| Historical notes: | STATEMENT OF COUNTRY
Sydney Olympic Park and Homebush Bay are on Wangal Country, which stretches along the south of the Burramatta (Parramatta River) between Cadigal land (Cockle Bay) and Burramattagal land (Rosehill). Its estuarine ecosystems provided people with food, clothing and resources and a means of transport over thousands of years. Burning practices maintained an open environment dominated by well-spaced trees and grass. Shell middens lined Homebush Bay and the river before destruction in the 18th and 19th centuries (Moylan-Coombes n.d.).
Nearby in Newington Nature Reserve and Millenium Parklands are a range of archaeological sites that provide evidence of Aboriginal people living within and interacting with this landscape. Aboriginal people continued to use the area after their lands were granted to Europeans. Several encounters and conflicts were recorded locally in the 1790s. In the early 20th century, many Aboriginal people migrated to Sydney from across NSW seeking work or joining families. Some settled close to Homebush Bay and worked in local industries, such as the abattoirs or Naval Base (Tanner & Associates 2013: 132; AMBS 2012: 14; SOPA 2024: 17; Moylan-Coombes n.d.). More recently, Sydney Olympic Park has become a place associated with the sporting endeavours of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander athletes.
COLONIAL HISTORY OF THE SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK AREA
From 1788 - 1831, most of the Homebush Bay area was given out to two main land grants - Homebush and Newington. These estates were owned by the powerful NSW families the Blaxlands and the Wentworths. Homebush saleyards opened in 1882 and in 1883 Fitzwilliam Wentworth registered a subdivision (SOPA 2018; Pollon and Healy 1988).
From 1879 parts of Newington and Homebush were bought or resumed by the Crown. Newington was bought in 1897 for an Asylum. In 1960 it was proposed to close and sell this. Public opposition led to its transfer to the Department of Prisons. (SOPA 2018; Engledow 2019).
GOVERNMENT USES OF THE AREA PRE-DATING SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK
In 1897 Newington Military Magazine was built to store gunpowder outside the city. It comprised reclaimed wetlands, sea walls, farms, docks and wharf. In 1921 it transferred to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). In 1992, the Department of Defence were directed to start planning closure (SOPA 2018).
In 1906, after plague outbreak increased concerns that the abattoir at Glebe Island endangered public health, a Parliamentary Committee recommended a new Homebush abattoir and land was resumed. Construction began in 1910, it opened in 1913 and by 1923 was the Commonwealth's largest. It closed in 1988 (Tanner 2013: 136; Pollon and Healy 1988: 125; SOPA 2018).
In 1910 brickworks were proposed to supply NSW Department of Public Works. In 1911, land was resumed from abattoir land. It closed in 1940 and in 1942 became a RAN store. After 1945, the government re-established the brickworks. A building boom led to production peak in 1969. It ceased trading in 1988, but sandstone was removed until 1992. The pit became a wetland and frog habitat (SOPA 2018).
SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK
The State Sports Centre opened in 1984, State Hockey Centre in 1985. By 1988, some 9 million cubic meters of waste and contaminated soils were spread over 400 hectares, making it one of Australia's biggest urban renewal sites. In 1991 the Homebush Bay Development Corporation was established to remediate pollution and build infrastructure. Its scope expanded when Sydney won the rights to host the 2000 Olympics. From 1994, planning and facilities were administered by the Olympic Coordination Authority (OCA). RAN vacated in 1996, transferring ownership to OCA for an Athletes' Village and new suburb, Newington. SOPA was established in 2001 to manage public open spaces, venues and development areas. In 2009, Sydney Olympic Park was designated as a suburb (Pollon and Healy 1990; SOPA n.d.).
The development of Sydney Olympic Park was accompanied by a program incorporating works and ideas of contemporary artists into infrastructure and facilities. In Australia there has been no other project of such scale which integrated art with architecture and urban design (Smyth, 1999, 244).
ROBERT OWEN
Owen (born 1937) studied sculpture under Lyndon Dadswell in Sydney, graduating in 1962. He lived in Greece (1963-66) and London until 1975, was a founding member of Artspace and the Biennale of Sydney. In 1988, he moved to Melbourne, was artist-in-residence at the Victorian College of the Arts and RMIT Associate Professor and Head of Sculpture until 2001. His practice includes major public commissions.
Owen represented Australia at the 28th Biennale of Venice (1978). He has received major awards for commissions including the Webb Bridge (2005), Melbourne's Northern Gateway (2005 and 2006) and is represented in collections worldwide. In 2003, he received the Australia Council Visual Arts / Crafts Emeritus Award for lifelong service to the visual arts (Arts Review, 2021).
DISCOBOLUS
Discobolus, a public artwork by Robert Owen, was funded in the late 1990s by Australia's Greek (and wider Hellenic) community, international Greek organisations and the Greek government. It forms part of an international 'Olympic Tribute Trilogy' commemorating the Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Games (Simos 2024; Sydney Olympic Park Authority (SOPA) n.d.). It was created on behalf of a large group of migrants, headed by the Australian Tribute Inc. and then Order of the Australasian Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA) NSW Inc. Also involved was the Kytherian Association of Australia.
A large number of donors were from the Hellenic communities of Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, as described on the marble plinths. The Australian Hellenic community championed the (2000 Olympic) Games, commissioned and supported Discobolus' construction through multiple associations and enterprises. For example, the Euro Marble company (based in Marrickville, NSW) carved and installed the marble plinths. The Discobolus Group was the outcome of a fundraising effort which assembled over $500,000 by the year 2000, reflecting this community's love of both homelands, memory of ancestral lands and gratitude to Australia. Hundreds of names of individuals, associations and enterprises are marked on the Disc, plaques and the marble plinths which stand beneath the group's olive and cypress trees (AHEPA Sydney & NSW submission 2025).
Owen's winning design is a unique installation celebrating the Greek origins of the Olympics. It features a stainless steel and glass sculpture, olive, cypress and gum trees and architectural components. Discobolus is an adaptation on the story of the original discus thrower, Castor, who has metaphorically thrown the discus from ancient Greece to the 21st century, here transformed into a giant compact disc. Olives and cypresses symbolise peace and immortality and architectural pieces including five fluted column fragments (for five Olympic rings) recall the original games. Also included is a series of memory stones below trees. The Euro Marble company, based in Marrickville, carved and installed the marble plinths.
The ancient Olympic complex in south-western Hellas (Greece) is adorned with olive and cypress trees, part of the natural and cultivated landscape. Ancient Olympic champions were awarded wreaths of olive branches cut from a sacred wild tree near the temple of Olympian Zeus. These (wreaths) were a symbol of victory and honour. The cypress was considered sacred to the gods Apollo and Artemis. According to Strabo (Geography 14.1.20, first century BC - first century AD) a cypress grove was the setting for the birth of the twin deities associated with athletic pursuits (AHEPA Sydney & NSW submission 2025).
Discobolus is currently installed against the backdrop of monumental contemporary architecture, providing a reminder of origins of the Olympic movement and impetus for creating Homebush Bay (Smyth, 1999).
Owen's 1999 concept design differs from what was built. A diagonal flagstone-paved path from northwest to south-east was not built. The sacred grove of thirteen olives was shown spread across the western half of the design however, the current installation involves sixteen olives planted in the northeastern corner, along its west and south boundaries.
The olive is a living link with the original games of 776BC. Olive branches were used to make crowns for victors and hence the olive leaf is a symbol of victory and peace. The cypress, a symbol of immortality, was sacred to Artemis, daughter of Zeus and one of the main goddesses associated with Olympus. In Sydney it represents the immortal spirit of the Games. A dry stone wall has been constructed on the north side of the site. The wall has references to ancient agricultural walls built to contain animals and keep them away from the olive groves and other plantations. Some of these would contain alcoves for shepherds to shelter in (Owen, 1999).
Four cypresses were originally planned for the park's northern boundary, east of the diagonal path, and three on the park's southern boundary. Instead, four cypresses were planted on the north boundary and three on the south.
No eucalypts were shown on the concept design. It is understood Stockroute Park's eucalypts pre-dated the Discobolus Monument.
The artwork was announced by Michael Knight MP, Minister for the Olympics, in February 1999, and unveiled by Governor-General Sir William Deane AC KBE, on 13 August 2000. Attending were NSW Members of Parliament, OCA Director-General, Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church of Australia, the artist and Hellenic community members (Simos 2024; SOPA n.d.; Deane 2000: 2). The 2000 Sydney Olympics opened a month later.
Deane's address noted links forged during the Greek and Crete campaigns of World War II when Greeks risked reprisals to shelter Australian soldiers. Greece has 606 Australian soldiers' graves from two World Wars. A further 329 are listed on memorials. He noted bonds of kinship, friendship and achievement by Australians with Greek origins. He noted that the Olympics were about more than sport they were about celebrating excellence and culture and creating a lasting cultural legacy represented by Discobolus (Deane 2000; Poulos 2004).
A plaque was presented celebrating Tasha Vanos by Premier Bob Carr MP. The late Tasha Vanos OAM was a long-time board member of the Ethnic Communities Council of NSW, past President and long-time member of AHEPA USA, AHEPA Australia and Order of AHEPA NSW, Chair of the Hellenic Tribute Inc. and was instrumental in realising the Discobolus Monument. He represented Australia in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and was awarded an OAM in 2008 for service to the Greek community, particularly through AHEPA (AHEPA 2008).
Between 2009 and 2010, in preparation for the Sydney Games' 10th anniversary, collaborations between Greek Australian groups and international institutions introduced interpretive signage and artistic elements celebrating Greece's contributions to the Olympic Movement (Simos 2024). |