Field of Mars Reserve is a remnant of bushland between the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers in New South Wales, Australia. It is within the suburb of East Ryde and near Gladesville, Hunters Hill and Ryde, to the northwest of Sydney.
The name Field of Mars was given by Governor Phillip, when in January 1792 he granted to two marines the first parcels of a later eight in this district. There are a number of theories on the origin of the name, the first is that it was a direct reference to the Roman God of war and the marines' service in the colony. The second theory is that it is named after the Roman Campus Martius, which also has a military connection. And the third that it is named after the Champ de Mars in Paris, again with military connections. The name was later used on the parish in the area, which is still today used on land titles.
The reserve features an environmental education centre. In 2002 it was devastated by bush fires known as the Field of Mars Fires. The reserve is a Wildlife Refuge, gazetted under the National Parks and Wildlife Act. It contains considerable flora and fauna
Famous quotes containing the words field of, field, mars and/or reserve:
“Hardly a book of human worth, be it heaven’s own secret, is honestly placed before the reader; it is either shunned, given a Periclean funeral oration in a hundred and fifty words, or interred in the potter’s field of the newspapers’ back pages.”
—Edward Dahlberg (1900–1977)
“What though the field be lost?
All is not lost; the unconquerable Will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield:
And what is else not to be overcome?”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“But in the dome of mighty Mars the red,”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)
“In a democracy—even if it is a so-called democracy like our white-élitist one—the greatest veneration one can show the rule of law is to keep a watch on it, and to reserve the right to judge unjust laws and the subversion of the function of the law by the power of the state. That vigilance is the most important proof of respect for the law.”
—Nadine Gordimer (b. 1923)