Our Hide in Rosewood Reserve has been successfully completed. Our community extends its gratitude to our Parents and Friends Association for the funds for this unique playground piece that will be a legacy for our school. It is not just a nature play or playground area for our community, it is so much more. It is a nature corridor where we have begun the reestablishment of native flora in an effort to bring native wildlife back to this area.
Reflections of our Architect
Over the last 12 months, St Joseph's Primary School Bardon has undertaken a significant project to transform a once unusable portion of the school site, due to weed infestation and the steepness of the embankment of Rosewood Street and Cecil Road. For this project, St Joseph's contracted Guymer Bailey Landscape Architects who prepared a design for the area. Their plan was to have the area fenced off and transformed into a highly functional “Nature Play Area" for the school that could extend the flora and fauna corridor already established in Cecil Road from the Coopers Camp Road end.
To begin the process, only dead or exotic trees and weeds were removed from the area and new plantings of local gene pool plant species, bush tucker and edible plantings were commenced. These varieties of flora were selected so that the students can use the area to learn about the plants of their area and about horticulture and growing food plants. Large rocks were placed along the embankment to stabilize the slope and to create steps and paths for access and play. The rocks were also used to form a dry creek bed to accommodate run-off from the school oval and create a water play area for the students to enjoy, complete with a water pump.
In the future, possum boxes, bird nesting boxes and native beehives will be added along with continued planting. Various play items supplied by AUSPLAY will be installed, beginning with the newly completed “Fauna Hide" structure sitting high among the trees and includes rope net climbs, a rope net hammock, vertical and horizontal rope climbing tunnels, a “spider" net climb and a fireman's pole. Other play items will include tube slides, bank climbing nets, log “jumbles" and a flat turfed area for games. Mulch has generously been supplied by Brisbane City Council to control weeds and promote plant growth.
Guymer Bailey Architects are located in Toowong and specialise in taking a creative, collaborative and considered approach towards architecture and landscape architecture. To contact the team, please phone 3870 9700.
© Brisbane Catholic Education, St Jospeh's School Bardon (2019).
© Brisbane Catholic Education, St Joseph's School Bardon (2020).