The Brickpit Ring Walk is an

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

nature park A nature park, or sometimes natural park, is a designation for a protected area by means of long-term land planning, sustainable resource management and limitation of agricultural and real estate developments. These valuable landscapes are pres ...

and

walkway In American English, walkway is a composite or umbrella term for all engineered surfaces or structures which support the use of trails. '' The New Oxford American Dictionary'' also defines a walkway as "a passage or path for walking along, esp. ...

that serves as a water storage and frog habitat in the Bicentennial Park, in

Sydney Olympic Park Sydney Olympic Park is a suburb of Greater Western Sydney, located 13 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the City of Parramatta, City of Parramatta Council. It i ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. Once a

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

manufacturing site, the land was to be redeveloped as part of the site for the 2000 Sydney Olympic and

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...

, however the 1992 discovery of the then endangered

Green and Golden Bell Frog The green and golden bell frog (''Ranoidea aurea''), also named the green bell frog, green and golden swamp frog and green frog, is a species of ground-dwelling tree frog native to eastern Australia. Despite its classification and climbing abi ...

(''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

midden A midden is an old dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bones, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human oc ...

s (campsites where shellfish and other foods were consumed) were known to have lined

Homebush Bay Homebush Bay is a bay on the south bank of the Parramatta River, in the west of Sydney, Australia. The name is also sometimes used to refer to an area to the west and south of the bay itself, which was formerly an official suburb of Sydney, a ...

and the

Parramatta River The Parramatta River is an intermediate tide-dominated, Ria, drowned valley estuary located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With an average Altitude, height, and depth, depth of , the Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour ...

but were destroyed in the

limekiln A lime kiln is a kiln used for the calcination of limestone (calcium carbonate) to produce the form of lime (material), lime called ''quicklime'' (calcium oxide). The chemical equation for this chemical reaction, reaction is: Calcium carbonat ...

s in the eighteenth and nineteenth century and subsequent alterations to the shoreline.

State Brickworks

Following a

NSW Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...

inquiry into the monopolistic control of brickyards by the Metropolitan Brick Company, in 1911 the NSW Minister for Public Works resumed of

Crown land Crown land, also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. Today, in Commonwealth realm ...

from the adjacent State Abattoir for the State Brickworks, and by 1925 the site comprised . 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 Blackwattle Bay is a bay located to the southeast of Glebe Island and east of Rozelle Bay on Sydney Harbour, in New South Wales, Australia. The bay was named in 1788 after the black wattle tree found at the bay, which was used for housing const ...

from where they were loaded for road transport to building sites. Trading operations of the

state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

State Brickworks commenced on 1 November 1911 and the output for the first trading period was wholly absorbed on Government works. During the economic depression of the 1930s, the brickworks operated at a significant loss. 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. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Government re-established the State Brickworks due to a shortage of bricks. 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 as the State Brickworks grew to acquire 7 percent of the brick market in New South Wales. The State Brickworks acquired used by the State Timberworks at 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.

Popular culture

During the 1960-80s the Brickworks was known as "Brickies" a popular place for drag racing on a Friday or Saturday night. 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 FJ Holden'' is a 1977 Australian film directed by Michael Thornhill. ''The FJ Holden'' is a snapshot of the life of young teenage men in Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia in the 1970s and deals with the characters' difficulty in reconc ...

''. The Brickworks was also used as a filming location for Bartertown scenes in ''

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome ''Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome'' (also known as ''Mad Max 3'') is a 1985 Australian post-apocalyptic dystopian action film directed by George Miller and George Ogilvie and written by Terry Hayes and Miller. It is the third installment in the ''M ...

''.

Brickpit Ring Walk

Following cessation of

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

ing, 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 An environmental impact statement (EIS), under United States environmental law, is a document required by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for certain actions "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment". An E ...

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. 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 elevated walkway and outdoor exhibition, sited above the brickpit floor. 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. Designed by Durbach Block Architects in 2005, in 2006 the walkway was featured in the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

, and won the

RAIA The Australian Institute of Architects, officially the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (abbreviated as RAIA), is Australia's professional body for architects. Its members use the post-nominals FRAIA (Fellow), ARAIA (Associate Member) an ...

(NSW) Lloyd Rees Civic Design Award, the ASI Architectural & Engineering Innovation Steel Design Award (NSW), and the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

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

References

External links

* * {{Parks in Sydney, state=collapsed Olympic Parks Parks in Sydney Sydney Olympic Park Cumberland Council, New South Wales Brickworks in Australia Brick manufacturers Manufacturing plants Bricks Elevated parks Pedestrian bridges in Australia Tourist attractions in Sydney 2005 establishments in Australia Buildings and structures completed in 2005 Parks established in the 2000s Protected areas established in 2005