Centennial Park

This guide to Sydney's Centennial Park returns to New Year's Day 1901, when six rival British colonies gathered here to become the nation of Australia. It follows the temporary pavilion built for the occasion, the reading of Queen Victoria's proclamation, and Edmund Barton's swearing-in as first prime minister. Along the way it traces the park's earlier life as a colonial water reserve fed by the convict-dug Busby's Bore. Find the granite marker showing where each colony's delegation stood that day.