Hurstville Grove, Moore Reserve Wetland

The Moore Reserve Wetland is located in the southern suburb of Hurstville Grove. Moore Reserve was created in the 1960s by infilling with mud dredged from Oatley Bay. An artificial wetland was constructed in 2001 using natural processes to treat 95% of all stormwater run off from the 125-hectare catchment before it enters Oatley Bay.

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Botanic Gardens, pond

Looking across the Main Pond at the Royal Botanic Gardens.

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Botanic Gardens, Venus Fountain

The Venus Fountain statue sits in the Main Pond of the Royal Botanic Gardens. The original  sculpture was erected prior to 1880, leading up to the International Exhibition. The base of the fountain was surrounded by weathered rocks and large clam shells, which were later replaced by a sculpted crocodile. The badly deteriorating statue was removed in August 1990 and cast in bronze. It was installed in the pond in September 1994 but the original was lost in the process.

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Alexandria, Sydney Park, wetlands

Sydney Park, in the inner city suburb of Alexandria, features a number of ponds and wetlands that attract many animals and birds. The site is a former brickworks that has been transformed into 44 hectares of parkland. This boardwalk extends into one of the ponds at the southern end of the park. The typical Autumn day started out with a warm sunny morning but ended up with a cool overcast afternoon.

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Botanic Gardens, bridge

A view of one of the bridges across the Main Pond of the Royal Botanic Gardens.

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Botanic Gardens, pond

This pond is located beside the Oriental Garden, close to the Palm Grove Centre, in the Royal Botanic Gardens. There were quite a few flying foxes (or fruit bats) sleeping in the trees above.

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Botanic Gardens, Biennale, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The Main Pond at the Royal Botanic Gardens hosted this floating art installation for the 17th Biennale of Sydney. 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' by artist Choi Jeong Hwa was a four-metre plastic lotus flower that inflated and deflated every minute. The fluoro colour looked a bit faded by the end of the biennale when I photographed it but it was still impressive to watch. There's a video of this installation in action at the Royal Botanic Gardens site here.

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Botany, pond

Mill Pond is part of the wetland area in the southern suburb of Botany. The clouds were reflected beautifully in the pond on this day. This view is from Botany Road, looking towards the elevated Southern Cross Drive and underpasses. The view in the opposite direction can be seen here.

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Alexandria, Sydney Park wetlands

Sydney Park is a large inner city recreational area in Alexandria. It features a number of ponds and wetlands that attract many animals and birds. This is a view (top) of the pond in the south-east corner of the park. A Little Black Cormorant, also known as a Shag, is seen here sunning its wings (bottom), while its mate enjoys the view from the boardwalk.

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Alexandria, Sydney Park ponds

Sydney Park, in the inner city suburb of Alexandria, is a former brickworks that has been transformed into 44 hectares of parkland. There have been a number of ponds and wetlands (left) recreated as they once were in this area, which attract many water birds and animals. The storm water retention pond, with a weir (right), stores rainwater for the connected wetland areas in the park.Click here to view all participants of Weekend Reflections

Botany, wetlands

Mill Pond is part of the wetlands in the eastern suburb of Botany. This view is from the bridge on Botany Road. By the 1850s the colony's streams became clogged and polluted, so the government turned to Botany to supply Sydney with water. From 1859 to 1886, water from the Botany Swamps was pumped to the city and surrounding suburbs. Over time, tanneries, wool scourers, fellmongers and boiling down works all drained the natural swamp. By 1869, the area was no longer considered to be a reliable source of water and the Nepean water scheme took over.

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Monterey, Scarborough Ponds

Views of Scarborough Ponds in the southern suburb of Monterey, looking north from Barton Street (top and middle) and south of President Avenue (bottom).

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Rockdale, Bicentennial Park ponds

I was driving past Bicentennial Park at Rockdale last week and noticed that these algal blooms have covered a large proportion of the ponds here. The unusual green cover looks picturesque but I don't believe that it would be particularly good for the ponds and wildlife in the area.

Monterey, Scarborough Park

Scarborough Park, in the southern suburb of Monterey features a number of ponds connected by creeks.

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Centennial Park, Busby's Pond

Busby's Pond is a large pond in the middle of Centennial Park which is home to many waterfowl. The pond is named after John Busby, Chief Surveyor, who in 1824 was responsible for finding an alternative water supply for Sydney's Tank Stream. He suggested a tunnel running from the freshwater swamps, that were located in this area, to Hyde Park in the city. The tunnel became known as Busby's Bore.

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Homebush Bay brickpit

A couple of views of the Brickpit Ring Walk at Homebush Bay (above).

This piece of machinery (below) has been salvaged from the old brickworks and stands as a monument, at the entrance of the ring walk.

Homebush Bay brickpit ring walk

This pond was originally a brickpit that was originally going to be redeveloped as a tennis complex, as part of Olympic Park for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. During construction, the endangered Green and Golden Bell Frog was discovered living here, so the development was moved and the habitat was protected. The Brickpit Ring Walk was built to allow visitors to view the habitat from above.  I featured this walkway here a couple of months back. On a return visit there were some great clouds above which were reflected in the pond below, so it was worth photographing again.

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Homebush Bay brickpit (Theme Day: Feet)

The elevated Brickpit Ring Walkway at Homebush Bay provides a great view of the old brickpit which is now a pond. I had trouble finding something in Sydney for this theme day but thought a walkway is the closest thing to feet that I could find.

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Hurstville Grove, wetlands

The Moore Reserve Wetland is located in the southern suburb of Hurstville Grove, close to the Georges River. I didn't know these wetlands existed in the middle of this suburban area, so I was quite surprised to stumble across them recently.

Rockdale Bicentennial Park

A little blue bridge provides a walkway over the pond in Rockdale Bicentennial Park, which attracts many ducks. This recreation area was renamed in 1988 to celebrate Australia's bicentennial of European settlement.