SYDNEY INSIGHTS #8 - DARLING HARBOUR

DARLING HARBOUR 1900

It may be hard to recognise her, but this is indeed what Darling Harbour used to look like for many years. The only feature you can recognise that is still in existence is the Pyrmont Bridge, which once carried vehicles across it.

It is situated along side the Sydney CBD as it borders Chinatown, Cockle Bay, and Pyrmont which lie to the west of the city.

Prior to its current use much of the land had been the site of the NSW Railways central marshaling yards and freight consolidation centre. But towards the end of the 1970s it was deemed to be inefficient and it was decided that it should be moved, and the land used for other public purposes. 

These recommendations were acted upon and by the mid-to-late 1980s, when the area had become largely derelict, it was redeveloped as a pedestrian and tourist precinct as an initiative of then New South Wales Minister for Public Works, Laurie Brereton. 

Darling Harbour became a precinct for pedestrian accessible recreational facilities and included the Sydney Exhibition Centre, Harbourside Shopping Mall and the Chinese Gardens. Its immediate surroundings were administered independently of the local government area of the City of Sydney, by a New South Wales state government statutory authority, the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, which still currently maintains the site.

DARLING HARBOUR - HARBOURSIDE

However things are changing for this precinct and major renovations are currently taking place. The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre site is being replaced by the new International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney), scheduled for completion by December 2016. The new site will include a 40,000m2 exhibition facility.

The Monorail which links Darling Harbour with the city and runs along the Pyrmont Bridge will soon be torn down as well. Plus there will be a major overhaul of the East Darling Harbour site to be name Barangaroo by 2020 so this place will certainly be alive and kicking by then.

But Darling Harbour still remains Sydney's back veranda and is growing everyday and the major attractions such as the Maritime Museum and the Wildlife Park and Aquarium certainly draw the crowds. It now has the Imax Cinema and several restaurants along the Cockle Bay wharf and the Sydney Entertainment is still at the Chinatown end as well as Paddy's Markets and the Chinese Gardens. 

If you are with good company and are fairly cashed up you can possibly spend the entire day in Darling Harbour, but if you have kids they will get bored as soon as your cash runs out.

Take a look at it this weekend

J G S