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Giba Park

Giba Park or Gibba Park (Giba is an Aboriginal word for stone) overlooks Pirrama Park and Sydney Harbour. A Macarthur family picnic here in 1806 gave the place the name Pyrmont. In 1834 Edward Macarthur subdivided part of Pyrmont, but this rocky ground remained a place visited by Aboriginal people, perhaps until the 1830s.

By the end of the nineteenth century various industries occupied the east side of the point and the Goodlet & Smith timber company depot and wharf on the west. By the 1970s, industries were in decline: the area of Giba Park was a disused cold store and Pyrmont’s population was barely 1000. State and Federal governments combined to regenerate the area in the 1980s.

The northern end of Point Street is now occupied by apartment buildings. Giba Park, opened in 1996, is a magnificent open space overlooking the foreshore, housing and parkland.

Further Reading

• Godden Mackay Pty Ltd and Howard Tanner and Associates Pty Ltd, Pyrmont Point Precinct: archaeological and heritage assessment, 1993

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