Before 1810 the area was known as "The Common," the "Exercising Ground", "Cricket Ground" or "Racecourse".
Macquarie, on 11 February 1810, formally reserved it as open space, the first public park set aside in Australia.
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.

Macquarie named it "Hyde Park" after the great Hyde Park in London, north-west of Westminster, near Buckingham Palace (which had once belonged to the Manor of Hyde and which was seized from the Abbey of Westminster by Henry VIII for a forest hunting reserve in 1536).
Macquarie's naming and formal definition of the park was part of his town planning policy.
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 also added another use for the park, "as a field of exercise for the troops".
His proclamation acknowledged the previous uses of the area.

Ten days after Macquarie named it Hyde Park it was the venue for Australia's first organised horse race and it was used for races through the 1820s.
At that time it was much larger, marking the outskirts of Sydney's southern settlement The park was used as Sydney's racecourse from 1820 to 1821.
< Whittaker adds that as well as being a popular cricket venue in the 1820s it was also popular for informal children's games.

It was delineated only as a space at the end of Macquarie Street, where the military held parades, and townspeople cut firewood and carted off soil.
It became a favourite place for cricket, a playground for local school boys, a racecourse and - with its slightly elevated position - a promenade cites Hyde Park as being Sydney's cricket ground from 1827 to 1856.

In 1811 Macquarie framed further regulations to secure the space for public recreation.
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.
He caused a fence to be made between the park and the brickfields and directed that carts carrying bricks or pottery should go through the turn-pike gate in George Street.
He directed that all traffic crossing the park was to use the new line of road along the route of Liverpool Street to South Head Road (or Oxford Street).
This roadway then defined the southern boundary of Hyde Park.

The northern boundary was at first defined by the edge of the Governor's Demesne (Domain), which the Macquaries came to regard as their personal pleasure grounds.
Macquarie himself directed the building of Hyde Park Barracks (1817–19), St. James' Church (1820) and the Law Courts (1819-28) at the northern end of Hyde Park, using Francis Greenway as his architect,  with these buildings as fine embellishments to the colonial town, facing each other across a plaza which terminated Macquarie Street.
Macquarie blocked the street named after himself at what was later known as Queens's Square and excluded all roadways from the park.

The western boundary was defined as Camden Street (later Elizabeth Street, renamed by Macquarie for his wife, Elizabeth Campbell), marked out in Meehan's plan of 1807 almost as far as present day Park Street.
This was first a street of scattered small wattle and daub thatched houses, brush and grass trees.
These were gradually replaced by more substantial houses in the next four decades.
It became a fashionable residential street, with elegant terrace houses overlooking the maturing Hyde Park.

The eastern boundary was not sharply defined when the Macquaries departed in 1821.
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".
The foundati
Before 1810 the area was known as "The Common," the "Exercising Ground", "Cricket Ground" or "Racecourse". Macquarie, on 11 February 1810, formally reserved it as open space, the first public park set aside in Australia. 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.
Macquarie named it "Hyde Park" after the great Hyde Park in London, north-west of Westminster, near Buckingham Palace (which had once belonged to the Manor of Hyde and which was seized from the Abbey of Westminster by Henry VIII for a forest hunting reserve in 1536). Macquarie's naming and formal definition of the park was part of his town planning policy. 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 also added another use for the park, "as a field of exercise for the troops". His proclamation acknowledged the previous uses of the area.
Ten days after Macquarie named it Hyde Park it was the venue for Australia's first organised horse race and it was used for races through the 1820s. At that time it was much larger, marking the outskirts of Sydney's southern settlement The park was used as Sydney's racecourse from 1820 to 1821.< Whittaker adds that as well as being a popular cricket venue in the 1820s it was also popular for informal children's games.
It was delineated only as a space at the end of Macquarie Street, where the military held parades, and townspeople cut firewood and carted off soil. It became a favourite place for cricket, a playground for local school boys, a racecourse and - with its slightly elevated position - a promenade cites Hyde Park as being Sydney's cricket ground from 1827 to 1856.
In 1811 Macquarie framed further regulations to secure the space for public recreation. 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. He caused a fence to be made between the park and the brickfields and directed that carts carrying bricks or pottery should go through the turn-pike gate in George Street. He directed that all traffic crossing the park was to use the new line of road along the route of Liverpool Street to South Head Road (or Oxford Street). This roadway then defined the southern boundary of Hyde Park.
The northern boundary was at first defined by the edge of the Governor's Demesne (Domain), which the Macquaries came to regard as their personal pleasure grounds. Macquarie himself directed the building of Hyde Park Barracks (1817–19), St. James' Church (1820) and the Law Courts (1819-28) at the northern end of Hyde Park, using Francis Greenway as his architect,  with these buildings as fine embellishments to the colonial town, facing each other across a plaza which terminated Macquarie Street. Macquarie blocked the street named after himself at what was later known as Queens's Square and excluded all roadways from the park.
The western boundary was defined as Camden Street (later Elizabeth Street, renamed by Macquarie for his wife, Elizabeth Campbell), marked out in Meehan's plan of 1807 almost as far as present day Park Street. This was first a street of scattered small wattle and daub thatched houses, brush and grass trees. These were gradually replaced by more substantial houses in the next four decades. It became a fashionable residential street, with elegant terrace houses overlooking the maturing Hyde Park.
The eastern boundary was not sharply defined when the Macquaries departed in 1821. 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". The foundati
Hyde Park, Sydney