A Queen's Birthday review at Moore Park

Depicts a New South Wales military contingent on parade that appeared in the 'Illustrated Sydney News' . A large crowd observes the volunteer soldiers, field guns and horses marching across large, open parklands. Moore Park, in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, is part of Centennial Parklands, a collective of three parks being Moore Park, Centennial Park and Queens Park. The parkland was named after Charles Moore, Mayor of Sydney from 1867-69, who fought for the land to be dedicated as a leisure area for the people of Sydney and suburbs. The land was part of 1,000 acres originally set aside by Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1810 for grazing and watering stock. Moore Park became the focus of major sporting events and entertainment facilities, as well as a site for military parades. By the late 1870s, volunteer soldiers in New South Wales were paid to drill. Previously, they were unpaid and were required to provide their own uniforms, although the government furnished them with arms and ammunition. Many of the locally raised units were highly organised, disciplined, professional, and well trained. Overall, however, for most of the time from settlement until Federation, military defences in Australia revolved around static defence by combined infantry and artillery, based on garrisoned coastal forts. Given this, the scene depicted of the review at Moore Park of soldiers on parade is unusual and provides a rare scene of colonial military forces in New South Wales during the 19th century.