Boronia Park covers an area of approximately 25 hectares, bounded by Boronia Avenue, Ryde Road, Park Road, High Street and the Lane Cove River in the suburb of Hunters Hill.
The Park is a remnant of the "Field of Mars and Eastern Farms Common" which was proclaimed as such on 18 August 1804. When this land was sold off in 1874 an area of "sixty-two acres and two roods" remained, and on 16 December 1887, under the Public Parks Act was dedicated "for public recreation, and to be known as Boronia Park".
Lane Cove River boundary of Boronia Park with mangrove island on left, looking downstream
Later, in 1893, Hunters Hill Council was appointed trustee, and for many years used it as a disposal area for the municipality's garbage; but despite the fact that large areas were degraded, it is still rich in flora, and a haven for many species of birds and reptiles.
Traces remain of its early history, the most important being the government broad arrow, deeply incised in a rock face, which marks the original survey point of the Common.
Sydney peppermint, Eucalyptus piperita, on sandstone outcrop with mangrove island behind
Benson and Howell, in Taken for Granted - the Bushland of Sydney and its Suburbs write that:
...Perhaps Boronia Park is the best place to gain an idea of Hunter's Hill's pre-European landscape, as it has the largest intact stretch of bushland. Its sandstone slopes carry characteristic open-forest of Eucalyptus piperita, Eucalyptus gummifera and Angophora costata, with a great variety of understorey shrubs and small trees. Towards the top of the slope is an area of Kunzea ambigua shrubland, while Blackbutt, Eucalyptus pilularis, grow on the more sheltered aspects, and a small creek tumbles down a steep waterfall to form a pool beside Grey Mangroves along the river's edge...the Turpentine-Ironbark forest's only remnant in Hunters Hill today is a small stand of Syncarpia glomulifera, with some understorey shrubs, near the entrance to Boronia Park...
(Doug Benson & Jocelyn Howell, Taken for Granted - the Bushland of Sydney and its Suburbs Kangaroo Press, 1995, pages 109-110) (Quotation used with permission of Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, the copyright holder)