After meeting at St. Peter’s railway station at 10 am, about a dozen of us spent an hour exploring nearby Sydney Park. This historic site was originally the first brickworks in the colony and then a landfill site known as Tempe Tip. Sydney Park is now a superb, well established blend of open space, sporting and youthful entertainment, a fabulous wetland full of abundant bird life and the historic landmark tall chimneys.
King Street was the venue for our morning tea and coffee. Parliament on King is a tiny coffee shop that serves up a fabulous cuppa.
We then embarked on a leisurely 2.5 km stroll through Newtown investigating street art, not graffiti. Of special interest was a muralist, Fintan Magee, who has given Newtown much to look at, enjoy, laugh with and think about. Lunch was in the Young Henry boutique brewery.
Behind King Street is the historic St Stephens church, with a cemetery dating from the 1850s. This was of interest to several members of the walk who visited their relatives.
Some of us finished up at Newtown railway station and others extended the walk to admire a interesting mixture of architecture at Lifehouse, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, the Perkins Centre, and the Great Hall at Sydney University. By then we were exhausted so jumped on a bus to Broadway and home.
Thanks to Annette Fitzallen for doing the research to make this an interesting and different outing.
