A family fun morning at The University of Queensland’s St Lucia campus on Saturday will welcome the community to a new “all-abilities” public playground.
The designated fun zone -- behind the tennis courts on Sir William MacGregor Dr -includes a sensory dome, a sandpit where children can dig to discover "dinosaur bones”, a 40-metre flying-fox-style zipline, an educational Yalp Memo Activity Zone and eight swings.
The playground, along with the recently opened community garden, is part of a strategy to help bring the wider community to UQ's St Lucia campus.
Facilities built as part of this strategy include a revamped riverfront running track, outdoor fitness stations, a beach volleyball area, a “round” basketball court and multi-sports courts.
Chief Operating Officer Greg Pringle said visitors to the playground and community garden had free access to barbecue areas, all-abilities play spaces, eco-friendly activities and pleasant places for socialising and relaxing.
“This has been a wonderful collaborative exercise that has brought together ideas from the University, schools, kindergartens and parents and children from the local community,” Mr Pringle said.
“The result is an educational playground for young and old of all abilities.
“The playground has been built in recognition of the knowledge that play is a core ingredient in learning and development. We hope it will be an inter-generational source of fun.
“The garden was envisioned as a place where students and others can develop a stronger connection to food, environment and community. We hope it will be a great venue for students to meet up and socialise.”
Mr Pringle said UQ was building, creating and improving student spaces and facilities to encourage students to spend time on campus building friendships and social connections.
“We also hope the playground and community garden will help give local residents and people from all around the region extra reasons to come and visit our beautiful St Lucia campus,” he said.
The playground was designed with input from UQ experts from health and rehabilitation sciences, architecture, mechanical and mining engineering, human movement and nutrition sciences, occupational health and wellness, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies unit, the Property and Facilities division; UQ Sport and Brisbane City Council.
A competition in the design phase asked children at local schools and kindergartens to design their ideal playground.
“More than 170 children entered and we tried to incorporate as many of their themes and ideas as possible,” Mr Pringle said.
“It was important to us that the playground was designed by the children and parents who would be using the facilities.”
Mr Pringle said the fundamentals of the playground design were that it had to be nature based, environmentally friendly and cater for all abilities.
“The playground has received the highest-possible rating for accessibility, meaning that children of all abilities can use it,” he said.
Saturday’s free community event, from 8am to 10am, will include face painting, hula-hoop workshops, food trucks, compost making and seed planting workshops.
More information on the opening event is here. All parking is free on weekends on UQ campuses.
To cater for visitors of all abilities, the playground has Changing Places-accredited toilet and bathroom facilities.
Contact: communications@uq.edu.au, ph +61 7 3346 7086.
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