The seepage from the bed-joints of the underlying sandstone around the upper portion of its catchment, which headed about the centre of the park, filtered through the soil to form a definite channel near King and Pitt Streets.

[1] We know it was timbered, as was the rest of the topography, from the early drawings of the settlement, and Director of the Botanic Gardens, Sydney J. H. Maiden has suggested that the dominant species were probably white or brittle gum (Eucalyptus micrantha), blackbutt (E.pilularis), bloodwood (Corymbia gummifera), Port Jackson figs (Ficus rubiginosa), Bangalow palms (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana), cabbage tree palms (Livistona australis) and smooth-barked white apple (Angophora costata), with an understorey of tea tree (Leptospermum sp.

[11] He formally defined the park as bounded in the north by the NSW Government Domain, on the west by the town of Sydney, on the east by the grant to John Palmer at Woolloomooloo and on the south by the brickfields.

He named the streets and regularised their courses, erected a wharf in Cockle Bay, relocated the Market Place and planned other improvements in the town, as well as defining Sydney's first major park and formalising its use "for the recreation and amusement of the inhabitants".

He closed access across the park to the Brickfields beyond, forbade carts to cross it, or cows, sheep, goats and pigs' to graze upon it, and ordered that no cattle headed for markets near Darling Harbour were to be driven across it.

A map of that year shows a vegetable garden of 11 acres allocated to the Barracks and a site marked out for the Roman Catholic Chapel... "near the rubbish dump".

However the formal nature of the Queens Square end of Hyde Park made it an appropriate place for Governor Brisbane's Commission to be read to the assembled populace on 1 December 1821.

[1]<[7]: 17–18 Francis Greenway, architect to Governor Macquarie, wrote in a letter to The Australian in April 1825 that Hyde Park was to be "given to the inhabitants of Sydney for ever, and to be laid down in the most elegant style of landscape gardening".

With the nearby Lyons Terrace (1851) and the Australian Museum (1849–51) the southern end of Hyde Park attracted significant and imposing buildings which increased its importance as a planned open space envisaged by Francis Greenway.

Its 19th-century layout featured straight paths rather than curved ones, with the central avenue of Moreton Bay fig trees continuing the line of Macquarie Street southward.

Moreton Bay (Ficus macrophylla) and Port Jackson (F.rubiginosa) figs were planted in Hyde Park in 1862[25](1860 say Mackaness & Butler-Bowden, 2007, 72) on the advice of Director of the Botanic Gardens, Charles Moore.

The fountain was designed by John F. Hennessy as assistant to the City Architect, Charles Sapford) was sited at Hyde Park on the corner of Oxford and College Street.

[33][1] In 1897 a bronze statue was erected by public subscription to commemorate the populist politician William Bede Dalley (1831–88) near the north-east corner of the park near Prince Albert Road.

The council should appoint a superintendent of parks: "trained professional gardeners, not labourers or handy men" should comprise the core of the staff; a nursery and depot were required; etc.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, 21 May 1929 the southern end of the park (Anzac Memorial) was a mountain of excavated soil and the south-west corner had been a railway construction site for more than 12 years!

[23] This necessitated massive excavations and vast disturbance over five years (1924–1929) involving a huge army of workmen and the moving of an enormous amount of soil, shale and sandstone.

[13][1] Part of the vision was to place major monuments at each end of the main vista aligned with Macquarie Street, which ultimately saw the Anzac Memorial and Archibald Fountain installed.

[13][1] The year 1927 also saw the opening of David Jones Department store on the corner of Market and Elizabeth Streets, directly opposite the park and St James Station entry.

This was bequeathed in 1919 to Sydney by J.F.Archibald, to commemorate the association of Australia and France during World War I and was designed by (and regarded as the master work of) French sculptor François Sicard.

Also in 1934 the Frazer Memorial Fountain was relocated to its current location, close to the entry steps facing College and Francis Streets, near Sydney Grammar School.

[47][48] On 31 March 2015 a War Memorial to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander soldiers was unveiled in Hyde Park South, close to Bathurst and Elizabeth Streets.

Sports people using the park grounds had to share it with the military, who trained on it and practised drill work, the general public, who cut paths across the playing fields, stray dogs, cattle, goats, sheep and other animals.

Recent (1990–2010) changes have been relatively minor – one more noticeable one being removal of 13 Hill's fig trees from the northern end (around the Archibold Fountain) due to fungal attack.

Also at the northern end are the Nagoya Gardens featuring a giant outdoor chess set and the entrance to the underground St James railway station.

A monument consisting of a 105-millimetre (4.1 in) gun from the German light cruiser SMS Emden stands at Whitlam Square, at the south-eastern, Oxford Street entry of the park.

Close to the ANZAC Memorial in the southern end of the park is Yininmadyemi – Thou didst let fall, a public artwork that acknowledges the service of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women in the Australian Defence Force.

The artwork by Indigenous Australian artist Tony Albert was unveiled on 31 March 2015 and was commissioned by the City of Sydney as part of its Eora Journey public art initiative.

As at 17 August 2011, Hyde Park has State significance as public land (the Australian colony's first common) that has influenced the development of Sydney's layout from as early as 1789, occupying approximately the same site since that time.

Hyde Park has contributed to the cultural development of the city as a recreational space encapsulating the principles of a Victorian parkland through the use of a hierarchy of pathways and the strategic siting of monuments, statues and built items.

The Park contains a collection of monuments and sculptures which mark key events and personalities in the history of the State including war memorials and significant artistic works.