Sydney Olympic Park - Origin of Street Names | Parramatta History and Heritage

Aerial View of Sydney Olympic Park - Olympic Park Authority

Sydney Olympic Park is part of the traditional lands of the Wann clan, known as the Wann-gal. These lands stretched along the southern shore of the Parramatta River between Cockle Bay (Cadi-gal land) and Rose Hill (Burramatta-gal land).

The Wann-gal have lived in the Homebush Bay area for thousands of years. The estuary of Homebush Bay provided the Wann-gal with food and resources that they needed as well as a way to travel by water. The Wann-gal clan is said to be part of the Darug language group.

Homebush Bay’s colonial history started very soon after the First Fleet landed at Botany Bay with the area being declared the ‘Flats’ only ten days after the landing. The ‘Flats’ was first settled by Europeans in 1793 when the first land grants were given to free settlers who had arrived on the Bellona. The first men to be granted land in the ‘Flats’ were Thomas Rose, Fredrick Meredith, Thomas Webb, Edward Powell and Joseph Webb. As these were freemen the land the area then became known as Liberty Plains.

For more information on the history of the park please see our research article here.

Name	Origin	Source
Australia Avenue	Created as part of the creation of Sydney Olympic Park, to acknowledge the different continents of the globe.	Wikipedia: Australia
Avenue of Oceania	Created as part of the creation of Sydney Olympic Park, to acknowledge the different continents of the globe.	Wikipedia: Oceania
Barrier Street	A small street in between buildings in the Park. Perhaps related to the barriers broken by Olympic Athletes.
Barwon Avenue	Most likely named after the electoral district of Barwon	Wikipedia: Barwon
Bennelong Parkway	Named after Bennelong (c.1764-1813) who, throughout his lifetime, remained friends with Governor Arthur Phillip and served as an unofficial diplomat between the Eora peoples and British. He was presented to King George III in 1794 and was well versed in English culture.	Australian Dictionary of Biography: Bennelong (1764–1813)
Bicentennial Drive	Named after the Bicentennial Park	Sydney Olympic Park: Bicentennial Park
Burroway Road	Most likely named after the rural locality of Burroway in NSW	Wikipedia: Burroway
Clarence Avenue	Most likely named after the Clarence region and river of NSW. This area was named after the Duke of Clarence.	Wikipedia: Clarence River
Clyde Street	Most likely named after the nearby industrial suburb of Clyde	History and Heritage: Clyde
Cumberland Street	Most likely named after the Cumberland County	Wikipedia: Cumberland County
Darling Street	Most likely named after Ralph Darling, Governor of New South Wales from 1825-1831	Wikipedia: Governor Darling
Dawn Fraser Avenue	Named after Olympian Dawn Fraser (1937-) who won Australia four gold medals for swimming and freestyle relay	Australain Olympic Committee, Dawn Fraser
Edwin Flack Avenue	Australia's first Olympian, Edwin Flack (1873-1935) competed in the 1896 Athens Olympic Games, winning two gold medals for the 1500m and 800m	Australain Olympic Committee Edwin Flack,
Figtree Drive	Most likely named in recognition of the Moreton Bay Fig trees which were shipped from Queensland to decorate Sydney Olympic Park in 2000	Pauline Connolly The Fabulous Fig Trees of Sydney: Who Gives a Fig? I Do!
Grand Parade	The Parade is placed in the middle of the lower half of the Park. Next to the Sydney Showgrounds. A descriptive name.
Gwydir Street	Most likely named after the Gwydir Shire of NSW. Named after the Gwydir River which was discovered by Allan Cunningham in 1827 and named after Lord Gwydir. Coincidentally Gwydir is also an Aboriginal name meaning 'river with red banks'	Australian Electoral Commission: Gwydir
Hawkesbury Street	Most likely named after the Hawkesbury River. The Hawkesbury River was given its present name by Governor Phillip in June 1789, after Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool, who at that time was titled Baron Hawkesbury, after the Cotswolds village of Hawkesbury Upton in England	Wikipedia: Hawkesbury River
Herb Elliott Avenue	Named after Australian athlete Herb Elliott (1938-) who set a world record and won a gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics	Athletics Australia Hall of Fame, Athletics Australia: Herb Elliott
Hill Road	Part of the Homebush State Abattoir subdivision. Street naming theme based on people connected with the meat industry in the 1960s. Hills Road appears to be named after Phillip Stanley Hill, former member and from 1 January 1972, Chairman of the Metropolitan Meat Industry Board.	"State Library NSW (1878-1935) Plan of Proposed Subdivision of Part of Homebush Abattoirs, [Auburn subdivision plans], 411 - Z/SP/A10/398
Holker Street	Created by licensed surveyor Octave Fariola de Rozzoli as part of the grid layout subdivision of the Newington Estate owned by John Wetherill in 1877. An alphabetical street naming theme was used in naming the streets running parallel to Parramatta River. Holker is an old English work which has connections to the English aristocracy.	Exacty source unknown.
Homebush Bay Drive	Directional street name theme as the road leads to the suburb of Homebush Bay	History and Heritage: Homebush Bay
Hume Street	Either named after the Hume district of NSW or Hamilton Hume ( 1797-1873), an Australian explorer.	Wikipedia: Hamilton Hume
Hunter Street	Most likely named after the Hunter region of NSW. Which was named after Captain John Hunter a Governor of NSW.	Wikipedia: Hunter Region.
Illawarra Street	Most likely named after the Illawarra region of NSW. The word "illawarra" is derived from the Aboriginal Tharawal word "allowrie," also sometimes spelled as "elouera" or "eloura."	Wikipedia: Illawarra
Jamieson Street	Possibly named after Sir John Jamison (1776 – 29 June 1844) who was an Australian physician, pastoralist, banker, politician, constitutional reformer and public figure.	Australian Dictionary of Biography: Sir John Jamieson
Kevin Coombs Avenue	Kevin Coombs (1941-) is the first Aboriginal Australian paraolympian and Order of Australia recipient. He has represented Australia in five paraolympic games as well as the 1974 Commonwealth Games.	Basketball Australia: Kevin Coombs OAM
Lorraine Crapp Sports Walk	Named after, Lorraine Joyce Thurlow, AM (born 1 October 1938), née Crapp, the former Olympic swimming champion who represented Australia. Crapp was the first woman to break the five-minute barrier in the 400 m freestyle.	Wikipedia: Lorraine Crapp
Louise Sauvage Pathway	Louise Sauvage (1973-) is an Australian paraolympian, winning nine gold medals for wheelchair racing in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 paraolympic games.	Athletics Australia: Louise Sauvage
Macarthur Street	Named after John and Elizabeth MacArthur who settled in the Parramatta area and helped start Australia's wool industry.	Australian Dictionary of Biography: Macarthur, Elizabeth (1766–1850)
Macquarie Street	Named after the fifth governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, also known as the 'father of Australia'	Macquarie University: Lachlan Macquarie
Manning Street	Named after early land grant owner James Manning, a Marine Private who was granted 80 acres in 1792.	Yates Avenue Public School: A History of our School and its Community
Marjorie Jackson Parkway	Named after the 33rd Governor of South Australia and two time Olympic gold medalist for the 100m and 200m sprint in 1952	Athletics Australia Hall of Fame Marjorie Jackson:
Monaro Street	The name Monaro has Aboriginal origins, meaning a high plateau or high plain. Because of the cold temperatures and lack of game it is likely that Aborigines did not stay year around in the higher parts of the Monaro. Sydney Olympic Park is situated on land that was once called Liberty Plains.	Geological sites of NSW: The Monaro Plain.
New England Avenue	Named for the Geographical area of New England. New England North West is the name given to a generally undefined region in the north of the state of New South Wales, Australia, about 60 kilometres (37 miles) inland.	Wikiepedia: New England
Murray Rose Avenue	Named after Olympian Murray Rose (1939-2012) who won four gold medals for Australia in the 1956 and 1960 Olympics for swimming.	Australain Olympic Committee: Murray Rose
Newell Street	Most likely named after Comissioner of Highways and Transport Hugh Hamilton Newell (1878-1941) who also had the Newell Highway named after him	Australian Dictionary of Biography: Newell, Hugh Hamilton
Newington Road	Directional street name theme as the road leads to the suburb of Newington	History and Heritage: Newington
Northern Rivers Avenue	Named for the Geographical area of the Northern Rivers. Which is the most north-easterly region of the Australian state of New South Wales, located between 590 kilometres (370 mi) and 820 kilometres (510 mi) north of the state capital, Sydney.	Wikipedia: Northern Rivers.
Old Hill Link	Joins Hill Rd. and is named in relation to the geographical feature of the street.
Olympic Boulevard	Named in connection with the 2000 Sydney Olympics Games	Sydney Olympic Park Authority
Orana Parade	Most likely named after the Orana region which comprises approximately a quarter of the area of NSW. The origins of the word are contested and are thought to have either Polynesian or Aboriginal Australian origins.	Wikipedia: Orana
Park Street	Possibly a destination reference to Sydney Olympic Park and nearby parks in the north-west of the precinct	Sydney Olympic Park Authority
Parkview Drive	In reference to the geographical position of the street.
Pondage Link	Possibley in reference to a Pondage usually refers to the comparably small water storage behind the weir of a run-of-the-river hydroelectric power plant. Such a power plant has considerably less storage than the reservoirs of large dams and conventional hydroelectric stations which can store water for long periods such as a dry season or year	Wikipedia: Pondage:
Ring Walk	Relates to the shape of the Walk
Riverina Avenue	Possibly, in reference to the geographical area the Riverina. The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation.	Wikipedia: Riverina.
Rod Laver Drive	Named after tennis great Rod Laver. Rodney George Laver AC MBE, born 9 August 1938) is an Australian former tennis player. He is widely regarded by many pundits, players and fans to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Laver was ranked world No. 1 in nine different years, which is an all-time record in tennis.	Wikipedia: Rod Laver
Sarah Durack Avenue	Named after Australian olympic medalst Sarah Durack (1889-1956) who won a gold medal in the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games	Australian Olympic Committee: Fanny Durack
Shane Gould Avenue	Shane Gould (1956-) won three gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics for swimming the 200m and 400m freestye, as well as the 200m medley. All at the age of 15.	Australian Olympic Committee: Shane Gould
Shirley Strickland Avenue	Named after Australian Olympian Shirley Strickland (1925-2004) who competed in the 1942, 1948 and 1956 Olympics, winning a three gold medals along the way for track.	Australain Olympic Committee: Shirley de la Hunty
Shoalhaven Street	Most likely named after the Shoalhaven region of NSW. It was named by the explorer George Bass who made his way down the coast in 1797, traversed Seven Mile Beach and then crossed the shoals. It was original called Shouls Haven.	Aussie Towns: Shoalhaven
Showground Road	Most likely named after the Sydney Showgrounds in the Olympic Park. It could also be a homage to the original showgrounds at Moore Park, which has a strong agricultural and sporting history.	Wikipedia: Sydney Showgrounds
Silverwater Road	Directional street name theme as the road leads to the suburb of Silverwater	History and Heritage: Silverwater
Stromboli Strait	Possibly named after the island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily, containing Mount Stromboli, one of the three active volcanoes in Italy. It is one of the eight Aeolian Islands, a volcanic arc north of Sicily. Strabo writes that people believed that this is where Aeolus lived.	Wikipedia: Stromboli Island
The Piazza	Is a word that means public place or market place.
Uhrig Road	Part of the Homebush State Abattoir subdivision. Street named based of people connected with the meat industry. Uhrig Road is named after Leslie Earl Uhrig (died 2 December 1974), producers' representative, and elected member of the Metropolitan Meat Industry Board until his death.	"State Library of New South Wales (1878-1935) Plan of Proposed Subdivision of Part of Homebush Abattoirs, [Auburn subdivision plans], 411 - Z/SP/A10/398
Victoria Avenue	A common street and place name. Possibly named for the former monarch Queen Victoria.	Wikipedia: Victoria

Emma Stockburn – Research Facilitator and Neera Sahni, Research Services Leader, Parramatta Heritage Centre, City of Parramatta, 2021