporated back into the Governor's Domain. Farming activity decreased, buildings were demolished near (present) Government House and carriage roads around Bennelong Point and Farm Cove were constructed, along with the planting of a shrubbery and laying out of walks. Bligh's attempts to reclaim The Domain was among the many causes of the 'Rum Rebellion' of 26 January 1808.
Establishment of the Domain and Botanic Garden (1810–1830s) The southern part of The Domain was not set aside as a public park until 1810. As soon as he arrived in 1810, Bligh's successor Governor Macquarie built stone walls around the Government House garden and the Government Domain, separating them from Hyde Park. The traditional foundation date of the Botanic Garden is taken as the date of completion of Mrs Macquarie's Road, on 13 June 1816. By 1817 the Domain was completely enclosed and the road system completed including several gates to regulate horse-drawn traffic. The Domain itself was cleared of trees and opened as a public area in the 1830s. Eventually, the Inner Domain, the area closest to Government House, was entirely consumed by the Government Gardens while the area now known as the Domain was then the Outer Domain. Macquarie improved the garden, building a protecting wall on the harbour side and constructing and landscaping a road running around The Domain, north of the Government gardens/nursery at some distance from the shore, and bridging over Farm Cove Creek to Mrs Macquarie's Chair on Mrs Macquarie's Point in the east. Swamp mahogany (Eucalyptus robusta) trees were planted to line this road, perhaps the earliest "Street trees" planted in the colony. Another 1813–1816 planting was of the black booyong (Heritiera actinophylla) west of the palm grove, which remains. On the completion of these works the area was officially inaugurated as a Botanic Garden in 1816. In 1821 the Government House stables (now the Conservatorium of Music), designed by Government Architect Francis Greenway, was completed in The Domain's north near Macquarie and Bridge streets.
Despite the Domain being whittled away in subsequent years it remained an important buffer to the Botanic Garden. The native vegetation was cleared and the gullies of Phillip Precinct filled. During the 1830s the expansive green space of the Domain was now opened to the public, who strolled and picnicked there. The Domain west of Macquarie Street was then sold to pay for the construction of new Government House and Circular Quay. Throughout the 19th century, the south-western part of The Domain was gradually taken up by government and public buildings, including the Hyde Park Barracks, the Sydney Mint, Sydney Hospital, Parliament House, the State Library of New South Wales and the Land Registry Office. The Art Gallery of New South Wales was built on the eastern side of The Domain.
In 1831 the public use of The Domain was formally invited by Governor Darling, and became accepted policy (very controlled before that). In the 1830s the Lower Garden area at the head of Farm cove was developed and the shoreline laid out in an ornamental fashion with serpentine paths. Between 1837 and 1845 Government House built in The Domain's north (north of the current extent of the gardens).
The Domain Cricket Ground Cricket matches, which had been played in Hyde Park since the early 19th century, moved to the Domain in the 1850s. New South Wales had beaten Victoria by three wickets in their first inter-colonial match held in Melbourne in 1856. The return match was played in the Domain from 14 to 16 January 1857 and New South Wales won again, this time by 65 runs.
Although used for cricket for the next 14 years, the Domain was not a high quality ground even by the standards of the day. It was a rough, uneven, open paddock and cricketers clashed with the public who insisted it was public parkland. It was also still used to graze cattle and cow pats often had to be removed before a game could begin. Despite the fact that a game of cricket was a major occasion, often attended by the Governor, and the leading players promenaded with their ladies, the ground was not enclosed and spectators could not be charged an entrance fee.
These continuing problems were well known to those who attended a public meeting in the Domain on 13 December 1859 when the New South Wales Cricket Association was formed. The search began for a more suitable ground and was still going on when the first England side toured Australia in 1862. In the absence of another venue, they played a NSW XXII at the Domain.
A solution of sorts to the venue problem was found when the Albert Ground opened in Redfern on 29 October 1864. Although it featured good facilities for players and crowd alike, the cost to the NSWCA of staging matches there was so high that it continued to use the Domain until the early 1870s. In all, six first-class matches were played in the Domain between the 1856–57 and 1868–69 seasons.
Season Teams Date Result Ref 1856–57 New South Wales v Victoria 1857-01-14 14–16 January 1857 New South Wales won by 65 runs 1858–59 New South Wales v Victoria 1859-01-20 20–22 January 1859 Victoria won by 2 wickets 1860–61 New South Wales v Victoria 1861-02-14 14–16 February 1861 Victoria won by 21 runs 1862–63 New South Wales v Victoria 1863-02-05 5–7 February 1863 New South Wales won by 84 runs 1866–67 New South Wales v Victoria 1866-12-26 26–27 December 1866 New South Wales won by an innings and 13 runs 1868–69 New South Wales v Victoria 1869-03-04 4–6 March 1869 Victoria won by 78 runs
Developments and events in the twentieth century
The Domain was subsequently used for military and ceremonial events and evolved as a venue for soap box oratory and political meetings. From 1860 the Domain was opened up at night to pedestrians, allowing people to use this valuable recreational space on summer evenings. It became known as the Park where the Gates Never Close. Carriage traffic however remained restricted after dusk for many years. In The Domain gate lodge and gates were built at the junction of Hospital Road and Prince Albert Road, and the Victoria Lodge gate house and gates were built east of the Botanic Garden near Mrs Macquarie's Point.
The growing city of Sydney put great pressure on the Domain. A major encroachment was the construction of the Garden Palace for the Sydney International Exhibition (1879). Only its gates and some statues remain after a fire in 1882. The site of the Garden Palace was later absorbed into the Royal Botanic Garden. In 1883 of Outer Domain was incorporated into the Lower Garden, completing the ring of waterfront along Farm Cove. In the 1880s the Tarpeian Rock is a prominent, dramatic and significant sandstone cliff landscape feature on the north west boundary of The Domain facing Bennelong Point and the Sydney Opera House, cut for the extension of Macquarie Street. It derives its name from the famous rock on the Capitoline Hill in Rome from where prisoners were hurled to their deaths in ancient times. A stairway gives access from close to the Sydney Opera House to the top of the rock and the gardens. An early carving in the sandstone cliff is located about above the fifth step from the base of the cliff. The carving reads "The Tarpeian Way". It possibly dates from the time of construction in the 1880s.City of Sydney Heritage Database inventory: 8013
Between 1908 and 1916 the Conservatorium of Music was created in adapted former Governor's Stables in the Western Domain. By 1916 there were of gardens/Domain. During the 1920s, cut and cover tunnelling impacted the Western Domain to create City Circle underground rail line. Between 1956 and 1959 Outer Domain land was taken by Sydney City Council to construct a car park (now the Domain Car Parking station), with the resultant loss of 47 relatively rare trees, and land. The parking station can be accessed via a moving footway from College Street, near St Mary's and other surrounding roads.
A number of significant political rallies and meetings have occurred in the Domain, including Palm Sunday rallies, May Day demonstrations, and anti-war and anti-conscription protests. On 17 February 1935, the Czech journalist Egon Kisch addressed a crowd of 18,000 in the Domain warning of the dangers of Hitler's Nazi regime. His visit was organised by the Movement Against War and Fascism and vehemently opposed by the Lyons Government. Kisch polarized Australian politics in 1935 when he denounced Hitler's Nazi government and warned of war and concentration camps. During the bitter election campaign following the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975 the Australian Labor Party and its leader Gough Whitlam (who had recently been dismissed as Prime Minister by the Governor-General) held their policy launch in 'the Domain' on 24 November 1975 before a huge crowd. 30,000 attended the gathering, overspilling the Domain.
For decades, starting in the 1950s, the resistance fighter and anarchist Jelesko Grancharoff went to the Domain each Sunday to distribute anarchist newspapers, first Freedom, and later his own newspaper, Red and Black.