Enmore Park Plan of Management - Land

Conservation Management StrategyEnmore ParkThe Mayor’s annual minute of 1919 indicates that ‘a concrete bandstand has been erected inMarrickville Park….’ 5 . However, information in the 1922 Diamond Jubilee suggests that thebandstand was not completed until at least the end of that year;“This (the fountain) is now being converted into a commodious band-stand,the foundation of which is completed, and the Council hope the stand willbe finished during the year. At the present time arrangements are beingmade to have several drinking fountains placed in different positions in thepark. These fountains are badly needed, seeing that since the old fountainwas dismantled and replaced by the band-stand, the park has been without awater tap of any kind. Owing to a shortness of funds the Council have notbeen able to spend any large amount of money in improvements; yet theystrained a point and had all paths asphalted at a cost of £280.”Figure H6 Photo c.1912, reproduced in the 1922 Jubilee volume, showing what is likely to havebeen the original rotunda in the park (at right) just to the north-east of the park’s central circle(marked by the palm tree). This rotunda was probably removed when the above mentionedconcrete bandstand was built over the location of the former fountain. No photographs of thefountain nor rotunda, however, have yet been obtained. Source: Marrickville local history centre.Council correspondence from 1923 shows that a formal approach to the Minister of Lands wasmade in that year by the Council for a variation of the Trust. Council sought approval of theMinister to construct tennis courts or similar active recreation facility in a part of the park whichwould not interfere with existing patronage. This proposal was further articulated in that yearwith a scheme proposed to enclose a 3¾ acre sport ground with a picket fence, leaving theremainder for recreation purposes. Correspondence has not been found to confirm the LandsDepartment’s final response on the matter, but it would seem that this delineation within the parkdid not occur.It is clear from the Council correspondence files on Enmore Park during the 1920s that there wasconsiderable dismay during that period expressed by members of the local community at thepersistent use of the park for active recreation purposes. This use was by both registered andunregistered groups. Numerous local groups made applications to Council during the 1920s foraccess to the park for community events, including Enmore Public School, the AustralianProtestant Orphans’ Society and the Marrickville Municipal Band.5 Enmore Park Enhancement – Proposed Bandstand and Conservation Works 1995 (held by Marrickville Councilarchives)Mayne-Wilson & Associates7Conservation Landscape Architects