Alison Park, Randwick viewed from The Avenue

Foundation
On the 4th February, 1876, Randwick Council set aside a large parcel of land between Alison Road and Frances Street, Randwick as a recreation reserve. It was not until 29th December, 1903 that the park was named "Alison Park" by the Council, though in the intervening years it was often used for recreation purposes including as a cricket ground. It took its name from the adjoining main road, Alison Road, which runs from through Randwick and down to Coogee. According to the Randwick City Council database of street name origins, the Road was in turned named after Mrs. Alison, owner of the Queen's Arms Inn in Darlinghurst, where the first meetings of were held in 1851 to form a road trust on which Simeon Pearce, later first Mayor of Randwick, was appointed commissioner. That road trust was ultimately responsible for the creation of Alison Road.

First Dedicated as a Cemetery
The original proposal for the land on which Alison Park is situated was for it to become a cemetery. Simeon Pearch, a strong Anglican, opposed burials for anyone other than Anglicans in the graveyard of the adjacent St Jude's Church. So in 1864, Randwick Council set aside the adjoinng land, granted by the government, as a burial ground of Catholics, Presbyterians, Wesleyans, Jews and other non-conformtist denominations.

However, fears about drainage to the west from such a cemetery polluting the water table for Sydney's water supply catchment caused widespread public agitation against the proposal. Pearce was able to convince authorities that St Jude's cemetery just next door drained east to Coogee so was not a problem! Eventually i n 1872 Randwick Council purchased 8 acres at South Coogee, and the following year dedicated the ground as Randwick General Cemetery for burials of all denominations.

Grand Victorian Green
Alison Park is like a "village green" or a grand park in the Victorian tradition with defined paths and play areas and formal gardens. It reminds me of town square parks of London, Europe or New York , such as Washington Square Park. Lacking the razzamatazz activities and buskers of Manhattan, it has remained more in keeping with the English idea of place where a gentleman could promenade with his family after church on Sundays.

Alison Park is bounded by Alison Road, Francis Street with The Avenue (a split thoroughfare) running along the eastern and western side. Randwick City's earliest church and civic buildings together with fine groups of nineteenth and twentieth century houses are all nearby - some on its boundaries, others within a short walking distance, including the historic St Jude's Church group and Randwick Town Hall. Randwick's commercial centre runs from the south of the park. Alison Park is in the heart of old Randwick.

Big Political Rally - 1932 State Election
On a bitterly cold night of June 9 1932, thousands of people gathered in Alison Park to hear and enthusiastically support the local Labor candidate for the state seat of Coogee, Alphonsus Samuel "Sam" Ticehurst. (1890 - 1962) Lead by a band, 300 returned Army and Naval veterans marched from Coogee, with people joining the march along the way. By the time they reached Alison Park, the crowd had grown to over 3,000 people who stayed until 11pm to hear speeches in praise of Ticehurst, and his leader, recently dismissed Premier Jack Lang. These were heady times and emotions were running high as the effects of the Depression were causing economic ruin for many, and this election campaign was marked by mass Labor party meetings including, allegedly, the largest public meeting in Australian history when Lang addressed 200,000 people at nearby Moore Park on 5 June. The rallies engendered great optimism among Labor supporters who said they were certain Ticehurst would prevail and defeat the sitting conservative member for Coogee, John Dunningham. Alas, the result of the election on June 11 was or a landslide victory for the United Australia Party /Country Party coalition of Bertram Stevens. As history has often shown, big enthusiastic crowds at political rallies do not always translate into a majority at the polls, and Ticehurst barely managed to gain 30% of the vote. John Dunningham remained the state member for Coogee with a resounding local win, despite the energy of Ticehurst's supporters.

A. S. Ticehurst, Labor candidate for state seat of Coogee, 1932

World War Two Era
There was a lot of activity in Alison Park during the World War Two years with many civilian defense demonstrations, recruiting rallies and patriotic and assemblies. On Wednesday 11th February, 1942, for instance, 3500 people visited the park to witness demonstrations of how to deal with various kinds of bombs. People were shown how to deal with a delayed action incendiary bomb, an oil incendiary, Japanese firebombs, and explosive incendiary bombs. They also saw a demonstration of the correct and incorrect method of using water on incendiaries and the proper use of sand mats for smothering bombs, as well as witnessing destroying power of thermite bombs. Fire Brigades showed how to rescue unconscious victims from smoke and gas-filled rooms.

Thankfully the war never came to Sydney and locals did not have to put into practice the skills they have acquired in the civil defence demonstrations.

Injured at Carnival
In the immediate post-War period the park was used to host various carnival to raise funds to different charities, often with Randwick Council support.

In March, 1946, while watching a "horse-o-plane" machine at a carnival in Alison Park, young Charles Foley, 16, of Cook Street, Randwick, was hit on the side of the head by one of the ride's wooden horses. He was suffered concusslon and a probable fractured neck. An ambulance was called to take him to St. Vincent's Hocspital. His mother, who was accompanying her son to hospital, collapsed with shock in the ambulance.

Shootout at Alison Park
Sunday 5th April, 1953, was beautiful sunny day autumn day and attracted many people to Alison Park, enjoying the pleasant atmosphere of this green urban oasis. No one paid much attention to a group of a dozen or so men who gathered in the park. They seemed happy enough, at first, gathered in a circle animatedly discussing something in a "foreign language". "New Australians", some remarked, using that old-fashioned term that denoted recent immigrant arrivals to Australia (meant to be a term of welcome when first coined, but with constant, and sometimes hostile, use had become a pejorative reference).

They were part of a group called the Royal Albanian Society, according to some reports, other reports named the group the Albanian Legitimist Association. The small European country in the Balkans had been liberated from Axis control during World War Two and was then under Communist control of the hardline regime of Enver Hoaxa (1908 - 1985).

Four Shots Fired
Passersby reported heard four gunshots. Two bursts wounded Ramus Kerma a labourer of 26 of Graham's Avenue Liverpool, in the face and abdomen. He was treated gunshot wounds at St Vincent's Hospital.

Later, police Ali Zani, 34, a welder of City Road, Sydney handed himself into to the law at nearby Daceyville Police Station and was charged with attemped murder. In court, Zani pleaded not guilty. "[Kerma] Kicked me. "Yes. I fought with Kerma. We had a meeting of the Legitimist Albanian Society and there were 12 of us at the meeting. Kerma kicked me while I was on the ground. He tried to choke me and I shot him. I tried to defend myself. He (Kerma) is an anarchist, some are Communists and some are anarchists."

Kerman said in evidence that he was addressing the meeting in Alison Park and that Zani kept on interjecting. He said he told Zani to wait his turn and somebody swore at him (Kerma): It was Zani's voice. Zani ran towards a fence and put his hand in his shirt pocket. Zani came very close to me and I heard, the first shot: I saw a gun in his hand, heard two more shots and felt something burning in my body and saw blood. Then there were two more shots:"

Kerma' said he grabbed the gun, threw it away and he and Zani fought on the ground. Ultimately, Zani was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to three years in imprisonment.

QE2 Coronation Celebrations - Randwick Ablaze
They certainly took things seriously in 1953! As well as a gun battle, Alison Park was the centre of local public celebrations for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in May 1953. The Mayor at the time, Alderman Dwyer and the Council, had created a scheme where bonfires spread throughout the municipality would light up the evening sky of 27th May 1953. Each bonfire would be guarded by a detachment of boy scouts until darkness and who would await the sighting on one twelve green signal rockets lit by the Mayor at Alison Park. At the sight of the green flares in the sky, the boy scouts would "officially" light each bonfire.

Artist impression of a Mayor lighting the signal flare in Alison Park, 1953

In front of a large crowd in the Park, the Mayor outlined grand plans for parades, guards of honour, and oath-givings. With matches in hand, and the rockets held ready in the trembling hands of twelve young residents, the Mayor readied to send the green flares into the chill May evening. Too late! Miscreant youth of the municipality, ever ready to cause mischief in the eyes of the good local burghers, got in first and slipped by the boy scout sentries, to light many of the bonfires long before the Mayoral rockets soared into the night sky. Looking south from the heights at Randwicksy, it seemed like the municipality was already ablaze with a constellation of blazing bonfires.

Hate Crimes
During the 1970s and 1980s Alison Park gained a reputation as what is known as a "beat", a place where gay men frequented to meet each other. It also had a much darker reputation of being a place where those intent on "bashing" gays could lurk among the trees in wait for their victims with relative impunity and toleration by some sections of the community. It was a symptom of an ugly part of Sydney's history: a wave of gay-hate deaths during that time.

One of the victims, fatal, was Raymond Keam a 43-year-old married man, an insomniac who lived in The Avenue next to the Park. Keam's car, which was ransacked, was parked nearby suggesting that Keam had gotten up late at night to check on his vehicle and been intercepted by his assailant. This was in 1987.

Finally in June 2023 the long arm of the law eventually caught up with Stanley Bruce Early, 77. He was extradited from Victoria and convicted of murder by a jury for the fatal Alison Park bashing of Raymond Keam, who he perceived to be gay. Evidence during the trial showed Early was the ringleader of a gang who beat up men they thought were homosexuals in Alison Park.

Civic Centre?
Over the years, there have been several attempts to transform Alison Park into a civic centre. Despite the best intentions, these efforts never materialized, and the park has remained a relatively quiet recreational corner of Randwick City from the late 20th century to the present day.

During the Bicentennial celebrations of 1988, there were efforts to use the park to commemorate 200 years of European settlement and acknowledge the diverse range of people who had settled in the area. This included the erection of a circle of flagpoles bearing different national flags, citizenship ceremonies, and speeches by incumbent mayors. However, even then, the enthusiasm for celebrating the dispossession of Indigenous people and the takeover of their land was waning.

A recent upgrade of facilities in the park, including new children's playground equipment, has not changed the fact that Alison Park remains a quiet urban oasis. Visitors are more likely to be found reading on a bench than engaging in recreational or cultural activities.

A sign at the park's entrance warns that, without prior Randwick Council approval, "distribution of leaflets, advertsing, conduct or trade or business, public performances, organised games or sports, [or] public meetings" are not permitted. It is little wonder that it is such a quiet corner of Randwick.

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