Sydney Entertainment Centre, later known as Qantas Credit Union Arena, was a multi-purpose arena located in Haymarket,

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. It opened in May 1983, to replace Sydney Stadium, which had been demolished in 1970 to make way for the Eastern Suburbs railway line. The centre was owned by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, which administered the neighbouring

Darling Harbour Darling Harbour is a harbour and neighborhood adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central busines ...

area, and managed under a lease. It was one of Sydney's larger concert venues, licensed to accommodate over 13,000 people as a conventional theatre or 8,000 as a theatre-in-the-round. It was the largest permanent concert venue in Sydney until 1999, when the Sydney SuperDome opened at

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 ...

. The venue averaged attendances of 1 million people each year and hosted concerts, family shows, sporting events and corporate events. It closed the month before its demolition in January 2016.

Construction

Sydney Entertainment Centre was built by John Holland Group and opened in 1983.

Notable events

In December 1983, Cold Chisel played its final '' Last Stand'' concert. On 20 December 2003, children's music group The Wiggles performed at the SEC as the closing act of their Lights, Camera, Action! tour. The performance was recorded for video under the title Live Hot Potatoes! and was released in the US and Australia in 2005.

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

has played numerous concerts there over the years, including twelve dates in 1986 with an orchestra at Haymarket Arena. The latter shows were the last he performed prior to throat surgery. He has played 46 shows at the venue and was final artist to perform at the venue before its demolition in December 2015.

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

played at the venue for a week in November 1987 during his worldwide Glass Spider Tour, and performances from several nights were included on video and CD on '' Glass Spider'' (1988).

Sporting events

As a sporting venue, the SEC was best known as the home venue of the Sydney Kings who play in the National Basketball League (NBL) over 3 stints. The Kings moved from the smaller (5,006 capacity) State Sports Centre in Homebush Bay in 1990 and remained until moving to the Super Dome in 1999. The Kings then returned to the SEC in 2002 and would enjoy immediate success winning the NBL championship in 2002–03, 2003–04 and 2004–05. The team remained until 2008 when they folded due to financial difficulties, but when the club returned to the NBL in 2010 they again made the SEC their home which lasted until the centre's closing in 2015. In 1995, the Entertainment Centre hosted Game 4 of a 5-game international

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

series between the Australian Boomers and the Magic Johnson All-Stars in front of a sellout crowd of almost 12,000 fans. Despite the All-Stars being a collection of former NBA players, and with Magic Johnson not playing due to a calf injury, the crowd was actually behind the All-Stars on the night. They were treated to a game that went into overtime with the All-Stars keeping their unbeaten record intact with a 97–94 win. Before the game Magic Johnson apologised to the fans from centre court for not being able to play and called the SEC ''"A good sized gym that they can be proud of"''. Other sports such as

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

and indoor motor-cross have also been held. Australian boxer Jeff Fenech won a number of World title matches at the centre during the 1980s, While in July 2011, the IBO Cruiser-weight title match between Antonio Tarver and Danny Green took place at the SEC. The SEC hosted the 1991 World Netball Championships, as well as games during the 1994 FIBA Women's World Championship including all Finals games and 3rd place playoff game. At the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

, the SEC was one of two venues for volleyball tournament. Further, the facility co-hosted the FIBA Oceania Championship in 2007 and 2011. Both times, the Australian national basketball team won the gold medal.

Closure

As part of a redevelopment of the Darling Harbour precinct, the Sydney Entertainment Centre was planned to be demolished in 2013, along with the surrounding buildings, but was granted a reprieve. The final concerts were played by Cold Chisel and

on the weekend of 18/19 December 2015. Demolition began in January 2016.The Darling Square residential development replaced the centre. Replacement facilities were built closer towards the

harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...

surrounding the Darling Quarter, the nearby 9,000-seat International Convention Centre Sydney Theatre, as part of a $3 billion redevelopment of Darling Harbour. It also contains an exhibition centre and convention centre. The opening of the new facilities occurred in late 2016.

References

Bibliography

External links

* * {{Authority control Event venues established in 1983 1983 establishments in Australia Sports venues in Sydney Music venues in Sydney Defunct basketball venues in Australia Defunct National Basketball League (Australia) venues Tennis venues in Australia Boxing venues in Australia Volleyball venues in Australia Olympic volleyball venues Venues of the 2000 Summer Olympics Sydney Kings Sydney Uni Flames 2015 disestablishments in Australia Sports venues demolished in 2016 Haymarket, New South Wales Demolished buildings and structures in Sydney Defunct indoor arenas in Australia Demolished sports venues Former music venues in Australia