Callan Park // Sydney City Farm

Callan Park Overview

Situated in stunning Iron Cove, Callan Park is the site of Rozelle Hospital. A 62 hectare picturesque park that was designed using nineteenth century therapeutic landscaping and gardens, it includes undulating waterfront parkland and views over the cove, heritage gardens and buildings and one of the few remaining beaches in the Inner West.

Callan Park is easily accessible to inner Sydney through Balmain Road and Victoria Street. It has remnant native bushland and wildlife habitat as well as historic Aboriginal sites, such as foreshore middens. Numerous derelict buildings ripe for rejuvenation are scattered throughout the site as well as large open areas.

Plan of Proposed Farm

Callan Park History

Before colonisation, the site that is now Callan Park was home to the Eora people. Foreshore middens suggest the importance of the site for gatherings and ceremonies.

The land was bought from the Crown in 1839 by John Ryan Brennan, the crown solicitor and police magistrate. He established Gary Owen House (now the NSW Writers Centre) and later, Broughton Hall on what was over 100 hectares of waterfront land. Brennan sold the property in 1864 to businessman John Gordon, due to bankruptcy.

Gordon renamed the land Callan Park, after his home in Scotland. Gordon decided to subdivide the land for sale in 1873, but the government decided to buy the land and create a mental hospital with picturesque gardens and a working farm for the patients. Kirkbride building (now Sydney College of the Arts) was built and run as a psychiatric facility until 1994. Other buildings on the site such as Broughton Hall and newer buildings were also used for psychiatric purposes.

A number of studies over the last 20 years have been carried out to provide suggestons on what to do with the park. These studies have all concluded with ideas that encompass establishing a city farm as a suitable use for the site. For example,

in 1986, Rebekah Powel suggested "an adventure playground could be established offering a unique facility to the region's young children... The grounds and historic buildings also provide a venue for cultural events such as the Leichhardt Carnivale, festivals, outdoor theatre and exhibitions." (p.248)
The 1991 plan entitled Rozelle Hospital Open Space Management suggests "the widest spectrum of public use of site open space" and to "incorporate opportunities for social recreational or educational developments". (p.1)
Leichhardt Council's 2001 Community Vision suggests uses such as "cafe/restaurant, library/museum, car parking, active recreational facilities, community centre, educational facilities, youth activity centre, biodiversity corridor/habitat, artists' studios, community/sensory gardens, environmental organizations, outdoor classrooms".

In 2002, the Callan Park Act was passed in the state parliament protecting the land from sale. A new masterplan for the park has begun to determine its future uses.

Current Uses of Callan Park

The psychiatric hospital remains one of the main users of the site. Others include Sydney College of Art (Sydney University), the NSW Writers Centre, NSW Ambulance training centre, a childcare centre, Just Enough Faith (a soup kitchen for homeless people), Lucan Care, CFMEU drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre, We Help Ourselves (a women's drug rehabilitation facility), Glovers Community Garden, numerous dog walkers, walkers and joggers on the Bay Run, sporting groups.