The Federation Pavilion was a temporary structure erected in Centennial Park, Sydney, for use in the celebrations marking the

Federation of Australia The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Wester ...

on 1 January 1901. It was used to swear in Australia's first

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

and the first members of the Federal Executive Council, including the first

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the Australian Government, federal executive government. Under the pr ...

. The pavilion was originally covered in ornate plasterwork, but the exterior was not preserved and soon fell into disrepair. In 1903, the wooden framework was purchased by the

Municipality of Concord A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

and moved to Cabarita Park in the suburb of the Cabarita. The property is now owned by the

City of Canada Bay The City of Canada Bay is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Inner West region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The city was formed on 1 December 2000, following the merger of Municipality of Concord, Concord an ...

, and was added to the

New South Wales State Heritage Register The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...

on 22 December 2000. The pavilion has appeared in the clear panel of the

Australian five-dollar note The Australian five-dollar note was first issued on 29 May 1967, fifteen months after the currency was changed from the pound to the dollar on 14 February 1966. It was a new denomination with mauve colouration – the pre-decimal system had ...

since 2016, when the new Next Generation Banknote series went into circulation.

History

Cabarita Park

At the time of European settlement the Canada Bay area was part of the traditional lands of the

Wangal The Wangal people (; Wanngal or Won-gal) are a clan of the Dharug Aboriginal people whose heirs are custodians of the lands and waters of what is now the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, centred around the Municipality of Strathfield, ...

clan of Aboriginal people. The Wangal were a clan of the larger

Darug The Dharug or Darug people, are a nation of Aboriginal Australian clans, who share ties of kinship, country and culture. In pre-colonial times, they lived as hunters in the region of current day Sydney. The Darug speak one of two dialects o ...

language group or Aboriginal nation. Their lives were strongly focussed on the harbour and its foreshores, especially in food gathering. Aboriginal people also hunted animals, harvested plants and gathered raw materials in the bushland fringing the harbour. The Hen & Chicken Bay area, along with

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 ...

, was traditionally a major meeting place for Aboriginal people from

Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...

and the wider

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

region. Before the arrival of white settlers, Cabarita Park was a typical rocky outcrop along the shores of 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 ...

.Parkland Environmental Planners, 2006, 11 Cabarita may have been derived from an Aboriginal word meaning 'by the water' or may have been derived from a place in Spain where Surveyor-General Mitchell worked under

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

.Pollon, 1988Parkland Environmental Planners, 2006, 12 Cabarita Point was first sighted by the first European settlers in February 1788 - by Captain

John Hunter John Hunter may refer to: Politics *John Hunter (British politician) (1724–1802), British Member of Parliament for Leominster * John Hunter (Canadian politician) (1909–1993), Canadian Liberal MP for Parkdale, 1949–1957 *Sir John Hunter ( ...

on his journey up the Parramatta River. The park was reserved as a recreation area in 1856, and first accessible by steamer in the 1850s. Early in its history the park was popular for picnics and watching boat races on the harbour.Parkland Environmental Planners, 2006 Part of the suburb was originally granted in 1795 to David Anderson, a private soldier in the

New South Wales Corps The New South Wales Corps, later known as the 102d Regiment of Foot, and lastly as the 100th Regiment of Foot, was a formation of the British Army organised in 1789 in England to relieve the New South Wales Marine Corps, which had accompanied ...

. The grant was described as being at "Caberita Point, at the upper part of the harbour". Cabarita Park, a picnic area on Cabarita Point was known as Correy's Gardens in the 1880s. This part of the river was the venue for early regattas, including the GPS schools " Head of the River" before these races were moved to the

Nepean River The Nepean River (Darug language, Darug: Yandhai), is a Perennial stream, major perennial river, located in the south-west and west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Nepean River, and, continuing by its downstream name, the Hawkesbury ...

. The park was dedicated for public use in 1880. Cabarita was linked to Burwood station by tram, and the park was popular with families for picnics. There was a segregated swimming pool, with one half for men and boys, the other for women and girls. Husbands and wives, as well as lovers, would lean on the dividing fence for a chat as the water swirled around their legs. France Bay, Exile Bay and Canada Bay, adjacent to the park, commemorate a group of 58 French-Canadian exiles. After an 1838 rebellion in Canada these prisoners were sent to NSW and held in the Longbottom Stockade in

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other words Arts and media * ''Concord'' (video game), a defunct 2024 first-person sh ...

, at which time the 3 bays received these names.Pollon, 1988, p.43 Most of the trees now in Cabarita Park were planted in the 1930s and 1940s as during the 1920s a significant number of original trees died and were used by residents for firewood. Cabarita Park was proclaimed a public park on 24 April 1936 under the Public Parks Act 1912.

Federation Pavilion

The pavilion's timber structure was used as the site for the swearing in of the first Governor-General of Australia,

John Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun John Adrian Louis Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, 7th Earl of Hopetoun, (25 September 1860 – 29 February 1908) was a British aristocrat and statesman who served as the first governor-general of Australia, in office from 1900 to 1902. He wa ...

, the first

Edmund Barton Sir Edmund "Toby" Barton (18 January 18497 January 1920) was an Australian politician, barrister and jurist who served as the first prime minister of Australia from 1901 to 1903. He held office as the leader of the Protectionist Party, before ...

, and the first Cabinet at the official inauguration of the federation of the colonies in Centennial Park, Sydney, on 1 January 1901. The structure was the specially erected focal point of the official ceremony to inaugurate the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. The ceremony was accompanied by much pomp and attended by a vast crowd of 60,000 onlookers. The swearing in oaths were administered by the Lieutenant Governor and

Chief Justice of New South Wales The Chief Justice of New South Wales is the senior judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the highest-ranking judicial officer in the Australian state of New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States a ...

, Sir

Frederick Matthew Darley Sir Frederick Matthew Darley (18 September 1830 – 4 January 1910) was the sixth Chief Justice of New South Wales, an eminent barrister, a member of the New South Wales Parliament, Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales, and a member of the ...

. Originally the pavilion stood 14m high and was covered with ornate details rendered in fibrous plaster. The building was the responsibility of the Decorations and Illuminations Committee for the celebrations, with the

New South Wales Government Architect The New South Wales Government Architect, an appointed officer of the Government of New South Wales, serves as the General Manager of the Government Architect's Office (GAO), a multi-disciplinary consultancy operating on commercial principles ...

taking a prominent role. It is not known however who designed the structure. The work appears to have been financed out of the Citizens' Commonwealth Celebrations Fund. Frederick Winchester Grant was (in Tracey's view) the principal plasterwork modeller in his firm Grant and Cocks. He undertook the work for the Federation Pavilion, an ornate, fibrous plaster and wood structure designed by architect

Walter Liberty Vernon Colonel (Australia), Colonel Walter Liberty Vernon (11 August 184617 January 1914) was an English people, English architect who migrated to Australia and pursued his career as an architect in Sydney, New South Wales. In his role as the New Sou ...

for the ceremony to mark the inauguration of the Commonwealth by New South Wales Government.Tracey, 2009 The pavilion was raised on a platform consisting of a huge slab of polished

Moruya Moruya ( ) is a town located on the South Coast (New South Wales), far south coast of New South Wales, Australia, situated on the Moruya River. The Princes Highway runs through the town that is about south of Sydney and from Canberra. At the , ...

granite with six sides to represent the original six states of the federation. Known as the Commonwealth Stone, the slab was later, in 1904, embedded into the ground as a permanent memorial to mark the exact spot where the Commonwealth came into being.Pearson et al., 1999, 24 Following the inauguration ceremony, a number of people suggested that the original fibrous plaster ornamentations should be remade in marble. No action was taken in relation to these suggestions, and in 1902 the pavilion was reported in the Botanic Gardens and Domain Report for that year to be in a very dilapidated condition. The report recommended the pavilion's removal. It was soon put up for sale and bought by the

for the sum of . At the time of purchase the plaster ornamentations had all but disintegrated, leaving the wooden skeleton or frame on which they had been erected.Pearson et al., 1999, 16 The pavilion was moved (the shell of the rotunda) by Concord Council to Cabarita Park (then known as Mortlake Park) in 1903 though it was now stripped of all its original ornamentation. As part of the Jubilee of Federation celebrations, the Lieutenant Governor and the Chief Justice of NSW, Kenneth Street, unveiled a memorial tablet and plaque in the pavilion at its new location in Cabarita Park on 9 May 1951. The ceremony was organised by Concord Council and attended by some 10,000 people. Representatives of 14 harbourside councils also attended, while the Mayor of Concord, Ald. H. F. Stanton, read messages from 18 other city and suburban councils. The messages had been delivered by runners from the Western Suburbs Amateur Athletic Association who had taken part in an 11-mile relay around Concord Municipality before the ceremony. Messages of goodwill were also received from the then Lord Hopetoun and his son, the Marquis. Accompanying the ceremony were exhibitions of basketball, gymnastic displays and aquatic events, including water-skiing and speedboat racing. The Navy League, local Boy Scouts and Sea Scouts formed guards of honour for the distinguished guests after unveiling the plaque. A proposal to restore the pavilion to its original appearance, but using marble for the ornamental features, arose in 1972. However this was refused by the NSW Government Architect because of the difficulties involved, the lack of any known plans and drawings for the structure, the fact that it would not be satisfactory to reproduce in durable material ornamentation that was originally designed to be temporary. In 1983, the NSW

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

's Department initiated moves to return the pavilion to its original location in Centennial Park in preparation for the Centenary of Federation celebrations in 2001. This proposal was rejected unanimously by Concord Council, its members indignantly pointing out that the structure would not have survived at all but for its purchase, re-erection and maintenance by the council. From at least the 1980s the pavilion in Cabarita Park has been used as the venue for wedding parties and band recitals. In 1988, a new and permanent Federation Pavilion, designed by architect

Alexander Tzannes Alexander "Alec" Tzannes (born December 27, 1950) is an Australian architect and academic. He has taught at a number of Australian universities, including at the University of New South Wales as Dean of the university's UNSW Faculty of Built E ...

in post modern style and evoking the form of a classical rotunda was erected over the granite slab in Centennial Park, the Bicentennial year of European settlement.Pearson et al., 1999, 17, 24 Other structures in Cabarita Park over the years have included a boatshed, netted harbour swimming baths, Cabarita Swimming Centre, a kiosk/caretaker's cottage, picnic shelters, marina, boat ramp, children's playground and Rivercat ferry wharf.

Description

The pavilion is much altered from its original 1901 appearance, with most of its ornate features gone. These include the arches and grouped Ionic

columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

, the

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

, the

Commonwealth Coat of Arms The coat of arms of Australia, officially the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, is a formal symbol of the Commonwealth of Australia. It depicts a shield, containing symbols of Australia's six states, and is held up by native Australian animals, the ka ...

, lion head

keystones A keystone (or capstone) is the wedge-shaped stone at the apex of a masonry arch or typically round-shaped one at the apex of a vault. In both cases it is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allo ...

and the roof with its shingle motif and

finial A finial () or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a dome, spire, tower, roo ...

. Though it retains the general form of the original, the pavilion is now a much plainer structure. It is not elevated as it was in 1901, but rests on a slab of concrete level with the surrounding ground. The pillars supporting the

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

are plain timber posts which formed the core of the original Ionic columns. The arches resting on the pillars have been replaced with a series of vertical timber

batten A batten is most commonly a strip of solid material, historically wood but can also be of plastic, metal, or fiberglass. Battens are variously used in construction, sailing, and other fields. In the lighting industry, battens refer to linea ...

s. It is not clear how much of the original fabric remains.Pearson et al., 1999, 17 The pavilion was reported to be well maintained and in good condition as of 14 February 2007.

Heritage listing

The pavilion structure is significant as the timber frame of the pavilion that was used as the site for the swearing in of the first Governor General of Australia, Lord Hopetoun, the first prime Minister, Edmund Barton, and the first Cabinet at the official inauguration of federation in Centennial Park, Sydney, on 1 January 1901. The structure is highly valued by the community for its symbolic and cultural associations as the focal point of the official ceremony to inaugurate the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. The structure is significant for its association with important figures in Australia's history, particularly those involved in the federation of the Australian colonies and the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia. Pre-eminent among these figures are Edmund Barton, the first Prime Minister, and Lord Hopetoun, the first Governor General. The pavilion was moved (the shell of the rotunda) to Cabarita Park in 1903. Federation Pavilion, Cabarita Park was listed on the

on 22 December 2000.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

Attribution

External links

{{commons category-inline, Federation Pavilion, Cabarita Park New South Wales State Heritage Register Community buildings in New South Wales Articles incorporating text from the New South Wales State Heritage Register Relocated buildings and structures in Australia