Sir Joseph Banks Park is a 28 hectare area of parkland bordering the western half of Foreshore Drive, once referred to as Foreshore Reserve and Sir Joseph Banks Pleasure Gardens, were renamed in 1995 to Sir Joseph Banks Park. The original Foreshore Reserve consisted of planted bushland created on land that was reclaimed from Botany Bay during the development of Port Botany in 1970's. This area included 6 hectares of the original sand dunes and small pockets of remnant vegetation. The old Foreshore Reserve was designed by a landscape consultancy firm, Bruce McKenzie & Associates who were commissioned by the Maritime Services Board. Plans were drawn up for the moulding and shaping of this sand filled area and these Stage 1 works were completed in 1980. Stage 2 which included the installation of a network of pathways, car parks, various structures such as bridges, boardwalks, picnic areas and rain shelters as well as all of the planting and irrigation were completed over the next 5 years. One of the major features of this park are its network of ponds, most permanent, a few ephemeral. In 1992 under a dollar for dollar grant from the Metropolitan Greenspace Program a Park Management Strategy was prepared by Seaside Landscape Management to enable better maintenance of the reserve. Bush regeneration is one of the ongoing management practices in the Reserve and involves extensive weed removal and the planting of native, including indigenous tube stock. Council is also investigating a community based environment group to assist in the management and monitoring of the park. In 1995 part of the park was modified to provide new ponds for the endangered Green and Golden Bell Frog, relocated from a development site in Rosebery. This area is still being monitored and improved to assist the species' survival. Sir Joseph Banks Park adjoins the Botany Golf Course and can be accessed from Fremlin, Tupia and Waratah Streets off Botany Road as well as via Foreshore Drive. Sir Joseph Banks Pleasure Gardens These famous pleasure grounds by Botany Bay were the main attraction of the old Sir Joseph Banks Hotel in its heyday in the 19th Century. In the 1840's and 1850's the Sir Joseph Banks Zoological and Botanical Gardens featured the colony's first zoo with Elephants, Bengal Tigers and Bears. Other attractions included walkways and arbours, sports area, including Australia's first professional foot racing track, playgrounds, an amphitheatre and a large lunch pavilion. From 1845 through to the 1910 the Hotel and its famed Pleasure Gardens was Australia's equivalent of an European spa resort. However, the fortunes of the Hotel and its garden declined and in the 1920's the estate was subdivided with the remnant bayside gardens becoming a public park It was for over forty years that the former gardens remained vacant mown grassland until Botany Council decided to undertake an interpretative recreation of the former flamboyant Victoria Pleasure Gardens as its 1988 Bicentennial Project. Today the Gardens are the pride of the community. It features a sports oval, thematic gardens, a maze, pergolas, a lifesize bronze statue of Sir Joseph Banks. Structures in the park include an arbour and formal terraces. Metropolitan Australia's first zoo was located on this site and is commemorated by huge topiary elephants and a sculptured zoo animal playground. Today children can climb and play on life-sized, life-like cement animals sculpted by Perth animal portraitist William Rees. Animals featured in the "zoo" which was sponsored by Kelloggs, include tigers, bears, elephants, camels and gorillas. The new running track has enabled the "The Botany Bay Gift," Australia's oldest professional running race, to be seen once again as an annual event at Botany. The approximate cost of $1.2 million was met by a $200,000 New South Wales Bicentennial Council Grant, Botany Council and corporate sponsorship from local industry. source Botany council