Brickpit Ring Walk
{{Short description|Park in Sydney, Australia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox park
| name = Brickpit Ring Walk
| alt_name =
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| image = Homebush Bay Brick Pit.JPG
| image_size = 270
| image_alt =
| image_caption = Homebush Bay Brickpit,
with the elevated Brickpit Ring Walk
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| map = Australia Sydney
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| map_width = 270
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| map_caption = Location in greater Sydney
| relief = 1
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| type = Urban nature park and walkway
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| location = Bicentennial Park, Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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| coordinates = {{Coords|33|50|30|S|151|4|17|E|type:landmark_region:AU-NSW|display=it}}
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| area =
| elevation = {{convert|18.5|m}} above the brickpit floor
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| opened = 2005
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| founder =
| designer = Durbach Block Architects
| etymology =
| owner = Sydney Olympic Park Authority
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| awards = {{ubl|National Trust Heritage Award 2006|RAIA Special Jury Award 2006|Venice Biennale (feature) 2006|RAIA (NSW) Lloyd Rees Civic Award 2006}}
| camp_sites =
| hiking_trails =
| paths = {{convert|550|m|ft|0|adj=on}} elevated walkway
| terrain =
| habitat =
| water =
| plants =
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| species = Green and Golden Bell Frog
(Litoria aurea)
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| parking = off Marjorie Jackson Parkway
| publictransit =
| transport = {{ubl|20px Olympic Park station|20px Olympic Park ferry wharf|20px Olympic Park bus routes (1–8)|{{AUshield|NSW|A3|size=20px}} Homebush Bay Drive (A3) }} In development: {{ubl|Parramatta Light Rail|Sydney Metro West}}
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| website = {{URL|https://www.sydneyolympicpark.com.au/Things-to-Do/Brickpit-Ring-Walk|Brickpit Ring Walk}} at SOPA
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The Brickpit Ring Walk is an urban nature park and walkway that serves as a water storage and frog habitat in the Bicentennial Park, in Sydney Olympic Park, New South Wales, Australia. Once a brick manufacturing site, the land was to be redeveloped as part of the site for the 2000 Sydney Olympic and Paralympic Games, however the 1992 discovery of the then endangered Green and Golden Bell Frog (Litoria aurea) placed a hold on developments. The urban nature park and walkway was established in 2006.
History
The site of the Brickpit Ring Walk is on the traditional lands of the Wann clan, known as the Wann-gal. Physical evidence of the usage of the Homebush Bay area by Aboriginal people has been found in the form of stone artefacts located nearby. Aboriginal shell middens (campsites where shellfish and other foods were consumed) were known to have lined Homebush Bay and the Parramatta River but were destroyed in the limekilns in the eighteenth and nineteenth century and subsequent alterations to the shoreline.{{cite web |title=Fact Sheet - History |work=Sydney Olympic Park |url=https://www.sydneyolympicpark.com.au/-/media/files/sopa/sydney-olympic-park-site/education/fact-sheets/web_fs_history_2015.pdf |publisher=Sydney Olympic Park Authority |date=January 2015 |access-date=5 August 2018}}
= State Brickworks =
Following a NSW Government inquiry into the monopolistic control of brickyards by the Metropolitan Brick Company, in 1911 the NSW Minister for Public Works resumed {{convert|9.5|ha|acre|0}} of Crown land from the adjacent State Abattoir for the State Brickworks, and by 1925 the site comprised {{convert|23.5|ha|acre|0}}. There were difficulties in constructing the first kiln at the Brickworks, caused by the refusal of private manufacturers to sell their bricks for this purpose. Bricks made during the early years of the site were transported by barge to a depot in Blackwattle Bay from where they were loaded for road transport to building sites.{{cite web |title=State Brickworks [I] (1911-1936) |url=https://records-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=ORGANISATIONS1002916&context=L&vid=61SRA&lang=en_US&search_scope=Everything&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=default_tab&query=any,contains,AGY-3454&sortby=rank&facet=rtype,include,AGENCY&offset=0 |website=NSW State Records |publisher=Government of New South Wales |access-date=12 September 2018 |language=en}} Trading operations of the state-owned State Brickworks commenced on 1 November 1911 and the output for the first trading period was wholly absorbed on Government works.{{Citation | author1=New South Wales. State Brickworks, Homebush Bay | author2=New South Wales. Parliament. Legislative Assembly | title=State enterprises-State Brick Works, Homebush Bay : balance-sheet, manufacturing account, trading account, and profit and loss account, for year ended 30 June, 1916 | publication-date=1916 | publisher=William Applegate Gullick, Govt. Printer | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/20228756 | access-date=12 September 2018 }} During the economic depression of the 1930s, the brickworks operated at a significant loss.{{cite web |title=NSW State Brickworks/Brickpit Ring Walk – Homebush, NSW |url=https://pastlivesofthenearfuture.com/2012/06/14/nsw-state-brickworksbrickpit-ring-walk-homebush-nsw/ |website=Past/Lives of the Near Future |access-date=12 September 2018 |date=14 June 2012}} In 1936, they were sold to private enterprise and closed in 1940. A train station for workers to use opened on the site in December 1939.{{cite web |url=https://www.sopa.nsw.gov.au/About-Us/History-and-Heritage/Industrial-History |title=Industrial history: History and heritage: About us |work=Sydney Olympic Park |publisher=Sydney Olympic Park Authority |date=n.d. |access-date=30 April 2020 }}{{cite web |author=Bozier, Rolfe |url=https://www.nswrail.net/locations/show.php?name=NSW:Brickworks&line=NSW:abattoirs:0 |title=Brickworks Platform |work=NSWrail.net |publisher=Rolfe Bozier |date=n.d. |access-date=30 April 2020 }}
After World War II, the Government re-established the State Brickworks due to a shortage of bricks.{{Citation | author1=New South Wales. State Brickworks | title=State Brickworks, Underwood Road, Homebush Bay, manufacturers of common and moulded bricks : [range of moulded bricks available from State Brickworks] | publication-date=1940 | publisher=State Brickworks | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/164925226 | access-date=12 September 2018 }} Reformulated in 1946 as an agency within the NSW Department of Public Works, two large pits were created to provide the clay to make the bricks and the bricks were also shipped to country areas of New South Wales{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75602666 |title=State Brickworks |newspaper=The Biz |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=6 August 1953 |access-date=12 September 2018 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} as the State Brickworks grew to acquire 7 percent of the brick market in New South Wales. The State Brickworks acquired {{convert|200|acre|ha|0|order=flip}} used by the State Timberworks at {{NSWcity|Blacktown}} and built new facilities on this site. The first pit was closed and filled in during the 1960s. In 1988, the NSW Government announced plans to close the operations at Homebush and to sell the Blacktown site as a going concern.{{cite web |title=State Brickworks [II] (1946-1988) |url=https://records-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=ORGANISATIONS1002917&context=L&vid=61SRA&lang=en_US&search_scope=Everything&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=default_tab&query=any,contains,AGY-3454&sortby=rank&facet=rtype,include,AGENCY&offset=0 |website=NSW State Records |publisher=Government of New South Wales |access-date=30 April 2020 |language=en}}
=Popular culture=
During the 1960-80s the Brickworks was known as "Brickies" a popular place for drag racing on a Friday or Saturday night.{{cite web |last1=Lewis |first1=Daniel |title=Olympic Park street circuit transformed from 'Brickies' to big bickies |url=https://www.smh.com.au/sport/motorsport/olympic-park-street-circuit-transformed-from-brickies-to-big-bickies-20091206-kd06.html |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |access-date=12 September 2018 |language=en |date=6 December 2009}} Drivers set off from the Big Chiefs (Beefy's) burger joint on Parramatta Road, racing up Underwood Road towards Brickies Hill. This circuit can be seen in the 1977 film The FJ Holden. The Brickworks was also used as a filming location for Bartertown scenes in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.{{cite web |title=Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome Filming Locations - Bartertown |url=http://www.madmaxmovies.com/mad-max-beyond-thunderdome/filming-locations/bartertown-sydney-brick-pit/index.html |website=www.madmaxmovies.com |access-date=12 September 2018}}
Brickpit Ring Walk
Following cessation of quarrying, the Brickpit developed in a freshwater wetland. In 1992 approximately 300 (then) endangered Green and Golden Bell Frogs were located in the wetlands as part of an Environmental Impact Statement for the 2000 Sydney Olympic and Paralympic Games. The site was proposed to be redeveloped as a tennis centre; however was halted on discovery of the frogs.{{cite web |author=Wayne, Michael |url=https://pastlivesofthenearfuture.com/2012/06/14/nsw-state-brickworksbrickpit-ring-walk-homebush-nsw/ |title=NSW State Brickworks/Brickpit Ring Walk – Homebush, NSW |work=Past/Lives of the Near Future |publisher=Michael Wayne |date=14 June 2012 |access-date=30 April 2020 }}
The remaining brick pit is now an adopted home of the Green and Golden Bell Frog. Above the brickpit is the Brickpit Ring Walk, a {{convert|550|m|ft|0|adj=on}} elevated walkway and outdoor exhibition, sited {{convert|18.5|m|ft|0}} above the brickpit floor.{{cite web |title=Brickpit Ring Walk: Things to do |work=Sydney Olympic Park |url=https://www.sydneyolympicpark.com.au/Things-to-Do/Brickpit-Ring-Walk |publisher=Sydney Olympic Park Authority |date=n.d. |access-date=12 September 2018 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=The Brick Pit Ring |url=http://landezine.com/index.php/2012/01/the-brick-pit-ring-by-durbach-block-architects/ |work=Landezine |publisher=Landezine Media LLC |location=Slovenia |date=30 January 2012 |access-date=5 August 2018}} The walkway allows visitors to view the nature park, water storage facility, and frog habitat without causing damage to the Green and Golden Bell Frog.{{cite web |title=Brickpit Ring Walk |url=https://www.timeout.com/sydney/things-to-do/brickpit-ring-walk |website=Time Out|date=14 May 2013 |access-date=5 August 2018 |language=en}} Designed by Durbach Block Architects in 2005,{{cite web |url=https://durbachblockjaggers.com/projects/commercial/brick-pit-ring |title=Brick Pit Ring |work=Selected works: Commercial |publisher=Durbach Block Jaggers |date=n.d. |access-date=30 April 2020 }} in 2006 the walkway was featured in the Venice Biennale, and won the RAIA (NSW) Lloyd Rees Civic Design Award, the ASI Architectural & Engineering Innovation Steel Design Award (NSW), and the National Trust Heritage Award.
Gallery
Brickpit Ring Walk Bicentenial Park (401739071).jpg|Brickpit Ring Walk, Bicentennial Park
Litoria aurea green.jpg|Litoria aurea (Green and Golden Bell Frog)
State Brickworks, Homebush A2020002h.jpg|State Brickworks, Homebush in 1911
State Brickworks, Homebush A2020006h.jpg|Workers at State Brickworks, Homebush in 1911
See also
{{stack|{{portal|New South Wales|Environment}}}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|The Brickpit}}
- {{cite web |url=https://www.sydneyolympicpark.com.au/Things-to-Do/Brickpit-Ring-Walk |title=Brickpit Ring Walk |work=Things to do |publisher=Sydney Olympic Park Authority |date=n.d.}}
- {{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaWY6qwGAiE |title=Drone flyover - Sydney Olympic Park's - Brickpit Ring Walk |author=Rast, Rob |publisher=YouTube |date=15 January 2017 |format=streaming video and audio }}
{{Parks in Sydney|state=collapsed}}
Category:Cumberland Council, New South Wales
Category:Brickworks in Australia
Category:Pedestrian bridges in Australia
Category:Tourist attractions in Sydney
Category:2005 establishments in Australia
Category:Buildings and structures completed in 2005