Rushcutters Bay is one of the most beautiful green urban environments in Australia. The area became known as Rushcutters Bay in the 1780s when colonial convicts plucked valuable rushes from the nearby tidal, muddy, swamp lands facing the harbour to make hats,  mats, roof thatching, brushes, baskets and valuable wicks for oil lamps.

The area is now synonymous with Rushcutters Bay Park which dominates the area.

Today, Sydney Harbour laps at the foot of this carefully-coiffured park thanks to the imagineering of one man, Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Rowe, JP.

Thomas Rowe was Mayor of Manly when the famous Norfolk Pines were planted on the foreshore promenade, a Sydney City Alderman (as then known), builder, inventor, army engineer, founder of the NSW Institute of Architects and its president for 16 years and the first captain of Australia’s first local fire brigade.

Rowe Street, Sydney, is named in his honour.

His architectural practice was one of the biggest in New South Wales. It was said in 1890 that anyone could walk Pitt Street and always be opposite one of his buildings.

“The  Colonel” was clearly a man of merit. And he was a local resident. He designed and lived in Tresco, Elizabeth Bay Road, from 1872-1876 and later built Ashton, nearby. He also had a sense of humour, naming his sons after famous architects Christopher Wren, Leonardo da Vinci and Ruskin.

His genius turned grand visions into reality. And as head of the Water Board  he was able to hold back the harbour to reclaim swampy, tidal marshlands of the bay to create a public park by 1885. The original high water mark was near today’s New South Head Road.

Apartments and houses nearby embrace the parkland setting and create a natural amphitheatre. Mature, majestic trees add to park's enjoyable grace and space. Properties overlook or are part of the park’s foliage and green umbrella with locals enjoying the use of direct steps into the park from lesser-known nearby lanes.

Residents enjoy one of the biggest and best backyards available.

Today, the park is jointly administered by the City of Sydney and Woollahra Councils with most of the original 1894 wooden grandstand intact despite two fires. The original picket-fenced cricket ground still exists after the first game in 1888.

Leisure activities, including a tennis club, boating, café, sports and picnic areas add to the park’s outdoor living room shady ambience.

Rushcutters Bay is rare: it has a sense of place intrinsic to active, healthy living and is a community meeting place where the natural environment is enjoyed and appreciated.

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