First Fleet Park has been assessed as having high archaeological potential based on archaeological monitoring and testing activities by Casey & Lowe in the 1990s that provided a predictive model for the presence of subsurface remains. This informed the analysis of the remote sensing survey by ground penetrating radar (GPR) undertaken in June 2009 for the First Fleet Park CMS. This information strongly invalidates the site assessment in The Rocks and Millers Point Archaeological Management Plan (1991) which stated that the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) area was likely to be completely disturbed. The construction of the former Maritime Services Board building (the present MCA) in 1946-52 was accompanied by the raising of the ground level of the landscaped and park areas by . This would suggest the retention of archaeological deposits, particularly in the present MCA forecourt area.Casey, 1991. The major upgrade and landscaping program to First Fleet Park for the 1988 bicentenary involved the further raising of its ground level by around one metre.
