Wentworth Park grandstand in 2021 (photo: Phil Vergison)

By Emily Booker, from Bulletin 8 of 2025 (October)

The future of Wentworth Park Greyhound Track appears to be up in the air again. Despite a commitment by the NSW Government in its Pyrmont Peninsula Place Strategy in December 2020 to return the site to ‘publicly accessible open space’ when the greyhound licence expires in 2027, the Minns Government is saying that no decision has yet been made.

Greyhound racing keen to stay

The new head of Greyhound Racing NSW, Steve Griffin, has said that the industry’s preference would be to stay at the site and he is pushing hard to get a definite decision as soon as possible. This indicates there is still a possibility the licensing agreement with the greyhound racing industry will be extended. According to Lord Mayor Clover Moore, the NSW Government has held meetings with greyhound racing groups but has not yet agreed to meet with the City of Sydney, which strongly opposes the licence renewal.

The licence agreement with NSW Greyhound Breeders Owners and Trainers Association (GBOTA) was a political compromise 30 years ago and it gave 50 per cent of what was Crown Land to the GBOTA for what was a commercial activity. The surrounding community has fought long and hard to have the land returned to public space and it is disappointing to hear that the Minns Government is considering backtracking on the most recent NSW Government promise. In her minute to the February City of Sydney Council meeting, Clover Moore noted that Minister for Lands and Property, Steve Kamper, and the Minister for Gaming and Racing, David Harris, have considered supporting the proposal to extend the greyhound license.

In a letter to Kate Harris of End Greyhound Racing at Wentworth Park, the Executive Director of Land and Asset Management of Crown Lands, Greg Sullivan, wrote that: ‘Greyhound Racing NSW has developed a proposal to remain at Wentworth Park under a new long-term lease from 2027, including a strategic business case and business activation plan. As well as the retention of racing, the proposal seeks to enhance the venue for other sporting activities and dining experiences. The proposal is under consideration by Government’. It sounds as though the Government is considering more commercial space, including restaurants, to add to that already being developed at the new Fish Market.

Even if the Minns Government commits to ending the greyhound licence in 2027, there appears to be pressure on the site from the Government’s push to quickly increase housing supply to address the housing affordability crisis. However, in response to an explicit question to the office of the Minister for Housing, Rose Jackson, as to whether housing was being considered on Wentworth Park, a spokesperson from the Minister for Lands and Property replied instead. The spokesperson stated that ‘no decision has yet been made on the future of Wentworth Park post September 2027’ and that ‘the Minns Government has been clear that we require greater utilisation and community activation of the complex’. Obviously, they are keeping their options open at this stage.

Pre-colonial settlement

Before colonial settlement of Glebe, the whole of Wentworth Park was part of Blackwattle Bay with extensive mudflats, mangrove forests, saltmarshes and brackish swamps fed by freshwater streams, as Glebe Society member, Asa Wahlquist, has written. Now it has two large commercial activities – the existing greyhound operations with its large grandstand and office space, and the newly-developed Fish Market which has taken over public waterway for private development.

In fact, the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council has a claim over Wentworth Park – land that belonged to the Gadigal people for thousands of years before being taken up post-British settlement as Crown Land. This claim was submitted in 2007 and is still unresolved.

A park in perpetuity

As Ted McKeown has written in the April 2024 Bulletin, the Blackwattle Bay Land Reclamation Act 1873 provided for the reclamation of the swamp land at the head of Blackwattle Bay and this Act was amended in 1878 to allow for 100% of the area reclaimed to be ‘dedicated in perpetuity for a park or place of public recreation’ thus prohibiting any commercial exploitation of the reclaimed land.

The communities surrounding Wentworth Park, in Pyrmont, Ultimo and Glebe, are keen to see the land returned to public space – largely agreeing that the 1878 amendment should be honoured. All believe that the greyhounds should go.

A community consultation conducted by the City of Sydney found that ‘there was overwhelming support to remove the greyhound facility to create more green space and unify the park’ (City of Sydney: A community vision for Wentworth Park, Summary Consultation report Nov 2024).

Wentworth Park Collective points out that this area is already among Australia’s most densely populated suburbs and that the Park ‘represents the area’s only expansive green open space’.

Pyrmont Action advocates green space for community and sporting activities and points out that with the increase in housing development in the area, adequate social and educational infrastructure also needs to be planned.

The Glebe Society supports the closure of the racetrack and a return of the Park to the community as public open space.

17 October protest

Meanwhile, with the state government holding off on its decision until the end of the year, the End Greyhound Racing at Wentworth Park group is organising a protest outside the Wentworth Park site at 5 pm on 17 October to try to prevent any backsliding from the Government on the track’s closure. Speakers include Emma Hurst MLC of the Animal Justice Party, Abigail Boyd MLC, and Senator Mehreen Farouqi of the Greens, as well as Lord Mayor Clover Moore and Independent MP Alex Greenwich.