Belmore Park

Belmore Park
Belmore park bounded by Central station and the railway line
Location	Central, New South Wales, Australia ()
Nearest city	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates	33°52′53″S 151°12′28″E / 33.88149°S 151.20769°E / -33.88149; 151.20769Coordinates: 33°52′53″S 151°12′28″E / 33.88149°S 151.20769°E / -33.88149; 151.20769
Created	19 May 1868 (1868-05-19)
Operated by	Sydney City Council
Status	Open all year

Belmore Park is a public park at the southern end of the Sydney CBD in the Australian state of New South Wales. Adjacent to the Central railway station it is bounded by Hay Street, Eddy Avenue, Elizabeth Street and Pitt Street. The area was previously known as Police Paddock and was part of a section of Crown land which included the Police Barracks, Devonshire Street Cemetery, Female Refuge of the Good Samaritan, Benevolent Asylum and a common. The area was landscaped and in 1868 it opened as a park dedicated to Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore the then Governor of New South Wales. In 1901 the whole area was resumed for the construction of Sydney’s Central Railway Station with the majority of excavated earth placed on the common, burying the original layout. During the 1908–09 Royal Commission for the Improvement of the City of Sydney and Its Suburbs major landscaping works for the area were proposed by commissioner Norman Selfe.

Due to its proximity to the city, and especially to Central Station, the park has long been a place for groups to gather—for protests, markets, events or performances. For example, in 1878 in front of a large crowd, Henri L'Estrange unsuccessfully tried twice to launch himself in a gas balloon, while during the 2000 Summer Olympics the park became one of five "live sites" where the games were publicly broadcast. In the late 1860s "Belmore Produce Markets" and Paddy's Markets were built in the area opposite the current park—now known as Haymarket.