PAST TO FUTURE

A change of use is nothing new for the Barangaroo site – for over 200 years this site has been regularly reshaped by the values and needs of our society.

19TH CENTURY

• Early windmills give rise to the local area name: Millers Point.
• Gas lighting arrives and a large gas works is quickly built to meet this demand.
• Sail technology gives way to steamships and soon the area is packed with privately owned wharves.

20TH CENTURY

• Plague! The State Government seizes control of the area – a move much protested by Sydney Council and other leaders of the day.
• The landscape is dramatically cut to create Hickson Road and the shore is lined with long wharves and bond stores– examples of which are still at Walsh Bay.
• Containerisation creates more dramatic modification of the site – the headland is sliced away and a concrete apron built.

21ST CENTURY

• Modern ships require more space and direct access to freight rail – the site becomes unsustainable as a modern port and so Ports Botany and Kembla are expanded to grow New South Wales' export capacity.
• Meanwhile, Sydney has emerged as a business and information centre of the Asia Pacific region, generating a different economic prosperity for NSW.
• Our growing economy increases demand for modern working spaces while our growing population needs recreational public space.
• The Government resolves to create a new western edge to the city as well as stunning new foreshore parkland for the community.