The Sydney International Shooting Centre is one of the world’s finest shooting venues. Set in a valley on 80 hectares of semi-rural farmland and regenerated bushland in Western Regional Sydney, it has played host to the most prestigious sports shooting events including the Sydney 2000 Olympics and Paralympic Games and the ISSF World Cup.

 

The Sydney International Shooting Centre is located just one hour’s drive from Sydney’s central business district at Cecil Park, in the Liverpool Municipality. It was developed under the Olympic Co-ordination Authority to a $33 million budget. Construction in stages began in 1998 and was completed in October 1999 to deliver Australia’s first international shooting event, Oceania ’99. In March 2000, the World Cup was run as a lead up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in September 2000.

 

Since the Olympics, the centre has become a popular recreational site for experienced and novice sports shooting enthusiasts and is a superb venue for events, clubs and social functions. All Australian and international visitors now have the opportunity to experience the most advanced indoor and outdoor ranges in the world, which cater to disciplines including rifle, pistol, air rifle, air pistol, running targets, trap, double trap and skeet.

 

The centre was designed to co-exist with the rural landscape and natural surroundings of the Cumberland Plain woodlands. The principle behind its design was to incorporate ecologically and environmentally supportive features. These include the use of recycled and salvaged Australian native hardwoods in the venue’s interior and safety battles to reflect the character of Australian rural architecture.

 

The venue also practices energy efficiency and has installed power-saving devices in its use of electricity and water consumption such as rainwater collection for irrigation, solar collectors to provide hot water and other features to accentuate natural ventilation and lighting.

 

 

Seven Spears is located at the entrance of the Sydney International Shooting Centre and was part of the Olympic Co-ordination Authority's public art program. Indigenous artist Brook Andrew was commissioned to create an artwork evoking the past and living culture of the Gandangara people, on whose lands the centre was built.

 

The spears were chosen because, like guns, they resonate specific histories as weaponry, tools of self-defense and hunting.

 

The seven spears, which represent the seven clans of the Gandangara people, are each six to eight metres high and shoot out in all directions from the land. They signify the many types of spears Australian indigenous people used for hunting fish, birds, possums and other mammals of the area.

 

Spears were also objects used for ceremonial and other social gatherings. Special LED-lighting is integrated into each spear to mimic the fires traditionally used to smoke possums from their tree hollows and to burn back the long grasses of the Western Sydney region.