Latest news with #RiversideTheatres
ABC News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Book Week Heroes Giveaway
All week from Monday 18 August, join Craig Reucassel on ABC Radio Sydneys Breakfast as we celebrate Book Week Heroes! Each day we'll be asking you to call in and nominate someone who's gone above and beyond this Book Week. Daily winners will score tickets to Trent Dalton's Love Stories at Riverside Theatres to reward their Book Week Hero. Plus, every winner from across the week will go into the draw to win a special visit from Craig to their local school, library, or book club! Tune in to Breakfast on ABC Radio Sydney from Monday 18 August to find out how you can win. Prize details Minor prizes: 5 x double passes to Trent Dalton's Love Stories at Riverside Theatres on Thursday 11 September at 7.30pm Major prize upgrade: opportunity for Craig to come and visit your local school, library or book club Tune in from Monday on 702AM ABC Radio Sydney or the ABC listen app. Competition terms and conditions apply.
Sydney Morning Herald
7 days ago
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
Once ignored, the Parramatta River is becoming the centre of Sydney's second CBD
It was 1914, and while no one could quite work out the cause, they all agreed on the problem: the Parramatta River absolutely stank. 'PARRAMATTA RIVER SMELLS,' The Daily Telegraph declared in February that year, as the local council leapt to address the problem – by setting up a meeting with 'various bodies in the vicinity [to] see what could be done'. But one councillor took things into his own hands, and reported walking on the banks of the river 'from the meat works to the septic tanks'. He saw 'a greasy grey matter all along the edges'. 'The thing was a disgrace,' the paper reported. The councillor's walking route might have given him a clue as to the source of the stench: throughout its long history, Parramatta River has been home to various factories and industries emitting toxic waste directly into the river, and other sewerage systems that abandoned waste as it reached the water. Vietnam War-era Agent Orange was produced on the banks of the river, where its remnants remained until a mammoth clean-up ended in 2010. But over the past decades, change has been afoot. As the foreshore has cleaned up, the water has too. And the Parramatta CBD, which once turned its back to the river, is now slowly turning around to make it a centre point. 'It was a smelly old river,' recalled Ryde councillor Penny Pedersen, who this year was appointed the chair of the Parramatta River Catchment Group, an alliance of councils, government departments and community groups that was set up in 2008 with a bold mission: to regenerate the river enough to make it swimmable by 2025. In many ways, they're succeeding. There are now six spots to swim along the river, including at the feeder Lake Parramatta, just north of the CBD. 'It's not just about swimming,' Pedersen said. 'If you're going to recreate in or near water, you want it to be clean, you want it to be beautiful. You want it to smell good.' The group has focused specifically on naturalising and revegetating the riverbanks, which she said acted as a filter for pollution. 'They filter sediment, all sorts of rubbish that comes off the land after it rains, and they mitigate localised flooding.' River at centre of city shift But since the train station was established more than 600 metres south of the river in the mid-1800s, Parramatta city has grown and developed without much thought to the river (Church Street, which crosses the river via Lennox Bridge towards the Riverside Theatres, has been the outlier). But the division between the city and the river is breaking down, with the city gradually marching towards the regenerated body of water. Over the past decade, high-rise apartments and office towers have spread out from Parramatta Square to the very edges of the riverbank. Meriton opened its first tower directly overlooking the river on Church Street in 2017. Two more near the ferry wharf, the tallest residential apartments in the city, opened in 2023. The 75-metre-high Parramatta Powerhouse looms above the banks. Just next door, the council is inviting feedback on plans to rezone a block that currently rises only a few storeys above ground for a tower as high as 153 metres tall. In the coming years, the city will be connected directly to the foreshore. The City of Parramatta's Civic Link project will pedestrianise connections between Parramatta Square and the Powerhouse Museum, via the new metro station. Pedestrians will be able to walk just over 500 metres from the train station, through Parramatta Square, past the Roxy Theatre and down a new 'green spine' on Horwood Place, through the new public space under the raised Powerhouse Parramatta and to the banks of the river. The project is being completed in blocks. The first section was Parramatta Square, completed in 2022. The second, the Metro West site, is due to open in 2032. Construction on the third, between George and Phillip streets, is due to start in early 2026. The Powerhouse, the final block, is being targeted to open in September 2026. Loading And it won't stop there: councils are working on the Parramatta to Sydney foreshore link – which Pedersen admits is progressing 'slowly' – will, if completed, provide more than 90 kilometres of pedestrian and cycle paths along the entire route of the river between Parramatta Park and the Sydney Opera House.
The Age
7 days ago
- General
- The Age
Once ignored, the Parramatta River is becoming the centre of Sydney's second CBD
It was 1914, and while no one could quite work out the cause, they all agreed on the problem: the Parramatta River absolutely stank. 'PARRAMATTA RIVER SMELLS,' The Daily Telegraph declared in February that year, as the local council leapt to address the problem – by setting up a meeting with 'various bodies in the vicinity [to] see what could be done'. But one councillor took things into his own hands, and reported walking on the banks of the river 'from the meat works to the septic tanks'. He saw 'a greasy grey matter all along the edges'. 'The thing was a disgrace,' the paper reported. The councillor's walking route might have given him a clue as to the source of the stench: throughout its long history, Parramatta River has been home to various factories and industries emitting toxic waste directly into the river, and other sewerage systems that abandoned waste as it reached the water. Vietnam War-era Agent Orange was produced on the banks of the river, where its remnants remained until a mammoth clean-up ended in 2010. But over the past decades, change has been afoot. As the foreshore has cleaned up, the water has too. And the Parramatta CBD, which once turned its back to the river, is now slowly turning around to make it a centre point. 'It was a smelly old river,' recalled Ryde councillor Penny Pedersen, who this year was appointed the chair of the Parramatta River Catchment Group, an alliance of councils, government departments and community groups that was set up in 2008 with a bold mission: to regenerate the river enough to make it swimmable by 2025. In many ways, they're succeeding. There are now six spots to swim along the river, including at the feeder Lake Parramatta, just north of the CBD. 'It's not just about swimming,' Pedersen said. 'If you're going to recreate in or near water, you want it to be clean, you want it to be beautiful. You want it to smell good.' The group has focused specifically on naturalising and revegetating the riverbanks, which she said acted as a filter for pollution. 'They filter sediment, all sorts of rubbish that comes off the land after it rains, and they mitigate localised flooding.' River at centre of city shift But since the train station was established more than 600 metres south of the river in the mid-1800s, Parramatta city has grown and developed without much thought to the river (Church Street, which crosses the river via Lennox Bridge towards the Riverside Theatres, has been the outlier). But the division between the city and the river is breaking down, with the city gradually marching towards the regenerated body of water. Over the past decade, high-rise apartments and office towers have spread out from Parramatta Square to the very edges of the riverbank. Meriton opened its first tower directly overlooking the river on Church Street in 2017. Two more near the ferry wharf, the tallest residential apartments in the city, opened in 2023. The 75-metre-high Parramatta Powerhouse looms above the banks. Just next door, the council is inviting feedback on plans to rezone a block that currently rises only a few storeys above ground for a tower as high as 153 metres tall. In the coming years, the city will be connected directly to the foreshore. The City of Parramatta's Civic Link project will pedestrianise connections between Parramatta Square and the Powerhouse Museum, via the new metro station. Pedestrians will be able to walk just over 500 metres from the train station, through Parramatta Square, past the Roxy Theatre and down a new 'green spine' on Horwood Place, through the new public space under the raised Powerhouse Parramatta and to the banks of the river. The project is being completed in blocks. The first section was Parramatta Square, completed in 2022. The second, the Metro West site, is due to open in 2032. Construction on the third, between George and Phillip streets, is due to start in early 2026. The Powerhouse, the final block, is being targeted to open in September 2026. Loading And it won't stop there: councils are working on the Parramatta to Sydney foreshore link – which Pedersen admits is progressing 'slowly' – will, if completed, provide more than 90 kilometres of pedestrian and cycle paths along the entire route of the river between Parramatta Park and the Sydney Opera House.
The Age
08-07-2025
- Business
- The Age
Sydney council's funding vow to secure $276m Broadway-style theatre
The City of Parramatta has vowed to find $93 million to guarantee the construction of its long-awaited redevelopment of the Riverside Theatres, after the estimated cost ballooned to $276 million. As the council waits to hear whether the federal government will chip in funds for the ambitious project, councillors voted on Monday night to endorse a planned spend of $276.8 million for the revamp. The redevelopment will see the refurbishment of the existing 37-year-old Riverside Playhouse Theatre, the creation of a new Broadway-style lyric theatre with 1500 seats, a new 325-seat black box theatre, and a smaller boutique cinema. The doors to the complex are expected to open in 2028. Despite being announced in 2023, the project has long stood in limbo as the council worked out how to plug a $93 million gap in funding. But the council will now plug that hole by relying on seven different funding streams, including a targeted $15 million in philanthropy and a targeted $38.9 million in 'third-party fundraising' including grants. But if the council cannot reach those targets, it will rely on the 'unallocated balance of the property reserve', the motion shows. On Tuesday, Lord Mayor Martin Zaiter said he was confident the Riverside Theatre staff would be able to fundraise the right amount, but relying on the council's property reserves would not be a problem: 'We're in a very healthy financial position.' In its initial 2023 business case, the council had budgeted for a $188 million project, but the budget has since been forced to expand due to the huge increase in labour costs and materials, as well as expanded plans to build connections along the foreshore of the river. Attracting enough money, both in grants and philanthropy, for western Sydney cultural projects has proven challenging for decades. Parramatta's Powerhouse Museum, being built less than 500 metres down the river, is still searching for more donors as construction rapidly approaches completion. The museum says it has so far raised $66.9 million of its $75 million target, with $55.3 million taken for capital works and $11.6 million for programs. A spokesperson said they did not have a breakdown of targets for capital works and programs as the costs were combined for the first year of exhibitions.
Sydney Morning Herald
08-07-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Sydney council's funding vow to secure $276m Broadway-style theatre
The City of Parramatta has vowed to find $93 million to guarantee the construction of its long-awaited redevelopment of the Riverside Theatres, after the estimated cost ballooned to $276 million. As the council waits to hear whether the federal government will chip in funds for the ambitious project, councillors voted on Monday night to endorse a planned spend of $276.8 million for the revamp. The redevelopment will see the refurbishment of the existing 37-year-old Riverside Playhouse Theatre, the creation of a new Broadway-style lyric theatre with 1500 seats, a new 325-seat black box theatre, and a smaller boutique cinema. The doors to the complex are expected to open in 2028. Despite being announced in 2023, the project has long stood in limbo as the council worked out how to plug a $93 million gap in funding. But the council will now plug that hole by relying on seven different funding streams, including a targeted $15 million in philanthropy and a targeted $38.9 million in 'third-party fundraising' including grants. But if the council cannot reach those targets, it will rely on the 'unallocated balance of the property reserve', the motion shows. On Tuesday, Lord Mayor Martin Zaiter said he was confident the Riverside Theatre staff would be able to fundraise the right amount, but relying on the council's property reserves would not be a problem: 'We're in a very healthy financial position.' In its initial 2023 business case, the council had budgeted for a $188 million project, but the budget has since been forced to expand due to the huge increase in labour costs and materials, as well as expanded plans to build connections along the foreshore of the river. Attracting enough money, both in grants and philanthropy, for western Sydney cultural projects has proven challenging for decades. Parramatta's Powerhouse Museum, being built less than 500 metres down the river, is still searching for more donors as construction rapidly approaches completion. The museum says it has so far raised $66.9 million of its $75 million target, with $55.3 million taken for capital works and $11.6 million for programs. A spokesperson said they did not have a breakdown of targets for capital works and programs as the costs were combined for the first year of exhibitions.
