AUGUST 2018

A COMMUNITY meeting was held at Mole Creek on 14th July to discuss a playground proposal for the vacant former school ground on Pioneer Drive.'

A spokesperson from the Mole Creek Primary School (opposite) said the proposed recreation area should benefit their school and the entire community. Martins Apsitis, a member of the Community Playground Working Group, says he is the driver of the design while Jenny Lloyd is a key organiser of the Group within the Progress Association, which has offered $5000 towards the project.

Martins has a vision of a connected social space that starts at Café Bozzy, winds past the public swimming pool and barbeque facilities into the existing community garden at the rear of the ground, with the playground at the core and native landscaping throughout.

The design details a visually open space built from limestone and timbers sourced from the natural surroundings to reflect Mole Creek’s backbone industries of farming, timber, mining and honey. It is hoped the community will donate old logging and farming equipment and perhaps an old boat, in addition to materials and machinery use.

“We want to create a radically different playground using the ‘phenomenal’ skills of the local volunteers…you wouldn’t get that physicality and immediate history in a city environment,” Martins said.

The proposed playground will have affordable and ‘enriching’ equipment to encourage future engagement outdoors, including a dry creek bed, grotto with slides, a beehive and a snake swing.

Martins says his design allows for many children of all ages and their parents to engage in continual play without having to wait for an available piece of equipment which can be a problem with conventional playgrounds.

“The site acknowledges local and Aboriginal histories within the environment which can be shown through materials, form and the actual making of the playground.”

Photo | Mike Moores