New playground opening at Colonial Reserve

Image of Colonial Reserve playground

Hawkesbury City Council has built a new $200,000 playground at Colonial Reserve, Colonial Drive, Bligh Park and you’re invited to the official opening from 10am to midday on Monday, 11 July 2022.

The Mayor of Hawkesbury, Councillor Patrick Conolly will cut a ribbon at the community event, which will include free coffee and mini donuts, a roving magician and free face painting.

“We asked our community to choose their favourite design, and now we’re pleased to invite you to our official opening of this wonderful playground,” Mayor Conolly said.

“Council has funded this new playground as part of our park upgrades in the Hawkesbury. A new retaining wall was also built as part of the improvements.”

Option 1 was the playground chosen by the community which includes climbing equipment, early childhood play zone, an accessible carousel, a metal hammock swing, a springer and rotating and swinging play equipment.

Image of Colonial Reserve playground“This will be a great way for families to get out and about, get active and have fun during the school holidays,” Mayor Conolly said.

“Let’s celebrate the wonderful parks we have in the Hawkesbury!”

Colonial Reserve is the largest open space within Bligh Park and includes sporting fields with lighting, irrigation, amenities, shelters and seating. As the site is primarily a drainage reserve for flood mitigation, it has subsequently been used as a sports park. Council recently installed a recycled water system at Colonial Reserve for irrigation purposes, including the large water tank situated within the sports amenities area.

The new playground is located on the northern side of the reserve to allow connection to the sports amenities shelter and to make best use of the space available. The existing water tank has been incorporated into the playground and will be painted in the coming weeks for use as a games play space. In addition, the new playground has been designed with a perimeter fence to increase safety by limiting access to Colonial Drive.

Image of Colonial Reserve playgroundCouncil also upgraded the nearby pedestrian crossing and roundabout in Colonial Drive, Bligh Park at its intersection with Alexander Street. The works were undertaken to improve the safety of pedestrians using the pedestrian crossing and to reduce the speed of vehicles travelling through this intersection.

/Public Release. View in full here.