Council sought feedback from the community which helped shape the final design for the new district level playground at Frederick Wachter Reserve.
A new upgraded district-level playground was envisioned in the adopted Frederick Wachter Reserve Master Plan 2019 and Playground Strategy and Action Plan 2013-2023.
Extensive community consultation was conducted on ideas for the playground including two theme options to inform the development of the concept design.
The consultation sought the community’s ideas on how the playground could be made more fun and be themed to allow kids and adults to have an engaging play experience. The two theme options proposed were a Market Garden theme and a Wetland theme.
Based on the outcomes of the consultation, both the Market Garden (51% votes) and the Wetland (49% votes) themes were decided to be used in the final concept design.
Stage 1 of the playground upgrade was completed and opened to the public in October 2022.
Stages 2 and 3 of the new playground ties directly into the stage 1 playground area and was opened to the public in September 2023.
The key elements of the playground are:
- Market tower senior play zone with two tall slides (spiral and curved), rope climbing, lookout windows and a shopfront
- Balancing ropes course
- Junior play zone with a small slide and cubby house
- Musical bells, timber steppers and balance logs with Auslan / braille signage incorporated into the design
- Water and sand play zone – water play with a creek bed that runs under a bridge with musical instruments and a sandpit
- Integrated path network
- Perimeter garden beds provide elements of nature play with feature stone boulders and steppers, as well as providing seating edges
- 5 hexagon swings
- 360-degree rotating swing
- Accessible spinner
- Trampoline
- Spring rockers
- Shade sails
- Picnic area with tables and seats.
Final concept plan
Frederick Wachter Reserve Playground Final Concept Plan June 2021 - 19.61MB
Supporting documents
Frederick Wachter Reserve District Playground Community Consultation Report May 2020 - 2.07MB
State Government grant funding
Council was successful in receiving $300,000 in 2022 LSIF – Community Facilities Stream funding from the State Government for the construction of Stage 2 of the playground redevelopment.
