Harbourside monorail station is demolished as Sydneysiders express sadness

Nostalgic Sydneysiders have been saddened to learn that demolition work has begun on another key part of the city’s old monorail network.

The Harbourside monorail station, which dropped commuters off at the original Darling Harbour site, was in the process of being pulled down this week. 

The station was one of seven stops in the defunct monorail network that shuttled passengers around the greater Sydney central business district.

The station is one of seven stops in the defunct monorail network that connected the city with Darling Harbour, Chinatown and the Spanish Quarter

Scaffolding has been raised around the Harbourside site marking an official end to station that serviced locals between 1988 and 2013.

Photographs of its demolition were shared to social media where Sydneysiders expressed their sadness. 

‘They’re demolishing the monorail station at Darling Harbour … You have no idea how upset I am,’ one wrote on Twitter. 

Others shared fond memories of riding along the network in the past.

‘I went on this when I was a kid, was so much fun, would’ve rather have this back then (sic) the stupid tram they put back in,’ one wrote on Facebook.

‘When I used to live in Sydney I used to catch it to Darling Harbour … it was just quick and easy to get there … it’s a shame it’s gone,’ another added.

Others pleaded for the monorail network to be saved.

‘Don’t take away the monorail station … Imagine a cool little bar or coffee shop in there,’ one wrote on Reddit.

‘Don’t know why Sydney wants to erase the monorail history when they could have a bit of fun and embrace it.’

The monorail, which opened in 1988, ceased operating in 2013 when work immediately began on dismantling the track and most of the stations.

The Harbourside stop is the latest part of the infrastructure to fall.

The removal was part of Mirvac’s redevelopment of the 1980s Harbourside Shopping Centre on Darling Harbour.

All sections of the track and some of the stations along the network have already been dismantled, with the Harbourside stop the latest to fall

The site will make way as Mirvac pushes ahead with its planned redevelopment of the 1980s Harbourside Shopping Centre on Darling Harbour

The monorail network was not popular with every Sydneysider with one group attempting to stop its construction in the 1980s.

Sydney Citizens Against the Proposed Monorail, which was led by solicitor Michael Mobbs, formed in 1985 in a bid to stop the monorail from being built.

Their campaign involved taking out advertisements in the newspapers and staging protests urging the proposal for the monorail to be binend.

‘QVB yum – Monorail yuk,’ ‘No Monorail,’ ‘Stop the Monsterail,’ and ‘Who needs a monorail? I’ve got feet!’ were among the several slogans.

Ita Buttrose, Peter Carey, Leo Schofield, Jim McClelland, Mike Carlton, Nick Greiner, and Patrick White were some of the high-profile Australians that joined the cause.

White said the monorail was ‘one of the many autocratic farces perpetuated by the powerful on our citizens.’ 

Sydney mayor Clover Moore even expressed her disapproval when she was an independent MP at the time.

A Mirvac spokesman said the company had no intention of preserving the Harbourside station, news.com.au reported.

‘We received approval for the demolition of the monorail station at Harbourside in 2021, and the monorail does not form part of the redevelopment of the site,’ he said.