Originally known as Edrop’s Bush or Edrop’s Paddock, 15 acres of land on Burwood Road was resumed as a park in October 1882. The land was described in 1855 by C.A. Henderson as “fifteen acres of the original forest…the home of many birds. Any birds coming to the district would naturally make for so fine a shelter. Here one might see large hawks, cranes, moorporks, kookaburras…. I saw a kookaburra dart down on a snake here and carry it to the top of a tall tree, then drop it and repeat this process. The Kingfishers had a nest here in an old leaning apple-tree. Small birds were also plentiful…”
The prize-winning design adopted for the Park’s development was roughly in a form of a Union Jack, and 50 trees were sent for planting in the park from the Royal Botanic Gardens in 1894, which may have included the Ficus and Phoenix Canariensis palms still in the park today.
Later additions or changes to the park include:
- the Paisley fountain opened on 13 February 1895 to commemorate Mayor William Paisley who had been shot by the Town Clerk in 1894;
- a bandstand built to commemorate the coronation of Edward VII in 1902;
- the 1904 construction of a bowling club (now a childcare and community centre);
- 1921 tennis courts;
- a small cricket field;
- the War Memorial Arch opened on 25th April 1923 in a ceremony attended by hundreds of people;
- the introduction of additional native plantings and a pond in the 1970s; and
- the Sandakan Memorial unveiled in 1993 by Prime Minister Paul Keating to commemorate the men who enlisted from the Sydney region and died as POWs in British North Borneo during World War II as Japanese prisoners of war.
Amazingly, despite being an historical 19th century park, being listed on the NSW National Trust Register for over 30 years, and being recommended for heritage listing in the 1988 Burwood Heritage Study, Burwood Park is still not heritage listed in the Burwood Local Environmental Plan and therefore has no heritage protection.
