One of the interesting things about this park is that it was home to Australia’s first zoo. The site’s owner at the time, a timber merchant named William Beaumont, improved the hotel and created the ‘Pleasure Gardens’, which is a more scandalous and giggle-inducing name today than it would have been back then. The gardens included the private zoo.

As well as many animal statues there is a great playground as well as a traffic set up for littlies on their bikes or scooters plus a bbq or two.

The Botany Bay Gift was first held at Sir Joseph Banks Park in 1894, two years before the modern day Olympics, but was cancelled in the 1930s due to corruption before being revived by local business owners in the 1980s. Some of the world’s best runners including British athlete Lynford Christie took part in the race in the nineties, as did Olympic gold medallists Cathy Freeman and Nova Peris.

Details of the event can be found here: