Muston Park is an

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...

of 2.0186 hectares, situated in the suburb of Chatswood, seven kilometres north of

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 ...

, Australia.

History

The local

indigenous Australian people Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups, w ...

, the

Cammeraygal The Cammeraygal, variously spelled as Cam-mer-ray-gal, Gamaraigal, Kameraigal, Cameragal and several other variations, are one clan of the 29 Darug tribes who are united by a Australian Aboriginal languages, common language, strong ties of kins ...

occupied this area for at least 5,800 years. The park is named after William Thomas Muston, the original European owner of the land and Mayor of Willoughby in 1890. His house ‘Penshurst’ stood in the middle of the area and was sold in 1921. By 1938 cows were still grazing in the park.

Circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

es performed here, such as Sole Brother's Circus in 1939 and

Wirth's Circus Wirth's Circus, also known as Wirth Brothers' Circus, was Australia's largest and most prestigious circus company for eight decades. Billed as Australia's own 'Greatest show on Earth' (a reference to the slogan of the American P. T. Barnum Ci ...

in 1942. In the

second world war 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 ...

, parts of the park were used by the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

. In 1952, plantations of gum trees were created, named King George VI Memorial Grove in the north made of

Spotted Gum Spotted gum usually refers to the Australian tree species ''Corymbia maculata'' but may also refer to other closely related species within the genus ''Corymbia'' as follows: *'' Corymbia citriodora'' (usually referred to as the lemon-scented gum) *' ...

s, and Queen Elizabeth II Grove in the south near the children's playground composed of the similar looking Lemon scented gums. At the same time, the Wisteria walkway was created.

Geography

Average annual rainfall is at Chatswood Bowling Club. Soils are moderately fertile, based on a transitional zone between the

Hawkesbury sandstone Sydney sandstone, also known as the Hawkesbury sandstone, yellowblock, and yellow gold, is a sedimentary rock named after Sydney, and the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney, where this sandstone is particularly common. It forms the bedrock f ...

and

Ashfield Shale Ashfield Shale is part of the Wianamatta group of sedimentary rocks in the Sydney Basin. It lies directly on contemporaneously eroded Hawkesbury sandstone or the Mittagong formation. These rock types were formed in the Triassic Period. Name ...

. Originally the area would have supported

Blue Gum High Forest The Blue Gum High Forest of the Sydney Basin Bioregion is a wet sclerophyll forest found in the northern parts of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It has been classified as critically endangered species, critically endangered, under the New Sou ...

, but no original trees remain. The oldest trees in the park probably date from the 1880s, when Muston Park was part of a pleasure ground known as Royal Park. They include a

Camphor Laurel ''Camphora officinarum'' is a species of evergreen tree indigenous to warm temperate to subtropical regions of East Asia, including countries such as China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. It is known by various names, most notably the camph ...

Bunya Pine ''Araucaria bidwillii'', commonly known as the bunya pine (), banya or bunya-bunya, is a large evergreen coniferous tree in the family Araucariaceae which is Endemism, endemic to Australia. Its natural range is southeast Queensland with two ver ...

Hoop Pine ''Araucaria cunninghamii'' is a species of ''Araucaria'' known as hoop pine. Other less commonly used names include colonial pine, Queensland pine, Dorrigo pine, Moreton Bay pine and Richmond River pine. The scientific name honours the botanist a ...

, White Booyong,

Moreton Bay Fig ''Ficus macrophylla'', commonly known as the Moreton Bay fig or Australian banyan, is a large evergreen banyan tree of the mulberry and fig family Moraceae. It is native to eastern Australia, from the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland i ...

and an

Oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

Wildlife

Pacific Black Duck The Pacific black duck (''Anas superciliosa''), commonly known as the PBD, is a dabbling duck found in much of Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and many islands in the southwestern Pacific, reaching to the Caroline Islands in the no ...

Sulfur-crested cockatoo The sulphur-crested cockatoo (''Cacatua galerita'') is a relatively large white cockatoo found in wooded habitats in Australia, New Guinea, and some of the islands of Indonesia. They can be locally very numerous, leading to them sometimes being ...

s, Water dragons and

brush turkey Brushturkey, brush-turkey or brush turkey generally refer to birds in three genera in the megapode family, and sometimes to other species such as the Australian bustard: Megapodes ;''Alectura'' * Australian brushturkey The Australian brushturk ...

s are some of the creatures seen in the park.Information Sign at the park

References

{{Parks in Sydney, state=autocollapse Parks in Sydney Chatswood, New South Wales

History

Geography

Wildlife

See also

References