More than 20 years after the gates closed, Hornsby Quarry is now a park

Hornsby Quarry has sat empty for more than 20 years, an artifact of industry long gone from the upper North Shore. 

What happened: On Saturday, parts of the old quarry were opened to the public as “Hornsby Park”. The area surrounding the old crusher plant - where basalt was smashed into gravel - is now coated with lawns and dotted with picnic shelters, and there is a lookout over the quarry void.

This is the first stage of the site's revitalisation. 

The second phase includes an adjoining sports field, picnic areas and playground to the quarry’s east. The $24m funding for this is secured, split evenly between the federal government and council developer contributions.

More than they can chew? Tens of millions of dollars in further funding are required to complete the third phase, which would see the quarry void transformed into a park area with expansive lawns and an amphitheatre. Some of this money has been secured, but more is needed.

Local history: Members of the Higgins Family, who had lived in Old Mans Valley since the 1820s, began quarrying in the valley in 1905 for basalt, which was used to build road networks across Sydney, including the Pacific Highway, Warringah Road and Mona Vale Road.

After the Higgins family sold the site in 1912, ownership transferred between the local council and various private operators, until operations stopped in 2003.

Lifelong Hornsby resident Peter Milgate was 17 when he began driving trucks and blasting rock at the quarry in 1967, alongside his brother and father. In council records, he describes the worksite crib room as a mix of Australian, Irish, Italian, Dutch and Scottish employees — and recalls the Hornsby RSL as the watering hole of choice for quarry workers.

Milgate attended the opening of the park on Saturday.

The Hornsby Valley Preservation Society, formed in 1960, saw the quarry as a blight on the natural landscape. “Why, of all places in the shire, should this beautiful valley have been virtually given away?”, the association President asked at the time. 

Free parking is available outside the plant and along Quarry Road.

Thumbnail: Hornsby Shire Council