Lost Sydney: Old Sydney Town
Location: 1 Old Pacific Highway, Somersby, NSWIt was in the late 1960s that Sydney architect Frank Fox, of Fox and Associates, conceived the idea of creating on the shore of a man-made lake at his extensive property at Somersby, a facsimile of Sydney as it was before the arrival of Governor Macquarie in 1810. Fox had purchased the 110-hectare site at Somersby, near Gosford, especially for its resemblance to Sydney Cove in its earliest years, which suited his objective of re-creating this part of Sydney before Lachlan Macquarie had come as Australia s fifth governor. The 25-hectare portion of the site set aside for Old Sydney Town became the focus of all subsequent endeavours. From then until the opening of Old Sydney Town by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam on Australia Day 1975, a research team worked on trying to achieve what Fox referred to an unimpeachable authenticity .
Sydney's first open air museum and theme park, Old Sydney Town was set out according to James Meehan's map of Sydney in 1803 and consisted of over 30 authentically reconstructed buildings. This reconstruction of 1803's Sydney closed exactly 200 years later. A living tribute to the early years of Sydney's colonial settlement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the park's activities were set around a recreation of Sydney cove. The activities included soldiers on parade, thundering cannons, re-enactments of pistol and sabre duels, a convict rebellion, a magistrate's court, convict punishment and bullock rides. The park also featured horse-drawn wagons, craft stores, a kiosk, tea shop and barbecue facilities.
Around 11,000 spectators were on hand to witness the opening of Old Sydney Town, but there was never enough custom to support the "army" of redcoats, convicts and townfolk who performed for the visitors. In the first five years the park's losses reached $600,000 a year. Funding pledged by the Labor federal government in 1975 was later withdrawn by a new Liberal Government. Even a rescue by Warwick Amusements in 1987 could not reverse the park's fortunes.
When the park was closed in 2003, it was being run by a skeleton staff, the redcoat platoons having been reduced to just four officers. During its lifetime, the park had 6 million visitors. The operators blamed the closure partly on what they called the "instant gratification" generation that demands computer games and thrill-rides, rather than a leisurely stroll through history.
During the blame game that transpired after its closure, some claimed that the marketing of Old Sydney Town was virtually non-existent and the maintenance minimal, one employee describing it as "purely cosmetic surgery", though the operators were quick to point out that maintaining exact replicas of colonial buildings, built of softwood or wattle-and-daub, was extremely difficult, costly and time consuming. The then State Opposition spokesman for the Central Coast, Mike Gallacher, observed, "The biggest mistake they made was only catering for that one small piece of history - once you went there it wasn't going to be any different." The former federal ALP member for Robertson, Barry Cohen, pointed out that commitments to build an 18-hole golf course, an amusement park and a hotel were never fulfilled.
Since Old Sydney Town closed to the public it has been let for movie, tv show and advertising commercial shoots. Old Sydney Town's neighbour, the Australian Reptile Park, has continued to trade and is still operating successfully today. In February 2012 residents of the Central Coast banded together and formed a committee to re-open the park and several Facebook pages were started. A year later the Daily Telegraph reported that the family of Frank Fox were in negotiations with the current lease holders about reviving the town. In February 2014, the entrance building was destroyed by fire. The building contained historic memoriabilia including replica canons. Some of this has also been destroyed.
